Help with a chronic broody hen

[hysop]

I think once she’s a known broody she’ll always go broody. So if you don’t want to waste time breaking her since that will cost you some eggs not being laid by her, maybe sell her? I know a lot of people love broodies. It’s easier to raise chicks with a broody.

OR you can buy day old chicks and give them to her. Maybe letting her hatch some will make it easier to break her in the future.

I have a hen that went broody this year and it was hard to break her, we gave in and gave her chicks we hatched. But my other broody hen who has hatched a batch by herself before only takes me taking away her eggs and kicking her off the nest to break her.

 

[marmca]

Hello everyone, first I’d like th thank thurs community as I’ve learned so much on this site.

so, I have a roughly 1 year old jersey giant that has been going broody off and on since late February. At first I wasn’t sure what she was doing but thanks to this site I’ve learned it’s definitely brooding.Pulling out feathers, very rarely leaves the nesting box, not laying, etc

so I started taking her out and putting her in a broody breaker (an old dog crate with food and water only) takes about a week then she’s back to laying for a week or two then gets broody again.
Not sure where to go from here

any help would be appreciated

I have a Silky cross that goes broody Often. 3 hens, started laying 2 dozen eggs later broodyness spread through flock.
Apple Cider Vinegar (WITH "mother" - sediment in bottom of bottle). Shake to combine,
put 1 TBS in water dish.
I do Not understand Why it works, for mine it has, temporarily. I need to reactivate the process.

 

[Camper23]

Ade you collecting e.g. ggs every day? How many birds lay a day? Are there more than one egg in a nest box?

My feral hens usually don't get broody until at least two eggs are where they can get to them. And the times I have a hen from my mixed flock get broody are usually after i miss a day and they have like ten eggs under them.

They free range from sunrise to sunset then get locked up at night. We only have 6 hens (2 jersey giants, 1 leghorn, 2 red sex links?, and 1 amberlink?) we generally get 3-5 eggs per day except for when the one is broody and then there for a while we were short and found 10eggs under a pricker bush in the wood line haha

eggs are takenat least once a day usually I try to check the nesting box a few times. There’s 2 nesting boxes available to them although they all tend to use the same one.

Another tidbit, all my hens use a roost bar except this one has always slept in the corner of the coop By herself. Not sure if that info is needed haha

 

[JacinLarkwell]

She might be too heavy to get to the roost bar. She might be taking advantage of the nest box always having lots of eghs. Hens don't start actually setting until they have a few eggs so they all hatch at the same time (ish). Since there are already a handful in the nest box, her brsin is saying its okay to start brooding because there are mulriple eggs

 

[Camper23]

We definitely have

I think once she’s a known broody she’ll always go broody. So if you don’t want to waste time breaking her since that will cost you some eggs not being laid by her, maybe sell her? I know a lot of people love broodies. It’s easier to raise chicks with a broody.

OR you can buy day old chicks and give them to her. Maybe letting her hatch some will make it easier to break her in the future.

I have a hen that went broody this year and it was hard to break her, we gave in and gave her chicks we hatched. But my other broody hen who has hatched a batch by herself before only takes me taking away her eggs and kicking her off the nest to break her.

we definitely have considered selling her, trading her, or like you mentioned, giving her fertile eggs or day old chicks. We would ideally like to keep her as she is a good lawyer when she is laying and is a sweet girl. Maybe I could loan her out? Haha

 

[hysop]

We definitely have

we definitely have considered selling her, trading her, or like you mentioned, giving her fertile eggs or day old chicks. We would ideally like to keep her as she is a good lawyer when she is laying and is a sweet girl. Maybe I could loan her out? Haha

If you like her I would probably just buy 3 day old chicks and give them to her. Once she raises them I think it will be easier to break her broodiness.

To make it more worthwhile buy sex links so there’s no gamble of getting a rooster. By buying chicks it will remove the 3 weeks of her sitting on the eggs.

 

[Camper23]

She might be too heavy to get to the roost bar. She might be taking advantage of the nest box always having lots of eghs. Hens don't start actually setting until they have a few eggs so they all hatch at the same time (ish). Since there are already a handful in the nest box, her brsin is saying its okay to start brooding because there are mulriple eggs

She will sit in there if there’s eggs under her or not and I suppose she could be too heavy but the other jersey has no problem getting to it. It’s only slightly higher than their heads so it’s not a crazy jump by any means.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I had a blue Jersey Giant that would go over a 6' fence to get into the garden so it isn't hat they are too heavy to go where they want to go.

 

[Camper23]

If you like her I would probably just buy 3 day old chicks and give them to her. Once she raises them I think it will be easier to break her broodiness.

To make it more worthwhile buy sex links so there’s no gamble of getting a rooster. By buying chicks it will remove the 3 weeks of her sitting on the eggs.

We may do that but I’m fairly certain I’ve read you want to keep the chicks separated from the flock for a while and currently I’m just not sure where we would put them. When we got these chicks last Mother’s Day we just kept them in an empty water trough with a screen on the top in our garage. I’m not too certain our adult hen would appreciate that setup so much.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If the hen adopts the chicks, she will protect them from other flock members.
The only reason it would be appropriate to separate them from the flock is because of the potential of introducing disease from the adult flock to the chicks.