How to Break a Broody Hen

[nina1marc2]

yes she lays blue/green eggs. Very good eggs.

 

[smorris]

She sounds really pretty. How many chickens do you have?

 

[nina1marc2]

She sounds really pretty.  How many chickens do you have?

Just 3. Hatched out 11 and shared them with a friend and 5 were roosters. No roosters allowed in the city.

 

[egg on me]

Not sure if I have a broody hen. She's about 5-6 months old, an Easter Egger. Husband found her out in the yard by herself, just standing there. He thought maybe she's needing to lay, so he put her in the nesting box. He checked on her later that afternoon and she did lay an egg. Egg was damaged so removed it and her from the nesting box. This hen has not walked since then. So we brought her inside as the others were picking on her. Check her out no signs of trama to any part of her. There was none. She is eating and drinking and pooping. No change in poop. She after 2 days, she is still not walking. She just sits where ever you put her.

Is this a broody hen? I think she is to young. HELP.

Karen

 

[egg on me]

Not sure if I have a broody hen. She's about 5-6 months old, an Easter Egger. Husband found her out in the yard by herself, just standing there. He thought maybe she's needing to lay, so he put her in the nesting box. He checked on her later that afternoon and she did lay an egg. Egg was damaged so removed it and her from the nesting box. This hen has not walked since then. So we brought her inside as the others were picking on her. Check her out no signs of trama to any part of her. She is eating and drinking and pooping. No change in poop. She after 2 days, she is still not walking. She just sits where ever you put her.

Is this a broody hen? I think she is to young. HELP.

Karen

 

[Motts]

I agree, this seems a little young to go broody. When mine are broody, Ito force them out of the box, they will run around and socialize for short periods of time. How long has she been laying? Feel her legs, any fractures , wounds, etc?

 

[egg on me]

She is still not wantig to move. We take her out the the pen and she just sits there.
Examined her no sign of trama anywhere. She is eating, drinking, grooming and pooping. So don't know why she won't standup and walk.

Anna is an Easter Egger about 6 months old. Laid her first egg on Tuesday. It was kinda leather feel to the shell. Egg got broken so tossed it. Have 2 other E E and they are doing fine. The younger one, Sophia, laid her first egg today. Elisa, same age as Anna, has been laying for about 2 weeks. Don't know if its the breed or what.

Still concerned. Will keep Anna seperate from the rest of the flock until she is up and walking. Don't want the other to peck on her.

Any other thoughts? Thanks Karen

 

[critterkeeper25]

I had a hen that was laying broken eggs and developed and infection. She was listless, would stand by herself while the others were out foraging for bugs. She would stand all scrunched up. We ended up giving her penicillin and she managed to pull through. You said that she is laying leathery eggs. Do you mean that the shell was soft? Are you supplementing their diet with oyster shell or some other source of calcium? If the hens don't have enough calcium in their diet for shell production, they will end up using the calcium from their bones, which isn't good.
We currently have a Buff Orpington hen that is being broody. She sits in the nest box all day and night. Others will squeeze in there with her and lay an egg and she pulls it under herself and will sit it. I constantly remove the eggs from under her and she continues to sit there, pecking at my hand and growling at me when I reach for the eggs. We are going to put her in Broody jail for a few days to break her of the habit. I guess that we will have to use an extra large have-a-heart trap to put her in as we have no other wire bottom cages.
I don't know if anything I have said will help you, but this is THE place to go to when you have questions about your flock! Someone will have good advice for you for sure. Good Luck!

 

[bruceha2000]

Not sure if I have a broody hen. She's about 5-6 months old, an Easter Egger. Husband found her out in the yard by herself, just standing there. He thought maybe she's needing to lay, so he put her in the nesting box. He checked on her later that afternoon and she did lay an egg. Egg was damaged so removed it and her from the nesting box. This hen has not walked since then. So we brought her inside as the others were picking on her. Check her out no signs of trama to any part of her. She is eating and drinking and pooping. No change in poop. She after 2 days, she is still not walking. She just sits where ever you put her.

Is this a broody hen? I think she is to young. HELP.

Karen

Doesn't sound like broody behavior. When they are broody they hunker down in the nest and won't get off. Doesn't matter if there are eggs in there or not. If approached, they flatten out even more and might scream at the intruder (you or another chicken). And they fluff their feathers to make themselves look more intimidating. The "deeper" they are into the broody hormones, the more aggressive this behavior gets. If they are just a "little" broody, you can sometimes shake them out of it by keeping them out of the nest. But if they are full on broody, no good.

I had one that went total nuts when she couldn't get back to the nest boxes, likely to hurt herself trying to get there. The broody buster really is a better place for them in this situation. Mine is a wooden frame with hardware cloth on all sides. It sits on the parallel roosts 4' off the ground in the coop so any broody bird sees and is seen by the other girls when they come in to eat or drink and at night. You can tell when they are starting to get out of it, they start acting more like normal chickens. If they REALLY want out in the morning, they are still broody. When they seem more normal I will let them out when I give the birds their morning BOSS (if not, I give them some in the buster). If they head back to the nest - another 24 hours in the buster. I've not had a girl that needed the buster lay an egg any sooner than 3 days, usually 5, after they come out so they aren't heading to the nest to lay the morning they are let out of the box.

I am guessing she has some sort of health issue especially if she is not getting up and walking around when away from the other birds since she doesn't need to be submissive around those higher in the pecking order. Ask in the Emergencies/Diseases/Injuries and cures forum. Maybe someone will recognize this behavior.

 

[Gladdy25]

My poor Wendy is a brooder - she does this often and every time I remove her from the nest, she will range with her mates for an hour or two, eat, drink some water, and return to the nest again. As long as I keep moving her out, I feel she will get it out of her system sooner rather than later and won't get too skinny. I wrote this poem today in honor of my brooding girl.


"Wendy Broods"

No egg today.
Just simple primal desire
for Egg -
that smooth brown oval. . .
each day potential without hope.
She broods and squats and sulks,
her raucous, frustrated
beeps and burps
the only vocal sign of acquiescence
to the primeval demand
that racks her tiny frame.