Hen keeps going broody

[chixNW]

My silkie goes broody constantly. Sometimes she's taken a couple weeks to break, this last time, in March, it took only a few days. But I caught her early this time! The earlier you try to break them, usually the quicker they'll break.

I do have a duck pen I could lock her up in doesn't have a roost but is protected from the weather. I did just catch this today so I will go out tonight and move her if she isn't roosting and laying on the nest again.

 

[Angeline1978]

If you have time and it's warm enough, try making her sit, just belly feathers deep, in tray of water. I did this with my hen and only took a day. When it was time, I let her sit and hatch.

 

[fur-mum]

You could wait for the additional chicks and give them to her after they arrive.

 

[fur-mum]

If you're worried about her being a good mom, you can always take them away and put them in the brooder too. Had a (different) hen go broody last year and she was a terrible mom. She kept abandoning them to go off in the yard. The playpen didn't have a roof on it and she just kept leaving them. So we took them away and made a brooder out of a plastic tote.

 

[chixNW]

You could wait for the additional chicks and give them to her after they arrive.

I just checked her and she was back in the nesting box, grab her and put her on the roosting pole. Not very familiar with giving babies under them. This would be week two from now, how long do leave them broody and give them the babies. It is scary, I have no experience in this but might be easier than joining them with the older babies in the brooder.

 

[fur-mum]

The first time we gave chicks to fuzz she had been broody for several weeks and then we got hatching eggs (so an additional 3 weeks). She was skin and bone poor thing. Anyways, after her 3 eggs hatched, we had about 6 more from TSC and snuck them under her within a couple days of the others hatching. No problems at all. She took them all. I've read though that if you let her sit for a couple of weeks, she'll be more inclined to take them because it replicates what would happen if she were hatching her own. (as opposed to getting babies within 3 or 4 days). I don't have personal experience with that part, but it sounds legit. I think that two weeks from now would be fine if you were willing to let her sit brood that long and then raise chicks. If you do, it'll be quite a while before she begins to lay eggs again. Brooding is hard on them because they don't eat much, so they're pretty malnourished by the time it's all done.
Also, the additional chicks we stuck under her were about a week old already.

 

[chixNW]

The first time we gave chicks to fuzz she had been broody for several weeks and then we got hatching eggs (so an additional 3 weeks). She was skin and bone poor thing. Anyways, after her 3 eggs hatched, we had about 6 more from TSC and snuck them under her within a couple days of the others hatching. No problems at all. She took them all. I've read though that if you let her sit for a couple of weeks, she'll be more inclined to take them because it replicates what would happen if she were hatching her own. (as opposed to getting babies within 3 or 4 days). I don't have personal experience with that part, but it sounds legit. I think that two weeks from now would be fine if you were willing to let her sit brood that long and then raise chicks. If you do, it'll be quite a while before she begins to lay eggs again. Brooding is hard on them because they don't eat much, so they're pretty malnourished by the time it's all done.
Also, the additional chicks we stuck under her were about a week old already.

I was thinking leaving the fake eggs for her than adding the babies but scary using peeps in this situation. might be best to just add them to my other two would be safer and just try to break her. She is a tuff cookie breaking each time. Tomorrow I will just trap her in the duck house.

 

[Mrs. K]

oh, if I had chicks coming (I do) and had a broody hen, I would be thanking the Gods. Just leave her alone, the tighter she sticks to the nest, the better the mother she'll be. Leaving her alone is the key to a good broody mother. A lot of times, people trying to be careful interference cause more problems than they help.

When you get the chicks go down in the early evening, you want the layers roosted up, it needs to be dark. The chicks need to peeping madly, and this sounds heartless, but let them get a little cold, this makes them more active and peep loudly. Leave them like this for an hour. Then in the complete dark, with a flashlight pointed down, just enough to barely see. Place a single chick on her back. If the chick is a day old, he/she will disappear, or stick them underneath her. Those cold chicks will burrow in like ticks. It is their movement, and their peeping that flips the hormone from brooding to being a mother hen. The hen should start to growl and cluck to them.

This is the hard part. Shut up the coop and leave them alone to figure it out. Sometimes people go down, get everything stirred up, and then say the hen won't take the chick or is a mean mother. They interfere, and that confuses the chick and the mother, and pretty soon no bond is made.

A hormonal broody hen, will whip the layers, and raise those chicks right in the flock. If you have enough room in your set up, it is the best way of raising chicks.

Mrs K

 

[venymae]

I have to agree with Mrs K

 

[gimmie birdies]

Broody hens do best if you don't move them. Just mark the eggs you want her to have. Leghorns are not supposed to brood. I know, tell her that.