How to Break a Broody Hen

[bruceha2000]

The problem with my girl is she is feral all the signs point to broodiness no matter how much times i try to get her out of her nest she keeps going back she growls, peck at me her feathers all poofed up!!!.I can't catch her coz she is feral i don't have a wire cage to put her in i am seriously ready to give up... She's laying 1 egg per day whether or not she lays or not she spends hours on end in her nesting area and when i trying to collect her egg boy does she growls loud then pecks my hand as i try to remove her... Please help!!!!
Lila

You sure have a hard case there! Have you trained your birds to "chicken crack"? Black Oil Sunflower Seed (BOSS) and scratch are pretty much impossible for them to ignore. You might be able to get her into a more confined area where you can catch her.

so I stumbled upon a way of "broody breaking" that has worked better than the wire bottom cage or locking her out of the nests.

Worth a shot! If it is successful more often than not it sure would be easier and a lot faster than a buster box.

 

[Chaerie]

Had a broody jersey giant hen, read about the bucket trick which I didn't really like the idea of. So I put a milk crate over her and sprayed hose water through the crate to try to lower her body temp, left her in there for an hour or so to dry off a bit, and let her go in the coop. Worked like a charm!

 

[HollyWoozle]

I think I have just been lucky to be honest! She had been broody for maybe a week or so and my Mum just kept taking her out the box in the day and not making a real effort to fix it. Maybe it was a combination of factors - we have had a lot tougher time fixing broody hens before.

PS. I wasn't bragging about having found some magic fix... I assume it must've sounded that way from the responses. All I know is that she was broody before and she isn't now and so I am pleased.

 

[Vanessabuffsnsilkies]

I have a broody silkie who was sitting in a nest box with nothing in it, I took her off constantly and she fussed and hopped back up there. I also dunked her into a bucket of cold water several times to see if that would work. Did feel guilty and brought her in the house and wrapped a towel around her...

but she still went back in the nest box on her imaginary eggs. I was looking into buying some fertile eggs for her...

anyway, one day she just appeared outside with everyone else and she's been back to normal ever since.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

The bareness on her breast is her broody patch, it's to have nice moist skin to nestle against developing eggs to provide humidity. That may also make it seem as if she is thinner than she should be, you don't have that cushion of feathers on her breast. But when they brood they don't expend as much energy so their appetite is diminished.

You may want to try to raise that cage up even higher, on sawhorses or lawn chairs or something, the trick is to create a nice airflow up under their breasts to re-set their dials. Leave her in there around the clock, not in direct sun but where it's nice & bright during the day. After 3-4 days let her out and see if she hurries back to the nest or is ready to roam with her flock-mates.

 

[ctomsheck]

I started raising chickens last summer wth my small mixed flock of seven; six hens and one rooster. Three of the girls love to fly over our six foot fence and lay in creative places. When my Cuckoo Maran started staying on her nest in the garage instead of rejoining the group at night, I tried bringing her in after dark every day for a week, and every night she was back on the nest. After almost three weeks of sitting, I went to the local feed store and bought three newly hatched chicks and put them under her after it got dark outside. The next morning around 5:00 we took her and her new babies to the hen house where she immediately settled in. That was about three weeks ago, and they have been successfully integrated into the flock. Now I have a flock of ten!

 

[galanie]

the chickens that is

Sometimes the people are too!

 

[galanie]

Your mistake was to let her out of the cage. You leave them in it 24/7 for around 3 days, don't let them out.

As to whether they can share a cage, that just depends on how well they get along. Put them both in and watch them.

 

[devora]

So I guess my question is will two broodys in one wire cage work?

I've done this a few Xs. It's fine, as stated by galanie, if they get along.

If they don't get along it can be like a cage match.

 

[Pullet Surprise]

I take mine out after the others have laid and I can close the pop door..,that way she can do chicken things and I THINK (I don't KNOW) but it seems to get her mind off the nest faster than if she's just in the Broody Buster pacing all day . I put her back in for the night when the others go in to sleep.