How to Break a Broody Hen

[Cole405]

My hen is such a broody hen!!!!!!!!! . This is the SECOND time she got broody. Is there a way to shock her out of her being broody???

 

[KiwiPomegranate]

my hens had certain boxes they liked more then others. I do not have 20 boxes. Infact out of the 12 I had they used 2 of them. I would move the ball when I chrcked on them in the morning and at night. I guess I am more stubborn then they were. Anyway the hens wouldn t sit on empty nests so I kept collecting the eggs maybe they werent as bad then. I just think putting them in a cage for doing what a hen does is harsh and we can do other things then cage them.

I just want to say keeping your chicken in a wire bottomed cage is not cruel what so ever. I had my chicken in her wore bottomed cage for about 4 days, not long at all, and I even put a rod across so when she feels comfortable to break from being broody she could sit on it. If the wired cage seems to open for you place some towels around it, make it as homey as you can, but no shavings. The air will allow the chicken to feel free. She may feel some what uncomfortable but that is a little part of the whole plan so she won't want to be broody anymore. If you think it's punishment it is not you will just have them in there to help. My chicken wasn't eating or drinking when she was broody. Do you rather have your chicken starve and be dehydrated or be ack to normal and hangout with the rest of the flock. Just consider it.

 

[bruceha2000]

And here we are just 2 months later, and my silly Buff Orp has gone broody again. Tomorrow she goes back into the Buster.

Sadly, in my experience, the broody ones will always be broody. I have some that have NEVER gone broody. The ones that do, do so several times a year, every year.

I just want to say keeping your chicken in a wire bottomed cage is not cruel what so ever. I had my chicken in her wore bottomed cage for about 4 days, not long at all, and I even put a rod across so when she feels comfortable to break from being broody she could sit on it. If the wired cage seems to open for you place some towels around it, make it as homey as you can, but no shavings. The air will allow the chicken to feel free. She may feel some what uncomfortable but that is a little part of the whole plan so she won't want to be broody anymore. If you think it's punishment it is not you will just have them in there to help. My chicken wasn't eating or drinking when she was broody. Do you rather have your chicken starve and be dehydrated or be ack to normal and hangout with the rest of the flock. Just consider it.

Right! The FIRST thing my broodies do when I stick them in the box is hit the food and water I put in it before I snag the girl from the nest box. They may not be happy about being somewhere they can't "nest" but they are not suffering physically.

I've not ever had a BROODING hen sit on eggs but from what I read, they WILL get off the eggs to eat, drink and poop, then go back. I have no idea why a hen that WANTS to hatch eggs, when there are not fertile eggs (or plastic or nothing) under her will park like a stone statue ignoring her physical needs. The one confounding thing I have seen with chickens.

 

[SueT]

Is my broody hen somehow preventing my others from laying? This RIR, one of my four 7-month old hens, has been broody for more than 21 days now, probably 30 days. New to chickens, I had assumed that she would give up by now, but just started reading this forum yesterday and it has opened my eyes. The others were laying in the other nests until about a week ago when our 2-3 eggs a day dwindled to 1. They had been allowed to free range for about a month, and were really good about coming when called, and, I thought, returning to their roomy henhouse to lay their eggs. Then 5 days ago, we discovered 3 eggs in an illegal nest in a plastic tote full of hay in an open shed. We put the tote in their henhouse and locked them in their pen. They have been on lockdown these 5 days and 2 of the girls seem to be avoiding laying eggs, is this possible?? The Wyandotte has been laying hers in the tote each day. I got 2 in these 5 days from the Australorp, which may be normal, but the BO has not given me anything and she had been a pretty reliable daily layer since the age of 4 months.. I can tell which eggs are whose due to them being different breeds. Anyway, as you see, we now have 5 nests for 4 hens, each w a fake egg in it. No one has ever used the one under the RIR, but all the others were popular. Today I have brought the RIR outside 2X so far to made sure she eats and drinks. I am willing to wait her out UNLESS I learn she could somehow prevent the others from laying. (she was the top hen) I do have a wire cage (it's a large raccoon trap, clean and unused) that I could set up as a broody breaker and I am readying it. The others are all BEGGING to go free range, but I am not giving in....

 

[bruceha2000]

You really don't want to wait her out, 30 days so far is WAY too long as far as I'm concerned. She isn't going to hatch anything and it is best to get her up off the nest and in the cage off the ground so she can cool off underneath.

Now that I am an EXPERT

on broody hens (well at least MY broody hens) I won't let them stay broody for even one day. If they seem somewhat tentative about it I will toss them out of the nest to run around with the other girls. If they head back in I remove the plastic eggs in ALL the nests. SOMETIMES this works for ONE of my hens. But if they keep clamping down on the nest and especially if they screech at me, they have a date with the broody buster. Usually takes 3 days minimum. Given how long yours has been broody, I would not be surprised by 5 or even 7 days. Fortunately it is getting colder, that helps.

With regard to the others not laying: Given they are 7 months old I would not think it due to the decreasing amount of light. Most hens will lay their first winter but many will not lay in winter after their first moult. And you have 5 nests so she isn't likely scaring the all off though I suppose you could move the lower boxes to an adjacent wall and see if that helps if they are just stressed by Miss Broody.

 

[SueT]

THANK YOU Bruceha. I read your reply this morning, and decided to set up the broody buster cage asap. The cage, a raccoon trap, is 36" X 13" X13". It has a hinged door at one end. I turned it on its side so there wouldn't be that flat metal trigger piece to rest on. But I did put in a little roost, is a roost okay or no? . It is about an inch wide and an inch or two off the cage bottom.
Miss broody did not seem to be all that upset by the whole situation. She squawked once and then just took stock of her situation, walked around etc. She is eating and drinking often. The others are either curious or concerned and are keeping her company, even sitting on top of the cage.

 

[KernH]

THANK YOU Bruceha. I read your reply this morning, and decided to set up the broody buster cage asap. The cage, a raccoon trap, is 36" X 13" X13". It has a hinged door at one end. I turned it on its side so there wouldn't be that flat metal trigger piece to rest on. But I did put in a little roost, is a roost okay or no? . It is about an inch wide and an inch or two off the cage bottom.
Miss broody did not seem to be all that upset by the whole situation. She squawked once and then just took stock of her situation, walked around etc. She is eating and drinking often. The others are either curious or concerned and are keeping her company, even sitting on top of the cage.

I think that roost is too narrow. I would take it out. That big branch the one pullet is laying on on the left is a great roost. Chickens actually like wider roosts than they normal get. Kern

 

[bruceha2000]

That is a made to order broody buster. Good size AND you already had it She is already better off than she was parked in the nest. I am not surprised that she is eating a lot, making up for the last month!

I agree with Kern on the roost. I wouldn't go smaller than 2 1/2" if round, wide enough to get a grip and their toes can curve naturally. Since the cage is 3' long, she can choose to roost or stay on the floor, plenty of room to choose. Either way she can't shove her breast down into something insulating like they do when they are brooding eggs so she should cool off.

 

[SueT]

Broodiness has been busted! (see posts #844, and 846 for background.) This was day three in the broody buster, and the plan was to keep Miss Broody (Rosy) confined another 24 hrs at least. (She had been broody over a month.) But we were going to work on the henhouse, and it was going to be noisy and disruptive. We sent the girls out free range, and I decided to let Rosy go out too and keep an eye on her. She happily joined the others and never looked back. They were out over 3 hours in the wind and cold, and I swear she was having a ball, like a weight had been lifted. As the sun set, she lingered outside with the others, reluctant to go inside, just like the old days. She was the last in, and for the first time in weeks, there was a 'roost war' as she asserted her dominance and demanded the prime location. I actually went out after dark with a flashlight to double check, and she was right there on the roost, in the middle, her spot. BYC forums have again saved the day! Thanks to you all!

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

And here we are just 2 months later, and my silly Buff Orp has gone broody again. Tomorrow she goes back into the Buster.

I had a BO who went broody every four weeks. She did this 8 times. Every month we had to put her in the broody breaker. Some BO's just are determined to be a mama.