How Can I Get A Hen UN Broody?

[SirOfSilkies]

i set mine in a old rabbit hutch with a mesh bottom.. they get uncomfortable and it cools off the egg, so they give up

 

[Manningjw]

i set mine in a old rabbit hutch with a mesh bottom.. they get uncomfortable and it cools off the egg, so they give up

Wire bottom cage has worked well for me too, with plenty of food/water/shade of course but they stay in it until they break or they lay an egg. Usually it takes no more than 3 days for me.

 

[shortgrass]

Not would you do this to a puppy....No you would go to jail. Why is it not the same???

I think it is the same. Everyone certainly has a right to their opinion and there are many ways people choose to feed, house. and care for their animals. However, advocating something that could be illegal is another story.

I quickly looked up animal abuse laws in several states and countries. For example in Michigan, intentionally causing an animal pain or suffering is a felony. Failure to provide care (food and water in my opinion) is a misdemeanor for the first offense, and a felony for the second offense.

This thread and learning that people would treat animals with the methods being promoted is very upsetting. As a new chicken owner, I am glad to understand that hens may want to sit on and hatch their eggs. Makes perfect sense. I suppose I would either give my hen some fertile eggs or try to feed her on the nest. My girls are only 3 months old.[/quote]

X2... I got my Cochins FOR setting eggs, this thread makes me uncomfortable.... So....

I am going to unsubscribe because now I'm sure she knows that that is NOT what you do to a broody hen, and there is no real point of posting once a problem is fixed.

X2... I haven't ever, not will I ever do this to my hens...

I have no problems letting nature run its course, never lost a bird fron brooding, never had to dunk, swing, withhold food, cage up..... We boot them out in the morning and shut the door. They sit on the ground in front if the door and then give up. Problem solved.

Unsubscribing; I won't take part in all this "flaming" and admitted abuse.

 

[SilkieNation]

How's she doing? I give my girl some wet mash mixed with egg for extra nutrition...she loved it because her food is usually dry! I also mixed her food with some plain yogurt and that encouraged her to eat because it was a treat for her

My girl would do a speed routine when I kicked her off....run outside and speed dust, poop, eat/drink and then back on the nest...all in about 20 minutes! I did it twice a day until she decided to stop setting.

A bit delayed in responding! She's coming out of it, slowly. She's hanging out with her friends longer but she still has her moments. Definitely was doing the 15 minute eat, drink, dust routine when I'd take her off the nest. Kept a frozen water bottle near her, which kept her nice and cool. Thanks for asking. She'll be fine.

 

[coobreeze9]

I have read this thread, and the replies that follow.  I just have to get this off my chest...This OP came here (I believe) to find BETTER advice on how to stop the broody behavior in one of his/her hens.  There were some very helpful posts, in my opinion.  BUT..there were also some that offered little beyond chastisement.  Now...we don't know where this person is from, at least I didn't look to see.  Maybe from the country.  Maybe they are getting old time advice from the only source that they have.  Then they decide to come here.  For advice from people that seem to know what they are really doing.  You know what I mean?  There are people that come from different cultures, even within our own country.  They feel/believe different things than some of us.  That is who we are.  We are all different.  Now, you may have been made angry by some of the things that the OP said that they did.  That's okay too.  You are entitled to your opinion and beliefs.  But it is MY belief that ALL people deserve to be treated with kindness and respect.  

Not long ago I posted a little note to the moderators of this Forum.  I told them how much that I appreciated the fact that there was no ridicule or condesention here.  That this was an excellent site to visit for good information/advice and none of the aforementioned treatment of others.  I came from another forum for horses where people were ridiculed and actually harassed for some of the advice that they gave and questions that they had asked.  I thought that this place was different.  I guess it's not.  Let me tell you something...if anyone here decides to chastise me for some question that I might need answers to, or for some statement that I may make that someone might not agree with..I am going to tell that person/those people where to get off and then I am going to find a site that DOES treat people the way that they should be treated.  If that does even exhist.

Do I agree with some of the ways that the OP had tried to break their hen of broodiness?  NO  I don't.  But giving someone some good advice, better advice than what that person WAS getting is a better way to show them how to better care for their animals than chastising them and sending them away, so that maybe they continue to get their advice form their original source.  Don't you think?

END OF RANT!  


PS..Maybe the moderators put this post up so that we would give this person some GOOD advice,  that maybe they needed it?

2X Thumbs up !!

 

[jenna2030]

I heard to put ice under her or in fake plastic eggs some chickens r very hard to break from Broodieness or lock her out side for a couple days

 

[chesapeake]

This set up works for us. Its just a rabbit hutch that can be hung as needed in our coop. Our hens get access to plenty of food and fresh water and after 2-3 days we can turn her loose with the rest of the flock. It's inexpensive and effective and best of all its humane for the hen.

 

[Nofowlplay]

Even with so many different methods (some of them seem unwise) I have still learned new things by reading this thread. My Ameraucana is being very stubborn about her broody ways this year. She has also become very mean and aggressive to one of her flock mates that she used to adore. She has been in and out of the buster for well over a week and now I keep her separated at all times from her target. I learned it may be a month before she is done. My question is this...will she be the sweet girl she was before? Or will she be mean still. She has had no access to a nest for several days so I can't tell if she still wants to sit or not. I have started to shut the nesting room door when she is out of the buster. Every time I try to intermingle the girls she jumps right on the Barred Rock and pecks her head! This shows no signs of letting up at all. She has intermittent free range time food water and treats. In a dog crate a good part of the time though. Sometimes I let her out a night to roost in a branch with her buddy while the Barred Rock is shut in the coop. I don't want to rehome her unless I have to. Anyone else experienced this?

 

[critterkeeper25]

We have 1 Buff Orpington hen that gets broody at least once a month. We have a large have-a-heart- trap that we have converted to a broody cage. We put her in there with food/water/scratch mixed with grit and oyster shell. We usually end up keeping her in there for the day and let her into the coop for the night. She usually ends up in the nest box, but then my husband takes her out and puts her on the roost. In the morning, if she is still in the nest box, we put her back into the cage. The cage is in the run in the shade where she can still see the others and they can see her. We tried to let her out to free range with the others but she would run outside clucking and puffed up like a wild woman and start to attack which ever hen was handy at the time. Sometimes ripping out a mouthful of feathers before she was done. Now, we let her out with extremely close observation. We intervene as soon as it looks like she is going after someone and pick her up and walk her off and put her down in an area that they like to frequent to scratch/ roll in dirt. It usually acts as a small diversion for a little while. If she continues to attack others, or if she heads back to the nest, it's back to the cage for a while.

When she first started to exhibit signs of broodiness, months ago, she wasn't aggressive at all to the other hens( our hands she would attack when we reached into the nest box to remove her), so the aggressiveness has increased. I am hoping that we won't have to permanently isolate her one day. I'm not sure what the answer is, but maybe there are others on this forum that can offer some advice for both of us.

Good Luck.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I think it depends on the hen. I have a bantam cochin that can be mean as heck to the flock mates while broody then back to her sweet self once she is over it. I also have a wyandotte that no matter what we have tried after her first broody episode she stayed mean as all get out.

Most of my broodies are cochins with the odd australorp and wyandotte thrown in the mix. The only one that stayed mean is the wyandotte.