How to Break a Broody Hen

[KiwiPomegranate]

She's not loosing feathers, broodys will pluck out their own feathers, to make better contact with the eggs. Have you read this thread at all? Put the hen in a raised, wire bottom cage, with water and food, for four full days. Do NOT let her out, until those four days have passed. You can let her back with the rest of the flock, after she gets past the broodiness. I have a couple of BOs. that sometimes it seems one or the other is broody, every other week. If they are not going to sit on fertilized eggs, they need to be broke. IMO, it's cruel to have them potentially sit for weeks, maybe months, for nothing.

Yes I have read this, but only skimmed through. Thanks for these methods, I will try them. We didn't know she was broody for a while, and I totally forgot about threads, I wish I could have asked sooner

I hope they work..

 

[camispappy]

Hello,
My name is John. I recently discovered I had a broody girl, so I came to my best source (BYC) for an answer. Thank you for sharing your info on "The Broody Buster". I tried it and 4 days later she was back to her old self ! It has been 5 days now and Batty has not returned to her broodiness. Thank you again !

John B.

P.S. I am thankful for every day and thankful for my wonderful friends here on BYC ! Have a blessed day !

 

[newguineamom]

i know this thread is about breaking broodys but how long after they get thru with no chicks,no rooster, will a hen start laying again?

 

[carolinasculpture]

Hi! It really depends on the hen and sometimes how long she has been broody. Most of mine take about a week, but have taken a month, or...if in the late fall, they didn't start back up again until spring.

Just thought I'd add a humorous way that I just found that broke one if my broody hens. She is a year old hatchery Sicilian Buttercup and had only been broody a day and in the beginning of the second day, we were slated to move the coop. (It used to be a pop out camper, took out the rotten fabric and put in walls, a window and a pop door.) So I had to put her out if the coop while we moved it to the new location. With all the following activities of getting it level and resetting the net, I didn't get the hens back in until bedtime. Next morning she was out with everyone else. That was last weekend, got her first egg yesterday.

Good luck!

 

[smorris]

I agree that once they come out of their broody phase it takes a week or a week and half to start laying again. I saw the post by John about the "broody buster" and I am so glad that it worked for him. I find that that 4 day time span has really worked wonders on my girls. So far any that I have put in the "broody buster" for the four day time span have not returned to being broody, so I am fairly confident in recommending it. I have used that method on about 5 of my girls so far and so far it has worked on all five.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

 

[newguineamom]

thanks for the info, about an hour after my post she layed an egg! Now let's hope the others don't get the same idea, lol!

 

[smorris]

That's great that she already started laying again. Don't be surprised if your other hens go broody though. Once my one girl started it seem to spread, which I have heard is very common. All of my girls, except two, have gone through it this spring. However, 4 days in the "broody breaker" did the trick on all of them.

Now I am just dealing with a molty girl that they have pecked and made a couple of wounds on, so she is separated again so she can heal. I feel bad for her because she just got out of the broody breaker and now she is penned up again to heal her wounds. They have such a large coop and aren't crowded at all so I was bummed to see that they were pecking at her. Have you had any issues with that yet?

 

[bruceha2000]

I don't think broodiness is contagious. Of my 9 remaining hens, 5 have NEVER gone broody. Generally speaking, the sooner you figure out they are broody and stick them in the buster:
1) the faster they will break.
2) the sooner they will start to lay again. 5 days is not uncommon but if they have been broody for a couple of weeks, it might be that long before they lay again.

It is interesting to watch the "on the edge" of being broken if you let them out. Almost like Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. "I'm OK", then some feather flaring and fluffing. Maybe growling at the other birds, then back to "I'm OK" ... maybe.

 

[smorris]

It has been my experience that once other hens notice one being broody that the others get the same idea. Not always and not all of them, but the behavior certainly spread with my hens. I had 4 out of my 6 hens being broody after my one Ameraucana got it all started. I have had very good luck putting them in a small wire cage off the ground for good air circulation for a 4 day span. It has worked so far each and every time and they have stopped their broody behavior and have gone back to laying. Now, if I could just figure out how to break an aggressive hen from pecking at the others. One day one of my Olive Eggers just decided she was going to start beating up the other hens and ripping their feathers out and eating them. I have increased the protein level in their diet and have added flock blocks and anything I can think of to distract her from this behavior. I have ended up having to separate her from the rest and have tried re-introducing her back and she just started in on them again. I guess I am going to have to get rid of her unless anyone out there has any good ideas for me! Thank you!

 

[Fancypants1]

I have a broody hen going on a week. Do you keep them in the dog crate at night too or do you place them on the roost?? Any suggestions on how to make a food dish and waterer that won't spill or get knocked around?