Help me break my broody silkies!!!

[sixlittlechickens]

Hello all,
So, as the weather is getting warmer, three of my five silkies have decided to go broody. All at once. Well, I don’t have any fertilized eggs to hatch, so this is obviously a problem. I have tried everything to break them. Locking them out of the coop, replacing their eggs with ice cubes, distracting them, repeatedly removing them from their nests, etc. I have tried the chicken jail method in the past, and it hasn’t worked with them. I also don’t have a cage. Previously, I have been forced to let the broodiness run its course. However, this is really not an option here.
So, how do I break the broodies? Any ideas are appreciated! Thank you.

 

[aart]

Invest in a crate, or 2 or 3.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire(1x2) on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

After 48 hours I let her out of crate very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate for another 48 hours.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken, gives the feet a break from the wire floor and encourages roosting.

 

[rosemarythyme]

You mentioned trying chicken jail yet you don't have a crate? How did you do it before and for how long?

If you do it immediately, in a suitable enclosure, and stick to it, it should work in most cases, enough that most of the birds should break within a few days. I don't have a crate either but I just broke 2 broodies in a row without issue, because 1) I being breaking immediately when they try to sit on nests overnight and 2) they do not come out until they're broken.

 

[sixlittlechickens]

Invest in a crate, or 2 or 3.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire(1x2) on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

After 48 hours I let her out of crate very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate for another 48 hours.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken, gives the feet a break from the wire floor and encourages roosting.
View attachment 2667713

Thank you! I’ll definitely try that!

 

[LaFleche]

three of my five silkies have decided to go broody. All at once.

Well, that is what Silkies do and are well known for: they go broody all the time and are hard to break, as right after having laid 4-5 eggs they start allover again.

 

[sixlittlechickens]

You mentioned trying chicken jail yet you don't have a crate? How did you do it before and for how long?

If you do it immediately, in a suitable enclosure, and stick to it, it should work in most cases, enough that most of the birds should break within a few days. I don't have a crate either but I just broke 2 broodies in a row without issue, because 1) I being breaking immediately when they try to sit on nests overnight and 2) they do not come out until they're broken.

Thank you for your feedback! I did have an old metal dog gate that I made into a cage, but it has since started to rust and bend and I do not feel comfortable putting my silkies in there. I only did it for 24 hours before, because it seem to stress out both the chicken and the rest of the flock.
I was able to break one of the three broodies by locking it out of the coop. I also found an old dog crate, and I am going to try the cage method again.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thank you for your feedback! I did have an old metal dog gate that I made into a cage, but it has since started to rust and bend and I do not feel comfortable putting my silkies in there. I only did it for 24 hours before, because it seem to stress out both the chicken and the rest of the flock.
I was able to break one of the three broodies by locking it out of the coop. I also found an old dog crate, and I am going to try the cage method again.

Anticipate that they'll need to be caged a minimum of 2 days, though 3 days is closer to average. My last 2 broodies took 4 and 2 days to break, respectively.

 

[sixlittlechickens]

Thank you! I broke another broody, so that leaves one to go!

 

[SnootyHen]

Mine's going to be living in a crate tonight. I tried ice packs under her because that worked well the last time (just a few weeks ago!) but she's making me (and all the other girls) crazy and won't break. Today I brought her in the house with me intending to carry her with an ice pack on her belly while I could look for something else to use instead of my giant crate. Well, she ended up in my shower because I couldn't keep carrying her around. She was not pleased. Thought that might break her so I put her back out in the run with the rest and she went for food and water so I thought maybe it worked. Less than 20 minutes later "buck buck buck" goes the puffy ticking time bomb and back in the box she went. Broody jail it is!

 

[sixlittlechickens]

Finally broke the last broody yesterday! Thank you everyone for your advice. Good luck, SnootyHen!