How long can a chicken be broody for?

[ChookaPete]

As mentioned in another thread, my Hy-Line hen Clover is currently broody.

Earlier in January 2025 I was away for two weeks. During that time, a friend of mine checking on my chickens noticed she was absent - in fact she was just hidden in the coop sitting on a big pile of eggs!

I have since taken away a lot of the eggs so she can sit on the remainder of them comfortably.


Soon it will be three weeks that she has been broody. She seems okay - she leaves once a day to attend to her needs amongst the rest of the flock in the front yard (so is getting a bit of exercise), is in a safe shelter as you can see, and is VERY determined to hatch an egg! There's no shaking that Mumma instinct from her!

I'd like to get her some fertilised eggs to hatch, however I will be away again for a week and a half for work.

Will another few weeks be too long for her to be broody? I mean - is there a point when it is too long and it affects her health?





Oh - my avatar shows dear Clover during the first time she was broody - on one of my patio chairs!

 

[TOMTE]

Following because I'm interested to know!

 

[rosemarythyme]

If she's already been sitting for 3 weeks I wouldn't count on her sitting an additional... 1 1/2 + 3 weeks? If she's willing to sit that long it does risk affecting her physical condition. If she's not willing, what would you do with the fertile eggs, incubate and brood yourself?

 

[SamLockwood]

I've seen them anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks. I have a couple of my olive eggers that two years in a row they spend much of the summer broody off and on. On the plus side they're the hens that once they get done with their winter molt will lay through the winter.

 

[SamLockwood]

I've seen them anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks. I have a couple of my olive eggers that two years in a row they spend much of the summer broody off and on. On the plus side they're the hens that once they get done with their winter molt will lay through the winter.

 

[ChookaPete]

If she's already been sitting for 3 weeks I wouldn't count on her sitting an additional... 1 1/2 + 3 weeks? If she's willing to sit that long it does risk affecting her physical condition. If she's not willing, what would you do with the fertile eggs, incubate and brood yourself?

Hello! Yesterday I found out that over 3-4 weeks, hens go downhill very quickly due to the lack of nourishment. That frightened the hell out of me so I was scurrying around town trying to work out what to do.

Yesterday evening I transferred Clover to a cheap tent I bought and set up on the porch. Inside the tent is a small log to perch on, a cardboard box full of mixed grain to eat, and a big waterer container that should be plenty of water for herself to drink.

I guess in a way it is a 'broody breaker', to either:
a) Break her out of being broody
b) Enable her to eat and drink plenty of food for a few days, re-setting her energy stores if she does go broody again while I am away next week.


Here's Clover being carried from her nest in the coop, through to the tent. She is quite placid for a clucky chook! She just grumbles a bit and a little moody - no deep growling and vicious pecking. But she is absolutely determined to be sitting on her clutch. I love her face so much!:

Here you can see Clover through the meshy part of the tent wall - she is standing in the cardboard box with the mixed grain. In the background you can just see my other chooks in the 'side garden' that is a semi-closed chicken run, along the side of my home right up to the front fence. You can see one of the feeder barrels too (red and yellow), and a watering station (actually a white and green feeder tray, with a hose connected to it on a tap timer):

Clover has already been there about 26 hours. She occasionally makes the broody clucky noises, so I know she is not through it yet. Also the weather is heating up to well over 40 degrees Celcius so that does not help at all. But at least she is completely in the shade day and night, as the coop gets hot during the day. And she is eating well.

My plan is to keep her in there and under observation for another day or two.

At the very least, I hope she builds up her nourishment, as my feeling is she will go back to being broody. If she is broody by Saturday afternoon then I already have a plan in place to put some fertilised eggs underneath her - the tent will also become a nursery for her and her chicks.

 

[ChookaPete]

She is eating today but still making the broody clucky noises here and there. She seems so bored!

I want to let her out so she can scratch in the dirt and dust-bathe. Yet I am worried she will just go straight back to her old nest in the hot coop, and it is very hot right now so I need to keep her as cool as possible. I just wish she would drink more water.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I want to let her out so she can scratch in the dirt and dust-bathe. Yet I am worried she will just go straight back to her old nest in the hot coop, and it is very hot right now so I need to keep her as cool as possible. I just wish she would drink more water.

Broodies tend to minimize their needs - it does seem like many don't eat or drink much, because their hormones want them to sit on eggs. Keep an eye on her, and maybe put out a plate of cool water for her to step in to cool down if she wants it, and make sure she remains under shade.

 

[ChookaPete]

Broodies tend to minimize their needs - it does seem like many don't eat or drink much, because their hormones want them to sit on eggs. Keep an eye on her, and maybe put out a plate of cool water for her to step in to cool down if she wants it, and make sure she remains under shade.

Thank you. I'll put the plate of water out for her then. Yes she is definitely under the shade.



UPDATE: I opened the tent to see if she'd come out. She did, ate a little bit and is having a good dust-bath. I am waiting to see if she goes back to her old nest, or to the tent.

I have put some straw in a corner of the tent, as I suspect she will continue to be broody - so she may as well be broody inside the tent under the shade of the porch. I am now organising some fertile eggs to collect tomorrow.

I accidentally spilled water across half of the floor of the tent - I am hoping this is okay so she can cool herself off in it and drink some more water. Unfortunately the bottom of the grain box got wet (cardboard), so I have placed that outside the tent to dry. There is a bit of grain in the puddle so I hope she eats it soon.

I placed a frozen bottle of water in the puddle, and another to the top of the watering station.

 

[ChookaPete]

Hmmm...Clover has comfortably sat in the dirt of the shaded garden bed near the other chooks for about half an hour now...maybe her broodiness is broken?


I have already now placed an order for fertilised eggs. If Clover does relapse into broodiness - then I will put her in the tent with the eggs underneath her in a straw nest. If not, I'll have to buy an incubator and place it in the tent as a nursery.

What I worry about though is if no one is broody now, and I have all these chicks, who will raise them? Teach them how to scratch in the dirt, keep them warm at night (even though it is very hot at the moment).