How to Break a Broody Hen

[HLAC]

I have a broody golden comet. She's been this way for a couple of weeks now. Will she give up on her own soon or should I try to break her of it? There is no rooster around here so I can't give her fertile eggs. She's doing her best to hatch a golfball. She's pretty nice for a broody. Puffy, growly, major stink-eye... but she does not bite.

 

[Chicky Tocks]

Well, if there's no roo and she's not laying eggs for you, I'd break it up. Update on the icepacks...the head broody loved it! She's sitting on it like she's in the spa. I filled ziploc baggies with ice so the chance for messy bedding was less. Tonight when it gets dark, I plan to go put everyone on the roost.

 

[seramasrus]

Not sure if it really works or not, but my grandmother who raised chickens all of her life would take a bucket or something and fill it with water and then add ice to it. Then she would take her broody hens and put them just far enough that their belly's would be down in the water. She would hold them there just for a few mins then take them out and put them into a cage. From what I remembered, in just a few days, she would turn them back into the pens with the other layers. I raise bantams and never have tried it, because I let them hatch their own eggs, so not for sure if it is a for sure thing or not. It may be something that some one might want to put to the test and see if it really works or not.

 

[jndorsey]

Couple of things here.
1 - I love "Perma broody" and may have to use it in the future!
2 - Our neighbors had a particularly stubborn broody hen and left her to sit on the eggs. She became the Defender of the Coop - sadly, she never had a little super hero cape though :-( . Because their coop was ground level they had a problem with rodents and snakes looking for a quick meal and Brenda (the broody hen) would fight tooth-and-nail to protect her eggs. She made enough noise squawking and hollering when something got during the night that they'd hear the commotion in the coop and go out and take care of the invader. Had it not been for Brenda protecting her own tiny future flock, they'd not have known there was an intruder in the coop. So -- sometimes a broody hen is a good thing! Built-in coop alarm.

I should also note the above-mentioned neighbors had a turkey who went broody. She was the only turkey they had in their flock and she acted like the mother hen to all of the chickens! As for her broodiness, they just left her during the day to to sit on the nest she'd created under the deck and she'd go into the coop with the other birds at night, which is when they'd remove the eggs. Turkeys are big, strong, and mean and it wasn't worth fighting her to get her off the nest.

 

[mirsy09]

I have finally learnt how to cope with my broody hens. At 1st I put them in a wire dog crate that I put up on 2 buckets. I put the feed and water in the crate and after a few days of not being able to "sit" they were put back into the coop. Now I have an easier method as I have a vacant end stall in my barn where I raise my chicks or put hens that have any medical issue. I do not put a nest in there as they will just go and sit there. Its just an empty stall with feeders and water and a roost. When I start to find eggs on the floor... I put them back into the coop. Its been working very well and so easy.

 

[mxitman]

Finally got my hen broke, took me 4 days of consecutively removing her from the nesting box and blocking her out for a few hours every time. now she is molting...

 

[RWD57]

most birds need a dozen eggs, a clutch, before they will sit on them.

 

[KiraCookie]

Every year we have a broody hen and each year they we're a success. But this year we had one hen who gave up after the chicks were born,

so the past broody hen took them in!

 

[jndorsey]

Quote:
That's interesting, I'd never heard of that. My little one will sit on them one at a time and add them in as the other hens lay. Is she trying to gather a clutch?

 

[rillgal]

One of my orpingtons went broody this spring. I tried several things like ice in the nesting box, and dunking her into cold water ( I did this to all of them during our recent heatwave and they loved it and would come gather around the bucket when I showed up!). I don't know that any of the things I tried worked, she just stopped being broody one day.