How to Break a Broody Hen

[JackE]

I have two BOs that go broody regularly. Just not yet this year. I WANT one of them to get there now. I'm going to set her up with some Jubilees.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Jubilee-O...920?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c515ac6d0

 

[N F C]

Glad I found this thread by searching.

One of our 1-year old BA's decided yesterday she's broody. Took me a minute to figure out what the heck was wrong with her. She went into a nesting box yesterday and sat for about 3 hours then went all T-Rex on me when I tried to take her out (DH got to do that fun task). She roosted last night as usual but she's acting strange again this morning. All puffed up and growling. The other girl's don't seem to be appreciating her mood at all, everyone seems cranky.

Something tells me we're going to be re-purposing a rabbit cage for a buster.

Now, back to reading some more of the past posts. Thanks everyone for sharing!

 

[bruceha2000]

Sorry to hear that.

Is it mostly chickens without roosters who get broody? And do they do it often if prone to it? I spoke to a friend who has had 6 chickens for 3 years and she's never had a broody one.

No idea if having a rooster around or the lack thereof makes any difference. I have 10 girls, had 12 but one Partridge Chantecler dropped dead (cause unknown) at < 2 years old March last year and an EE was taken by a predator April last year. They have never seen a rooster. If you DO have a rooster, you actually want some of the girls to go broody so you can hatch your own replacements. They don't even have to be the hen that laid the eggs.

Anconas - never have been broody. One has laid 38% (on average of course) of the days since her first egg and the other 40%. Eggs are always Large.
Black Australorps - one does, once or twice a year, the other never has. She is "Super" Echo - best forager, best layer (Large and XLarge), fastest to get back to laying after moult. She has laid 54%, Zorra (XLarge and Jumbo and the occasional

that must have hurt) is only 39%.
Partridge Chanteclers - both broody several times a year. The one I still have is a fabulous layer (Medium eggs, 7 to 10 days in a row then a day off) when she isn't broody but the broody tendency and moult period leave her at 46% of the days since she first laid. The one that died was the same. Still, she is my 3rd best layer by that measure.
Cubalayas - one does (a couple of times a year) the other doesn't. But they aren't called "yard art" for nothing. Even at their best the breed lays 2-3 small (if that big) eggs per week on average. The one that doesn't go broody is at 17%, the other at 22%.
Easter Eggers - never broody. The one that was taken laid at 45%, the remaining one is my second best layer (XLarge and Jumbo) at 51%
Faverolles - Broody as all get out several time a year. They both just got over their first bout of the year. They lay the large end of Small to Medium. One is at 28% the other at 35%.

The point - you can make generalizations about a breed, but each chicken is an individual

 

[Herbfarmer]

Good luck! I guess broodiness is a matter of perspective.

Replying to JackE.

 

[Herbfarmer]

No idea if having a rooster around or the lack thereof makes any difference. I have 10 girls, had 12 but one Partridge Chantecler dropped dead (cause unknown) at < 2 years old March last year and an EE was taken by a predator April last year. They have never seen a rooster. If you DO have a rooster, you actually want some of the girls to go broody so you can hatch your own replacements. They don't even have to be the hen that laid the eggs.

Anconas - never have been broody. One has laid 38% (on average of course) of the days since her first egg and the other 40%. Eggs are always Large. 
Black Australorps - one does, once or twice a year, the other never has. She is "Super" Echo - best forager, best layer  (Large and XLarge), fastest to get back to laying after moult. She has laid 54%, Zorra  (XLarge and Jumbo and the occasional  that must have hurt)  is only 39%.
Partridge Chanteclers - both broody several times a year. The one I still have is a fabulous layer (Medium eggs, 7 to 10 days in a row then a day off) when she isn't broody but the broody tendency and moult period leave her at 46% of the days since she first laid. The one that died was the same. Still, she is my 3rd best layer by that measure.
Cubalayas - one does (a couple of times a year) the other doesn't. But they aren't called "yard art" for nothing. Even at their best the breed lays 2-3 small (if that big) eggs per week on average. The one that doesn't go broody is at 17%, the other at 22%.
Easter Eggers - never broody. The one that was taken laid at 45%, the remaining one is my second best layer (XLarge and Jumbo) at 51%
Faverolles - Broody as all get out several time a year. They both just got over their first bout of the year. They lay the large end of Small to Medium. One is at 28% the other at 35%.

 
The point - you can make generalizations about a breed, but each chicken is an individual   

Wow - those are some impressive stats!

Broody Rudy is doing better today, actually foraging while she's out but we had a set back yesterday with thunder and lightning and a metal crate so I let her do the nesting thing until bedtime when I got her on the roost where she stayed. Her appetite is better and her comb looks better too.

 

[Herbfarmer]

So here's the follow up.

What worked for me was to have her in a wire dog crate 2 feet off the ground with a perch in it and water. She stayed on the perch. I had food the first day but she wasn't eating so I stopped that. 3 times a day I let her out to join the others and forage and then eat. The first 2 days she really didn't eat or forage. Each night after the others went to roost I took her from the crate and placed her on the roost. By day 3 she was eating and foraging and acting more like herself and after dinner she didn't go to the nest box and was on the top roost when I went out to lock up.

Thanks to all who posted in this thread both recently and long ago. - I am no longer clueless in this regard!

 

[lane leerhoff]

My hens continue to break eggs and I have always heard to put a golf ball in the nest boxes and they will stop, is that true????

If you have a different way to salve the problem let me know.

 

[534EBC]

I too am struggling with that problem... have 4 mature egg-laying hens that were given to me by a friend. I've tried lots of things that sometimes seem to help: giving them a little milk, putting several plastic eggs in their boxes as decoys (like the golf ball idea), checking & collecting frequently, making sure their poultry feed has oyster shell mixed in. I think some of it could be boredom, so may try a toy soon. Also bought a roll-away nesting tray recently, that I'm experimenting with currently. Had to modify it to fit our current coop & 2 boxes. If my hens can acclimate to the change (2 are now laying in the coop vs. the "new" set-up), their egg rolls down into an enclosed partition making egg-pecking not possible. I'm only 9-months into chicken farming myself, so learning as I go. I certainly can relate to the frustration though!

 

[smorris]

The only thing that I have seen that legitimately works is confining a broody hen in a small wire bottomed cage. I follow the method described on the the-chicken-chick.com website and she really describes the behavior and how to remedy that behavior really well. It really has nothing to do with whether or not they are even sitting on eggs. It is an instinct that certain hens just cannot seem to quit on their own. The broody girls that I have are sitting in nests with either a fake egg or no eggs at all and it doesn't seem to make a difference. I have the first one that started it all in a broody pen with a wire bottom which will allow air to circulate and cool down her body temp which will hopefully snap her out of her broody phase. I will let you know how it goes. She has been in the broody pen for three days now. After four days I am going to let her out and if she heads right back to the nest then she will go back in until her cycle is broken. Once she is broken I will transfer in one of the others. I have six hens and three out of the six are broody. I hate having to deal with putting them in the small pen, but I have waited the first one out and she has not quit on her own after weeks and I am worried that it is going to start affecting her health. Good luck everyone with all your broodys!

 

[whittychick]

My Silkie has been broody about 5 different times this year! She's teeny tiny and sits on a pile of 12-13 eggs! Didn't think bantams were broody but I guess so!