How to Break a Broody Hen

[aggie343]

Thanks for repling Will it work if she is in a cage for the day then in her nest in a night ?

 

[Flachickman]

I'm not a chicken expert but according to the info that I read, that would be counterproductive, if she goes back and starts brooding you are back where you started. You may get other replies that will be different. Good luck

 

[aggie343]

Ok Thanks x that's what I thought but can't do things any other way. Not sure what else to do. :-( but thanks

 

[CHICKENRANCH14]

OK, here we go ladies and gentlemen. I contacted the hatchery where I got my little darling that is broody and the rep gave me two really good websites to look at. One suggest giving eggs and another suggested putting an ice pack underneath to cool off the vent as that is what makes the chicken think she needs to have babies hatch. SO I didn't want to leave eggs out as I have no rooster, and I did have those gel packs I put in my hubby;s lunch box. I had been leaving her out of coop with my hen that is molting and not laying for company, so I let them both back in coop and yup she ran right back to the nest and plopped down on the ice pack. I paced back and forth while waiting for her to go whooo weeee this is cold and fly out. BUT she did not. So I opened the door where the nest boxes are hung and she looked at me like WHAT???. So I thought, ok, something's gotta give here. I got her out of the nesting box and was holding her and giving her my theory on how to get over it. I was walking past my 2 month old chicken pen with my 11 chicky girl's in it and this blazing thought came to my mind. WHY NOT. Soooooooooo I told miss Buffee, (all my chicks have names) we are going in for a visit. So I went in with her and gently put her down, and my little girls were like Holy crumb what is this. My black silkie and one of my deleware's let her know right off where she was in the pecking order. I stayed in there for over 20 minutes while she walked around and ate, and watched those crazy babies eat mealworms, and she managed to get a few herself. Then she decided to get mean back, so I scooped her up and said it was time to leave. So I took here out, let all big girls out to free range and she went flapping away with the rest, came in for night treat and she is out with them in coop this morning and seems back to her old self. This is what worked for me.

My husband calls me the Chicken whisperer now. If it's ok to post the websites here I would be happy to do it.

 

[aggie343]

Do u think the ice Pack had any effect ? Really don't know what to do. Wish they would snap out of it x

 

[CHICKENRANCH14]

Below are the two websites I was directed to. I do think the ice pack helped. I think if I would have left it in there and she would have set longer as that was the only nest she was interested in, she would have thawed it out and cooled down. I did not realize hens got broody. When I purchase my hens I look at the characteristics and how good of an egg layer they are before purchase. Some I just buy for showing. I had never seen the "Broody" term before. Good luck. I hope not to purchase anymore. I have 22 now and they all will lay eggs at diff times. That was my goal. Hope that goal is reached.

http://readmychickenscratch.com/how-to-break-a-broody-chicken/

http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2012/01/so-youve-got-broody-hen.html

 

[gigelus2k13]

The ice pack trick may work, but it depends on how determinate is the broody. My Orp warmed up pack after pack until she was shivering, but did not break out of broodiness.

It looks like there is no silver bullet when dealing with a broody hen. The only method that works 100% of the time is to give in and provide fertile eggs...

 

[amandas]

Day one of the broody buster...

 

[bruceha2000]

Hi all,

So I have a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte that went broody 1 month ago. 3.5 days in the elevated broody cage stopped the behavior for about 2 weeks.

She is broody again.

This time I put her in the cage about 2-3 days after she stopped laying eggs. She spent a whopping 10 days in the cage and is still broody. She got a little less grumpy and would spend time foraging with the girls when let out but she did not stop. I gave up and she has been back in the nest box for about a week and seems to be getting worse. If I pull her out she sits on the ground for 1-2 minutes before moving around.

Now my broody cage is in an enclosed coop that has a door with access to light. It has also been warmer weather with some days in the upper 80's. Would this make a difference.

I have found it definitely takes longer in the warmer weather than in the winter. Of course, if winter is 70F where people live, that IS warmer weather for us

I have an enclosed run and was thinking about setting her up in the broody cage outdoors, but do I have to worry about overnight temperatures?

Probably not but she does need to be safe from predators and not in a draft which can be hard to accomplish outdoors.

I guess it has been "broody time" for a while. I have had several broodies so far but thankfully one at a time until 2 days ago when i got a second one. I have 2 broody breaker cages that I am using right now, both of them are big enough to accommodate more than one broody. My question to you all broody experts is: Is it OK to put more than one broody per cage? I have read in this thread that some people put more than one hen, but won't they fight all the time?

I've had 2 in mine. They don't fight, maybe because they are too busy thinking "I WANT TO BE ON A NEST!" They will eat and drink, otherwise they just sit there.

Thanks for repling Will it work if she is in a cage for the day then in her nest in a night ?

ABSOLUTELY NOT. You might be able to get away with putting her on the roost well after dark (they don't see well in the dark and likely won't get down) but you would have to go back out really early and toss her back in the box as soon as she hits the nest. And she will be sitting on her feet on the roost board all night which isn't as "airy" as sitting on an elevated 1/2" hardware cloth floor.

OK, here we go ladies and gentlemen. I contacted the hatchery where I got my little darling that is broody and the rep gave me two really good websites to look at. One suggest giving eggs and another suggested putting an ice pack underneath to cool off the vent as that is what makes the chicken think she needs to have babies hatch. SO I didn't want to leave eggs out as I have no rooster, and I did have those gel packs I put in my hubby;s lunch box. I had been leaving her out of coop with my hen that is molting and not laying for company, so I let them both back in coop and yup she ran right back to the nest and plopped down on the ice pack. I paced back and forth while waiting for her to go whooo weeee this is cold and fly out. BUT she did not. So I opened the door where the nest boxes are hung and she looked at me like WHAT???. So I thought, ok, something's gotta give here. I got her out of the nesting box and was holding her and giving her my theory on how to get over it. I was walking past my 2 month old chicken pen with my 11 chicky girl's in it and this blazing thought came to my mind. WHY NOT. Soooooooooo I told miss Buffee, (all my chicks have names) we are going in for a visit. So I went in with her and gently put her down, and my little girls were like Holy crumb what is this. My black silkie and one of my deleware's let her know right off where she was in the pecking order. I stayed in there for over 20 minutes while she walked around and ate, and watched those crazy babies eat mealworms, and she managed to get a few herself. Then she decided to get mean back, so I scooped her up and said it was time to leave. So I took here out, let all big girls out to free range and she went flapping away with the rest, came in for night treat and she is out with them in coop this morning and seems back to her old self. This is what worked for me.

My husband calls me the Chicken whisperer now. If it's ok to post the websites here I would be happy to do it.

Soooo, what you are saying is that once they see a bunch of "teenagers" they lose the desire to have kids of their own?

Below are the two websites I was directed to. I do think the ice pack helped. I think if I would have left it in there and she would have set longer as that was the only nest she was interested in, she would have thawed it out and cooled down. I did not realize hens got broody. When I purchase my hens I look at the characteristics and how good of an egg layer they are before purchase. Some I just buy for showing. I had never seen the "Broody" term before. Good luck. I hope not to purchase anymore. I have 22 now and they all will lay eggs at diff times. That was my goal. Hope that goal is reached.

http://readmychickenscratch.com/how-to-break-a-broody-chicken/

http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2012/01/so-youve-got-broody-hen.html

Those links went to some funky COX communications site for me, one of which didn't want to close (frequently a really bad sign). I had to force kill Chrome and went to them by typing in the names:

http://readmychickenscratch.com/how-to-break-a-broody-chicken/
http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2012/01/so-youve-got-broody-hen.html

The text for the links looks the same in the forum post, but if you place your mouse over the original links, you will see that the URL (bottom left of the browser usually) shows a webmail.west.cox...... redirect thing.

Bruce

 

[CHICKENRANCH14]

Sorry about the web thing. It worked fine when I clicked on from my email. My broody has visited the 2 month old chick pen each nite now since she has stopped being broody. I let her in for their treat time and they seem to get along. I stay in with them of course. Whether this helped or not----It was just something that came to mind. I am thinking it didn't hurt and since all these girls will be living together, this broody girl will be a nice stand up in the pecking order when they all join together. I Nanny for a family that has 2 buff orpingtons as well. They are same age as mine. One went broody a week after mine so she put furtile eggs under her and 3 days later she walked off the job. It has been raining a lot here and the humidity as been ugh with high temps. So maybe everything is wacko. At nite I just found putting soccer balls in the nesting box (I have ones that are plastic and hang and the entry whole is just the right size for the ball to go in half way) at night. My buff's comb was curled over and was turning a blue black and I was afraid of loosing her, so I just went with a little bit of everything. I have to keep reminding myself I can't save everything. I have lost one who was egg bound in the beginning of Jan and it hurt a lot. But I try to remember that things happen as they happen, there is a reason. I wish you much luck and insight.