How to Break a Broody Hen

[equusaddictus]

My Buff Orp went broody and I got her broke after a week (we have a smaller coop I use to introduce pullets) but she isn't laying and has thrown off everyone else's laying habits...any way to fix this?? Of 7 hens, I got at least 5 eggs a day. Now I'm doing good to get 3 or 4....

 

[FarmerPhronc]

Seems I have a hen that has gone broody although I collect the eggs. I wouldn't mind if I had a rooster however I don't and not planning on buying chicks anytime soon. I'll try the cage thing and see what happens. Wished I would of researched this earlier before going to town (45 miles away) so I could of gotten a feeder and waterer. I'll see what I can come up with. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Seems I have a hen that has gone broody although I collect the eggs. I wouldn't mind if I had a rooster however I don't and not planning on buying chicks anytime soon. I'll try the cage thing and see what happens. Wished I would of researched this earlier before going to town (45 miles away) so I could of gotten a feeder and waterer. I'll see what I can come up with. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Presence, collection, etc of eggs is not really what will cause or prevent broodiness (though some argue that allowing eggs to accumulate can stimulate a bird to decide to set) -- as far as feed/water, do you have any empty water bottles, soda bottles, margarine containers, etc around? Plenty of things can easily be made into a very serviceable temporary food or water dish that attaches right to the side of a wire cage.

 

[bruceha2000]

I'm about to start breaking my broody buff. it's been a week, and i just now have my hands on the kind of cage needed (borrowing a rabbit hutch from a friend.).

question: do i let her out to free range with the other two ladies in the evenings/during the day when we're home? or is this like a bit of a jail?

could someone explain to me, biologically, why not? I trust you, just am curious.

You can let her out but if you do she won't spend much time outside, maybe poop and eat a little something and then, with your back turned or not, will hightail it right back to the nest box. So yeah, it is jail.

My understanding is that there are hormones that turn on the "hatch chicks" switch. The hormones don't know nor care that there are no fertile eggs and possibly NOTHING to sit on other than nesting material. The switch goes to "raising chicks" when the chicks hatch (or in my BAs case last June, 3 plastic eggs with rocks taped inside became seven 3 day old chicks overnight "magically"). No chicks and the switch stays in the ON position. For whatever reason, making it impossible for them to stay hot underneath can turn off the switch.

My Buff Orp went broody and I got her broke after a week (we have a smaller coop I use to introduce pullets) but she isn't laying and has thrown off everyone else's laying habits...any way to fix this?? Of 7 hens, I got at least 5 eggs a day. Now I'm doing good to get 3 or 4....

They typically won't lay for 5-7 days after they break. I guess it takes time for the "I WILL hatch these shavings" hormones to be replaced with "time to lay eggs" hormones. I don't know that the ex-broody is throwing off the other hens. They will have variation on their own.

Seems I have a hen that has gone broody although I collect the eggs. I wouldn't mind if I had a rooster however I don't and not planning on buying chicks anytime soon. I'll try the cage thing and see what happens. Wished I would of researched this earlier before going to town (45 miles away) so I could of gotten a feeder and waterer. I'll see what I can come up with. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

You have raised chicks right?? I just use the chick waterer and feeder in the broody buster box (the other BBB

)

 

[FarmerPhronc]

Presence, collection, etc of eggs is not really what will cause or prevent broodiness (though some argue that allowing eggs to accumulate can stimulate a bird to decide to set) -- as far as feed/water, do you have any empty water bottles, soda bottles, margarine containers, etc around? Plenty of things can easily be made into a very serviceable temporary food or water dish that attaches right to the side of a wire cage.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm sure I can make due with things I have laying around.

You have raised chicks right?? I just use the chick waterer and feeder in the broody buster box (the other BBB

)

While I did raise chicks when I worked on a farm/ranch I haven't since I've started having chickens of my own. I get Pullets at about 3 months old from there so I don't see a need to raise them from chicks.

 

[bruceha2000]

Guess I misremembered. I know you said you can send any that turn out to be cockerels back to the farm for replacement. Maybe I ASSUMED you got them as chicks.

So yep, use what you have, just be aware that they can sometimes get pretty feisty in the box wanting out so wire the food and water dishes to the side of the buster so they don't get knocked over.

 

[mypetsrchickens]

I have 3 hens that went broody. Since I'm new to chickens I had no idea what the issue was until I started doing some research. We tried to break one of them, she was in the wire cage for over a week. Never laid an egg so we took her back out. The other 2 seem to have broken themselves as we don't find them sitting in the nesting boxes or exhibiting other broodish behavior. However, we've gotten no eggs out of them since around the 20th of April. Any ideas on how I can get them back to laying? They're only a year old so I know they aren't beyond laying. I'm at my wits end. I've got 3 hens doing nothing but taking up space and eating food. I need some eggs out of them. haha!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have 3 hens that went broody.  Since I'm new to chickens I had no idea what the issue was until I started doing some research.  We tried to break one of them, she was in the wire cage for over a week.  Never laid an egg so we took her back out.  The other 2 seem to have broken themselves as we don't find them sitting in the nesting boxes or exhibiting other broodish behavior.  However, we've gotten no eggs out of them since around the 20th of April.  Any ideas on how I can get them back to laying?  They're only a year old so I know they aren't beyond laying.  I'm at my wits end.  I've got 3 hens doing nothing but taking up space and eating food.  I need some eggs out of them.  haha!  

That's a long time, they should have resumed. What are you feeding them? Are you where it's been hot? Have you looked around for hidden nests? Just a few things that might factor into it.

 

[mypetsrchickens]

That's a long time, they should have resumed. What are you feeding them? Are you where it's been hot? Have you looked around for hidden nests? Just a few things that might factor into it.

They are confined to an area big enough for them to free range but they can't get out. There isn't anywhere they could be hiding eggs within that area. They get Bartlett's layer feed. I also mix in some oyster shells. I throw out a handful of cracked corn every evening when I get home from work. They have fresh water. I checked their vents and they're all on the dry side compared to what they looked like when they were laying. It's been around the low to mid 70's but just recently. Until then it was in the mid to high 60's. I have a BO that is laying just fine, every day like clock work. We did get rid of 2 roosters that were aggressive and got a new much more docile rooster. That was about a month ago. They'd stopped laying before that. We've added some new members to the flock but again, that was about a month ago. I would think any stress or anything they'd been under would have worked itself out by now. I'm beginning to think they'll never lay again.

We did get one soft shelled egg several nights ago which was weird because we only have the BO that's laying and she'd laid that day already. The only other hen we have that is close to laying is a barred rock but she's only 14 weeks old. I wouldn't think it was her. I thought maybe the soft shelled egg was from one of our other girls gearing up to lay again but nothing since then.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My last thoughts are some chickens are bums. Some are inconsistent sporadic layers, I've had many over the years. For me it's not a problem because I get too many eggs. They may not be done but they just might not lay much. What breeds are they?

Otherwise I feed a higher protein ration, 18-20% which can sometimes help support laying, a layer ration is 16% protein which is minimum they should have to support laying. I also feed some scratch and corn which is lower in protein and can offset the total amount of protein they consume in a day. Corn runs around 8%. So either switching to an all flock or a non medicated grower could help, or even cutting out or down the corn to see if it prods them into action is something you could try.

Soft shell eggs are sometimes laid when a hen is firing up the system, so it could be from one of them. Look for bright red swollen combs and wattles which will indicate they are laying or are close to it.