How long to leave hen in broody breaker...

[azygous]

I've dealt with a super stubborn broody, so I understand your frustration. One of my hens, also a Sussex, but the Speckled variety, has taken as long as ten days to break.

Here are some tricks I've used in the past to deal with very stubborn cases.

- Dip the hen in cool water so her tummy is wet, then place her back in her cage with a fan blowing underneath her, enough to rustle her feathers. Repeat as often as necessary.
- Place the cage in the center of the most active part of the run so she's bombarded by distractions.
- Let her out of the cage periodically to dust bathe and stretch her legs, if possible. This encourages activity vs sitting in a hypnotic state. But the second she hunkers down and appears to be "nesting", whisk her back into her cage.
- Do not let her out to roost with the others at night as it just prolongs the broody state.

If you're consistent, it should take three to ten days to break your broody. I haven't had a hen go longer than that unless I'm breaking some of my rules.

 

[aart]

Thanks all

She's at least 2 feet off the ground. Our temps aren't that hot yet, this evening was pretty cold actually so I really would have thought her belly would be cool enough by now. Will persist for a bit longer where she is and if it's still not working I'll shift the cage somewhere there is power connected so I can run a fan.

Unfortunately I work almost full time so don't have time to let them in and out of the crate to eat and mingle with the flock regularly throughout the day. I never had this kind of problem last year when trying to break hens, usually takes 3-5 days I've found. This is a first for me!

One very grumpy hen when I disturbed her from trying to hatch nothing but the wire of the cage, lol!

Gorgeous...and ferocious..bird.

Gotta be hard to while working full time.

 

[donrae]

I know you're concerned about locking her up for this long, but if you didn't have her in the broody buster she'd be self isolating in a nest box anyway, so I really don't think there's any difference there.

too bad she can't hatch for you......

 

[maddogdodge]

Thanks all, some great advice in here

It is such a shame I can't let her hatch eggs. If she wasn't a chick killer I'd just let her hatch some.

On the flip side, I'm waiting for my best mumma hen (I call her Fluffy, she's just a mix breed) to go broody so I can give her some wyandotte eggs... and for the first time in years she hasn't gone broody yet! She's usually gone broody by the start of October! This time last year she had a beautiful clutch of chicks.

 

[maddogdodge]

Just thought I'd update this thread. We got to 2 weeks in the broody breaker and still completely broody, no sign of giving up. When yesterday my Dad gave me a great idea. Shift her into a new yard with my other flock. So I shifted her yesterday (my birds area all very placid, I've never had problems shifting birds around from groups). There's plenty of nesting spots in this yard/shed but she's decided to stay outside foraging like a chook should

Fingers crossed she decides to stay NOT broody, haha!

 

[aart]

Just thought I'd update this thread. We got to 2 weeks in the broody breaker and still completely broody, no sign of giving up. When yesterday my Dad gave me a great idea. Shift her into a new yard with my other flock. So I shifted her yesterday (my birds area all very placid, I've never had problems shifting birds around from groups). There's plenty of nesting spots in this yard/shed but she's decided to stay outside foraging like a chook should

Fingers crossed she decides to stay NOT broody, haha!

Huh....flexibility.....great idea MDD's Dad. Hope it lasts for you.