How to Break a Broody Hen

[LoraV]

Hi Ya'll I have a Broody I cannot seem to break so I am thinking of going and buying her a baby but I only have room for 1 more right now. Do you think it will be ok to just add one baby to a new mom. She has never had babies before but she is a silkie so I am pretty sure she will do fine. She is also my most dominant hen so I know she will protect a baby. Do I add chick starter and a chick waterer and let her eat out of that? I hand raised my flock now so I have never done this before? I wan to go buy a chick today my feed store has 3 day olds so still young enough to bond to mama.

 

[VeraLyn]

Hi! So, thanks for all the great advice - I used the wire bottom brood breaker box with my buff orpington, a few weeks ago. I've been keeping chickens, on and off, for 12+ years and this was my FIRST broody. Thankful to say that the brood breaker box worked within 48 hours. So, last week, we got a rooster. . . several different reasons why, but, for the sake of this thread, today I had TWO hens go broody - that same buff orpington and a barnvelder - GAH! anyways, here is my question: i have a great wire bottom cage that is about 3x3x3 - could I put BOTH hens in that? What would happen? Would they commiserate together or go girlsgonewild on each other? Thoughts?

 

[Ann10]

OK, I have been keeping chickens for a year and have had 5 episodes of chickens going broody. I gave 2 of the chickens chicks to raise. One went immediately back to broody so I sold her to a farm. My year old BO just went broody for the second time so I sold her to a friend who wanted to raise chicks. Now, my 9 month old BO is also broody. I think I need to stop keeping BO, they are broody almost ALL the time!!. I finally put together a broody buster cage (a wire wagon enclosed with more wire). It is makeshift, but should work for a few days. My question is: do you let her out to poop, or just keep her in there for days at a time without letting her out at all? I do have food and water in there.

 

[bruceha2000]

Hi! So, thanks for all the great advice - I used the wire bottom brood breaker box with my buff orpington, a few weeks ago. I've been keeping chickens, on and off, for 12+ years and this was my FIRST broody. Thankful to say that the brood breaker box worked within 48 hours. So, last week, we got a rooster. . . several different reasons why, but, for the sake of this thread, today I had TWO hens go broody - that same buff orpington and a barnvelder - GAH! anyways, here is my question: i have a great wire bottom cage that is about 3x3x3 - could I put BOTH hens in that? What would happen? Would they commiserate together or go girlsgonewild on each other? Thoughts?

That is plenty of room for two. Mine usually just park their butts, same as when they are in the nest. I've not had any attack each other and I've had 2 in a smaller box on more than one occasion. They might run over each other in their desire to get out before they settle down. Mostly that is a problem because they knock over the waterer and feeder so I've put a loop of wire through the side of the cage to hold them.

My question is: do you let her out to poop, or just keep her in there for days at a time without letting her out at all? I do have food and water in there.

In short, no. Not unless you are going to hang around and snag her when she gets back in the nest box which could be seconds to minutes to a lot of minutes. If she looks like she might be over it, you can let her out in the morning, but again, be prepared to shove her back in. It will take a lot longer if she spends the day in the nest.

My problem right now is it is below freezing and I have to open the box to get the waterer out, thaw and refill. Once that door is open, the hen wants out. Sometimes a night in the slammer is enough, especially when it is cold. Summer? Geez 5 days in the box is not unusual because they just don't get cold underneath. I even put freezer packs under one girl in the nest. She thawed two of them sequentially and wasn't at all interested in getting out of the nest.

 

[wny egger]

so i've been dealing with a broody he for a couple weeks now..i tried just removing her at night but she would be right back on the nest in the morn..i tried the cold water in a bucket and dipped her twice ..both times she went right back to the nest . all wet...

now i have her in a cage with water and feed ..my question is do i leave her in over night in the cage or put her on the perch at night ..i no she will be right back to the nest in the morning ..so i am assuming i leave her in the cage ..am i right about this ..

it does seem like it is breaking her heart every time i pull her off the nest .i have been picking her off the nest every night when i close the coop up..she heads back to the nest before i even get out of there at night ..i feel so bad seeing her being like this ..shes a wyandotte and i have 11 of them and 7 wellies and 4 older production birds ..i've seen a few birds peck at her while on the nest ..the one top hen really gives it to her when i've tried setting her on the ground ..she just stays all huddled up as if shes still on the nest ..i hope i havent waited to long to try and break her of this broodiness..

 

[nina1marc2]

so i've been dealing with a broody he for a couple weeks now..i tried just removing her at night but she would be right back on the nest in the morn..i tried the cold water in a bucket and dipped her twice ..both times she went right back to the nest . all wet...

now i have her in a cage with water and feed ..my question is do i leave her in over night in the cage or put her on the perch at night ..i no she will be right back to the nest in the morning ..so i am assuming i leave her in the cage ..am i right about this ..

it does seem like it is breaking her heart every time i pull her off the nest .i have been picking her off the nest every night when i close the coop up..she heads back to the nest before i even get out of there at night ..i feel so bad seeing her being like this ..shes a wyandotte and i have 11 of them and 7 wellies and 4 older production birds ..i've  seen a few birds peck at her while on the nest ..the one top hen really gives it to her when i've tried setting her on the ground ..she just stays all huddled up as if shes still on the nest ..i hope i havent waited to long to try and break her of this broodiness..

I wouldn't dunk her in water. It never worked for my hens. I would just leave her all day and night in the broody box. I use a dog kennel with holes in the bottom and I set it up so the air flows to her bottom. It's the hormones in her bottom that need to be changed. It's never to late to break a broody hen. Just might take a little longer. The sooner you see her being broody the faster you can break her from it. It took me 6 days to break my silkie he first time and now I see her doing it on the first day and I can break her in two days. I wouldn't put her back in the coop. Keep her locked up. It just starts the broody behavior again. I do however let my hen free range after the other girls laid their eggs and lock up the coop. I don't let her get back in or any of the others in there. I only do this after day 2 or 3 of being in the broody pen. This helps air her bottom out. If she continues to try to get in the coop I lock her in the kennel and put her in the run of their coop. Then she can see the other hens and they can see her. Helps keep them from pecking at her after she breaks from being broody.

I sure hope this helps.

 

[critterkeeper25]

We just had a BO that went broody too. I read here to build a broody jail. Well, it took a week for me to figure out that I could just put her in our large have-a-heart trap. I used an old wire shelf that went to an old gardening wagon we had and cable tied it on the top and used plastic clamps to hold it closed. I put food and water in there for her along with grit. I put her in there in the mornings and put the cage/trap in the chicken run. I let her out of it at night to roost in the coop because it was below freezing here at night and I was worried for her to be out at night. I put her back in the trap/cage in the morning again (she was back on the nest) and again that night I let her out to roost. By the third day, she was out in the pen/run in the morning all by herself. She hasn't been broody again so I'm thinking it worked. I never saw her sitting in there. She was nervous both days when I saw her and was pacing and waiting to get out of it. Now, my hen was broody for at least a week and it took 2 days (morning to evening) to break her. I hope if it happens again that it only takes that long and not longer. She didn't have a name before, now it's Broody. LOL

 

[wny egger]

I wouldn't dunk her in water. It never worked for my hens. I would just leave her all day and night in the broody box. I use a dog kennel with holes in the bottom and I set it up so the air flows to her bottom. It's the hormones in her bottom that need to be changed. It's never to late to break a broody hen. Just might take a little longer. The sooner you see her being broody the faster you can break her from it. It took me 6 days to break my silkie he first time and now I see her doing it on the first day and I can break her in two days. I wouldn't put her back in the coop. Keep her locked up. It just starts the broody behavior again. I do however let my hen free range after the other girls laid their eggs and lock up the coop. I don't let her get back in or any of the others in there. I only do this after day 2 or 3 of being in the broody pen. This helps air her bottom out. If she continues to try to get in the coop I lock her in the kennel and put her in the run of their coop. Then she can see the other hens and they can see her. Helps keep them from pecking at her after she breaks from being broody.

I sure hope this helps.

thanks for replying..i left her in the cage last night ..i seen this morning she had dumped her food over and her water was froze ..i took her out and i thought i had broke her ..she went straight to the feeder and started eating ..then she hoped up on the perch ..by the time i was done feeding them, i seen she had snuck back over to the nest box ..i pulled her out of the nest and put her back in the cage ..she wasnt happy at all about that ..lol..but shes gunna have to learn the hard way i guess .or maybe its me that has to learn the hard way ..lol..either way its gotta be done ..i'll give it a couple more days and see how she does..thanks again..

 

[bruceha2000]

thanks for replying..i left her in the cage last night ..i seen this morning she had dumped her food over and her water was froze ..i took her out and i thought i had broke her ..she went straight to the feeder and started eating ..then she hoped up on the perch ..by the time i was done feeding them, i seen she had snuck back over to the nest box ..i pulled her out of the nest and put her back in the cage ..she wasnt happy at all about that ..lol..but shes gunna have to learn the hard way i guess .or maybe its me that has to learn the hard way ..lol..either way its gotta be done ..i'll give it a couple more days and see how she does..thanks again..

You have a tough one there. Leave her in day and night, not out AT ALL until she breaks. You have the same problem I do, too cold at night so the water freezes. They don't drink at night since they are sleeping and they really don't drink much water anyway so don't worry about her not having water available first thing when she wakes up. If you can't get the waterer out to thaw and refill without her getting out, stick her right back in as soon as you replace the waterer.

I've had girls break overnight and others that took a week "in the hole". I have one now, a Faverolles. She went "lite broody" a week ago (meaning if I took her off the nest, she stayed off) so I gave her a few days and even put her on the roost after dark. Now she is in the hole until she breaks. The other Faverolles went broody on the 14th. Hard right off the bat, flattening out and growling. It took a week in the hole and she JUST laid her first "after broody" egg yesterday.

 

[wny egger]

You have a tough one there. Leave her in day and night, not out AT ALL until she breaks. You have the same problem I do, too cold at night so the water freezes. They don't drink at night since they are sleeping and they really don't drink much water anyway so don't worry about her not having water available first thing when she wakes up. If you can't get the waterer out to thaw and refill without her getting out, stick her right back in as soon as you replace the waterer.

I've had girls break overnight and others that took a week "in the hole". I have one now, a Faverolles. She went "lite broody" a week ago (meaning if I took her off the nest, she stayed off) so I gave her a few days and even put her on the roost after dark. Now she is in the hole until she breaks. The other Faverolles went broody on the 14th. Hard right off the bat, flattening out and growling. It took a week in the hole and she JUST laid her first "after broody" egg yesterday.

i let her out this morning to stretch her legs ..she looked a couple times at the nest boxes but never jump in any ..i think we may have fixed her this time ..i hope so ..i hated keeping her in that cage ..she almost looked like she liked the cage ..she was trying to figure out how to get back in it ..i left it in there , incase anyone needs to get away from the bullys . i have some wellie girls that tend to get picked on and the roo has their back sides bare to the skin ..i have tried putting aprons on them but by morning they are laying on the floor of the coop ..i am going to build a new coop just for them this spring , well if spring would ever get here ..lol..thanks again for the help..