How to Break a Broody Hen

[Jen1979]

I'm sorry I haven't read every reply in this thread yet, but wondering if anyone can help.

We have 7 hens, most of them have had at least one to at being broody, each time we've put them in a rabbit hutch for a few days and all is ok again, they go back to the flock and back to business

However, one of our hens just doesn't seem yo want to 'break' this time. We had her in the hutch for 4 days then let her out, she seemed fine, but 2 days later she was broody again. She went in the rabbit hutch for another 4 days, came out, but went back to the nest again. Now she's been back in for the last 2 days but she has been pulling out so many of her feathers 'feathering the nest' like they do, but to the extreme. The hutch bottom is full of feathers, I could just about make a pillow!

We can't give gear eggs to hatch, we don't have the facilities to raise babies. I'm not sure what else to do!

Jen

 

[Americano Blue]

will this work for ducks?

 

[randerson846]

I'm sorry I haven't read every reply in this thread yet, but wondering if anyone can help.

We have 7 hens, most of them have had at least one to at being broody, each time we've put them in a rabbit hutch for a few days and all is ok again, they go back to the flock and back to business

However, one of our hens just doesn't seem yo want to 'break' this time. We had her in the hutch for 4 days then let her out, she seemed fine, but 2 days later she was broody again. She went in the rabbit hutch for another 4 days, came out, but went back to the nest again. Now she's been back in for the last 2 days but she has been pulling out so many of her feathers 'feathering the nest' like they do, but to the extreme. The hutch bottom is full of feathers, I could just about make a pillow!

We can't give gear eggs to hatch, we don't have the facilities to raise babies. I'm not sure what else to do!

Jen

When u catch her sitting on the eggs pick her up and plunge the bottom of her into a bucket of cold water (seems cruel i know but works) keep doing this and she will eventually break the broodiness, it usually only takes about 2 or 3 days to break broodiness with this method

 

[ShaneandAsh]

Hey y'all,

We are having a very similar problem to Jen1979.

So we have 8 hens and currently 5 of them have gone broody - 1 only just started fluffing up her feathers and acting all cross, 2 are in the "practice broody" stage (they spend about 9 odd hours in the nest box so pretty much all day but after that they will come out to eat, forage and mingle with the flock until bedtime) and finally 2 are HARDCORE broody.

In the recent past we've had 2 hens go broody (at separate times) and after just an overnight stint in the broody breaker they were broken.

The 2 hardcore broodies are proving to be extremely stubborn and VERY determined. They have spent 3 full days and 3 nights in the broody breaker. We let them out yesterday and they immediately high-tailed it to the nest box. This was near bedtime so we just ended up picking them from the nest box and placing them on the roosts with their siblings in the coop and hoped that a night sleeping with their flock will maybe knock the broody out of them.

Unfortunately no joy When I went to let them out this morning for breakfast it seemed promising enough - they were standing at the door with the rest of the flock all anxious to get out. After feeding them they did hang about to forage but then within the hour they were back to being broody. Thankfully I closed up the next box they have been setting up broody camp at so after initially hanging out outside wondering why they couldn't get in they wandered off.

They spent the morning and early part of the afternoon with the rest of the flock. I even saw them happily dust bathing so once again I hoped against hope that they had snapped out of it. After lunch I opened up the nest box again and unfortunately not long after that when I went out to check, there the 2 hardcore broodies were, back in the nest box!

I should also mention that when we first noticed they were still broody (after breakfast and before they wandered off) and right after we found them back in the nest box (after lunch), we decided to try the dunking in water method - to no success.

So back to the broody breaker it is for them. I am hoping another 3 days will do the trick but I suspect this may take a while >_< We had a good look at their bellies and they are red raw :-/

I have a few questions I would like to ask the trusty Backyard Chickens community :

1) Will being in the broody breaker for a prolonged period of time injure the hens' feet? My boyfriend was actually very reluctant to put them back in for round 2 as he's worried their feet will get sore from standing on the wire but I told him we have to be firm as it will only get worse the longer we wait!

2) In relation to the above, we've put a roost up if they do start to feel sore and would like some relief (especially at night) however they are not remotely interested in it. In fact, they are basically just in the broody position on the cage floor. Will this affect their belly getting cooled? Do they have to stand for it to work?

3) We only have the one cage and it's just about enough space for the 2 hardcore broodies however we are starting to get concerned that the "practice broodies" should be going in to a broody breaker soon too. Do you think we can afford to get the hardcore broodies sorted first and then swap the hens out or should we start thinking about getting the practice ones sorted too?

4) How many more days do you think we should keep these hardcore broodies in for? I've gathered from research and from our brief prior experience using the broody breaker that it is a good indication they are normal again once they stop fluffing up and instead of just sitting, they look like they want to leave the cage - is this correct? And of course, if they lay an egg?

5) And finally, is there any other method we could use?? I've been researching online and reading the posts in this thread and it seems that the 2 most used methods are the broody breaker and the dunking in water method, with the broody breaker seeming to have a higher success rate.

Oh and just so y'all know, the reason why we don't want our hens to be broody is because we just can't afford to have any more chickens. We are on the same property as my boyfriend's parents and they have their own flock of chickens so there are plenty around at the minute! Our chickens are like our children so giving any away is not an option either.

Sorry for the looooong post but we are really at a wit's end with all this broodiness and really hoping to get some advice from some more seasoned backyard chickeners! Thanks heaps in advance!

Ash

PS Here are a couple of pictures of the hardcore broodies in question! 1st pic is them in the broody breaker obviously and the 2nd pic is them parking just by the nest box (when it was closed).

 

[randerson846]

Ithe broody breaker or the dunking water has always worked for me none of my hens are broody at the minute and i want them to lol.
1 there feet are pretty tough they should be able to with stand it but id say don't let them stay in it for longer than a week.
2 no if they are sitting down it should still give the same affect as standing up.
3 to be honest i would let them be for the minute, and prevent the practice broody's becoming hard core, u don't want four ahah, then once u have broke them go back to the hard core ones
4 yes this is correct, did u say that they have been in for 3 days at the most for another 4 day id say no longer than week
5 other than just throwing them out whenever u see them in the nest boxes, i havent really heard of any other methods.
Good luck ahah

 

[ShaneandAsh]

Ithe broody breaker or the dunking water has always worked for me none of my hens are broody at the minute and i want them to lol.
1 there feet are pretty tough they should be able to with stand it but id say don't let them stay in it for longer than a week.
2 no if they are sitting down it should still give the same affect as standing up.
3 to be honest i would let them be for the minute, and prevent the practice broody's becoming hard core, u don't want four ahah, then once u have broke them go back to the hard core ones
4 yes this is correct, did u say that they have been in for 3 days at the most for another 4 day id say no longer than week
5 other than just throwing them out whenever u see them in the nest boxes, i havent really heard of any other methods.
Good luck ahah

Thanks for your reply

LOL it's always the way, isn't it - people who don't want broodies, get them and people who do, the hens have no interest whatsoever

The boyfriend is relieved to hear that their feet should stand a few more days - I agree with what you've said, I think 4 more days sounds like a plan (yes they were in it for 3) and then hopefully they will come out of their broody spell by then! *fingers crossed*

Interesting that you think we should leave the hardcore broodies for now and instead tackle the practice ones first...that's what we've been considering too. I just worry that the hardcore ones will become EVEN MORE hardcore and then become virtually impossible to break. But you're right, we don't want to end up with 4 hardcores either :-/ Would be interested to see what other people thought!

 

[randerson846]

Hopefully after the 4 days they should be broken and u can move on to the other ones,let me know on what happens

 

[gigelus2k13]

Has anyone ever tried putting a cold pack under the nest box? I have a 'portable' wooden nest box and I was wondering if this would discourage her and break her of her broodiness. I just put one under the nest box and I'll update on how it goes.

Yes and it did not work with my Orpington. She sat on the cold pack until it got all warm...

 

[gigelus2k13]

I was wondering if the following method would work in case you have a very stubborn case of broodiness. Take a small enclosure with waterproof bottom, fill the bottom with water 1 to 2" high, then put the broody in. It will be unpleasant to her to sit down and encourage her to stand up., as all "working" hens do.

It may sound a little extreme, but it's likely less so than leaving the hen out in freezing temps or keep her all day long in a wire-bottomed cage, which could stress her feet.

 

[randerson846]

I was wondering if the following method would work in case you have a very stubborn case of broodiness. Take a small enclosure with waterproof bottom, fill the bottom with water 1 to 2" high, then put the broody in. It will be unpleasant to her to sit down and encourage her to stand up., as all "working" hens do.

It may sound a little extreme, but it's likely less so than leaving the hen out in freezing temps or keep her all day long in a wire-bottomed cage, which could stress her feet.

Sounds like a good idea tell me how it goes (if ur trying it out)