How do you stop a broody hen?

[CrimsonTide248]

We have a broody buff orpington that has gone broody for about 3 weeks. Is there anything that I can do to get her to stop. I have taken her off of the nest a bunch of times. No matter how many times I take her off, she still ends up back on the nest.

 

[CrimsonTide248]

Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[ebonykawai]

It's not easy. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Many say that putting them in a metal cage, with no nesting material, will break them. I don't have a cage, so I made an outdoor chicken jail for mine. I'm on my 3rd broody RIR so far this year.

Seems to take them about 2-3 weeks before they give up.

 

[CrimsonTide248]

We may have 2 that are broody now. The buff is VERY persistant. We have a deformed black australorp that seems to have gone broody today.

 

[ebonykawai]

It's annoying me to no end. I'm hardly getting any eggs these days, only about 5 from 10 hens. I was getting 9 a day. I also dunk my broody's bottoms in a pail of cold water. That seems to speed up the end of broodiness. At least it did last time. The two I have right now are worse than the last one.

 

[mxpres]

last week I had a broody golden comet,on the second day I put her in a wire cage with no straw or nesting material,set the cage up on blocks where the air would circulate under her,three days later she was back to normal,all signs of broodness were gone,I think the time period when she goes broody before you put her in the cage determines the time it takes to break the spell,I had been having to pull her off a nest every hour or so,oh man did she ruffle her feathers and growl at me,,another small detail,,be sure to wear gloves,,

 

[heyeddah]

I ,heard the sound of the baby chick ends it so we put her in a box with two chicks and after four weeks of sitting in the nest box, she finally went out the next day and did not come back to set.
Good luck

 

[Young MacDonald]

My husband says to dunk them in cold water.