How to Break a Broody Hen

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I would leave her amongst the flock in the run. I have had broodies sit for up to 3 months until they lose enough weight to break themselves. It's better to break them.

 

[WVduckchick]

I really hate the thought of trying to break one, but almost all of my laying hens have done one round this year, some have done round 2! I now have 2 hens sitting together on nothing. Round 2 for them also. I have way too many chicks as it is,and don't need their egg production, so i was going to let them sit. They could actually try for 3 months or more??
Guess I'll give them a couple eggs from another pen.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I really hate the thought of trying to break one, but almost all of my laying hens have done one round this year, some have done round 2! I now have 2 hens sitting together on nothing. Round 2 for them also. I have way too many chicks as it is,and don't need their egg production, so i was going to let them sit. They could actually try for 3 months or more??
Guess I'll give them a couple eggs from another pen.

My bantams have set that long. I tried waiting them out one year. One that has been setting since the middle of May finally broke while another one is still at it. I have too many broodies too. They just keep coming.

 

[ashleykorr]

I would leave her amongst the flock in the run. I have had broodies sit for up to 3 months until they lose enough weight to break themselves. It's better to break them.

Thanks - that is good advice. I will leave her with the flock. So here is something to add to the broody chicken conversation (I hope I don't get racked over the coals for this...)
We have tenants living in the suite who were farmers in Syria. As I am very new to Chicken keeping, F (our tenant) has been helping me quite a bit. She first tried putting our broody in cold water for a few minutes every day. After a week of that, this broody hen still wasn't broken. When I got home today, F had a cord around her leg so she can't go into the coop. She is in a predator safe run, and has lots of access to food and water. She has been pulling a bit, but I don't think enough to hurt herself. The cord is looped, but not tight. Is this an approved way to break a hen? I also picked up a crate today, so I can switch her to that. Curious what others might think/know about this method.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I haven't ever tethered a chicken so I can't say if it's uncomfortable or not for them. I have just blocked the nests before or penned them somewhere else to break them. The cold water dunking does not work, so I don't recommend that.

 

[bruceha2000]

Letting them "wait it out" is animal cruelty in MY opinion. They have hormones that are telling them to hatch eggs. They have nothing to hatch. Those hormones don't just run 21 days (normal incubation period) then dissipate. The "I'm incubating" hormones change to "I'm raising babies" as soon as the chicks start to hatch or they wake up in the morning after you shove some day old (or a bit older) chicks under them when the hen is ASLEEP AT Zero dark thirty. Pitch black, not a bit after twilight. Don't try this mid day and use the dimmest flashlight you have with just enough light near the hen to tell front from back, slip the chicks in one at a time FROM THE REAR under the hen's wings. When I did that 2 years ago my broody hen "hatched" 7 chicks overnight from 3 plastic eggs. No longer had any interest in the nest box and raised them for 8 weeks. They do not think about this stuff real hard

A hen incubating eggs WILL get off the nest to eat and drink. I have never observed a broody sitting on plastic eggs or only shavings get off the nest. The first thing mine do when I put them in the broody buster (elevated with 1/2" hardware cloth bottom) with food and water is go straight to eating and drinking. If I just take them off the nest they run right back, if excluded from the nesting boxes, they go nuts trying to get back in.

With regard to the cold water bath, I say Bah! I had a broody hen thaw not one but two refreezable ice packs in succession. She was still a furnace underneath. They just put out more heat to keep their breast area warm enough to incubate. As long as they can trap that heat against something (the nesting material) they will not cool down. So where is this heat coming from? All that food they are not eating. So where is it really coming from? Their body stores which they are NOT replenishing.

As such, letting them stay broody with no fertile eggs to hatch does them not good, only harm, as they don't eat and drink properly. They might be fussy in the buster but they eat, drink and not being able to stay hot underneath causes the hormones to subside. In warmer weather this can take many days, in cooler weather I've had them break in a couple of days especially if I caught them early in their broodiness - meaning the first day.

The longer they have been broody on the nest the longer it takes to break them. Start now, leave her buster box with the other hens. I've not seen a change in "social status" when a broody hen is being broken or when she returns to the flock on her own 2 feet.

 

[ashleykorr]

This is so helpful. Thank you very much. She has been in a cage with wire mesh underneath for 2 days now. I will give her a couple more and see how she goes. It is very warm here.

 

[bruceha2000]

You can usually tell when they are broken by how they "talk" to you. If they still have that "broody hen cluck" don't bother letting them out. If they are "talking" normally, no reason to keep them in the buster.

 

[MrsCSki]

I have a broody hen I keep setting out with her flock mates, but they've taken to picking on her quite relentlessly since she picked up her 'brood mood'. Is this common?

 

[bruceha2000]

When you say you put her out with the flock does that mean you are throwing her out of the nest and locking her out? This is usually impossible since you need the nests available to the other hens.

Is she actually broody? Meaning does she stay in the nest and growl at anything that comes near? If so she spent the night in the nest and will go back to it if you take her off. A broody hen can be quite nasty to others in the flock, they might be using "preemptive strike" to keep her from attacking them especially if she is frustrated by not being able to get to the nest.