How to Break a Broody Hen

[sharol]

This is my setup for Snowball (English Orpington).



The cage below her is where my 14 week olds go to hide out from the bigger birds. I have her on 2x4's with a pad below them to catch the droppings so she doesn't poop on the babies heads. I sure hope this works. This is her second broodyness (is that word) this year, and she isn't a particularly good mother. She abandoned her babies at 2 weeks, and the other broodies raised them as their own.

 

[lavender2015]

I have a hen who has been broody for about 2 weeks. I've removed her from the nest and done just about everything recommended. I decided to quit fighting it and let her sit. I gave her an egg one of her flock mates had laid and she has been sitting on it for two days now. She has her own little coop so no one is bothering her. She has food and water but hasn't left the nest to eat or drink. If I pick her up and put her in front of her water dish she will drink. I'm just concerned about her health. Will it hurt her to go for a long period without food and water? Will she sit the full 21 days trying to hatch that egg?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have a hen who has been broody for about 2 weeks. I've removed her from the nest and done just about everything recommended. I decided to quit fighting it and let her sit. I gave her an egg one of her flock mates had laid and she has been sitting on it for two days now. She has her own little coop so no one is bothering her. She has food and water but hasn't left the nest to eat or drink. If I pick her up and put her in front of her water dish she will drink. I'm just concerned about her health. Will it hurt her to go for a long period without food and water? Will she sit the full 21 days trying to hatch that egg?

They can and often do sit until something hatches, you break them or they become depleted enough to become unbroody which can take around 2-3 months. Most broodies get off the nest once a day to eat, drink, poop and dust bath. Unless you are watching constantly you are missing it.

 

[bruceha2000]

I have a hen who has been broody for about 2 weeks. I've removed her from the nest and done just about everything recommended. I decided to quit fighting it and let her sit. I gave her an egg one of her flock mates had laid and she has been sitting on it for two days now. She has her own little coop so no one is bothering her. She has food and water but hasn't left the nest to eat or drink. If I pick her up and put her in front of her water dish she will drink. I'm just concerned about her health. Will it hurt her to go for a long period without food and water? Will she sit the full 21 days trying to hatch that egg?

Is the egg likely fertile? Hens don't have a calendar, they won't quit just because an egg doesn't hatch in ~21 days. If the egg isn't fertile, bust her in a box or get her some fertile eggs to hatch.

 

[sharol]

I have a hen who has been broody for about 2 weeks. I've removed her from the nest and done just about everything recommended. I decided to quit fighting it and let her sit. I gave her an egg one of her flock mates had laid and she has been sitting on it for two days now. She has her own little coop so no one is bothering her. She has food and water but hasn't left the nest to eat or drink. If I pick her up and put her in front of her water dish she will drink. I'm just concerned about her health. Will it hurt her to go for a long period without food and water? Will she sit the full 21 days trying to hatch that egg?

I'd candle that egg at about 5 days to see if it is developing. You should be able to see veining and darkening by then. If it is fertile and you have the room for a chick, let her hatch it. I would probably have given her 3 or 4 to be sure she got a baby, but that ship sailed 2 days ago.

If it isn't, you can give her new eggs, or try some sort of broody buster. I am doing that for the first time, so we shall see how that works. (see picture above).

My husband tells me that he can't imagine how chickens survived for thousands of years without my help. LOL. She will be fine.

 

[ramsburgchicken]

After rescuing our silkies we refuse to do anything more when they're broody other than help them outside a couple times a day.

Main reason: Beaker. Our adorable little fluffy beige and grey silkie hen. She was placed in a battery cage to break her broodiness. It nearly broke her instead.

My husband almost lost it when we brought her home and went to let her out and she had a death grip on my index finger with her little toes. Every time I went to set her down, she started wailing. It's taken nearly a year to rehab her but she's done a complete 180! Outgoing and tough.

Some of our hens will start to panic even if we mistakenly close the gate to the pen. So that was enough to let us know exactly how we were gonna help our broody girls.

 

[chuckachucka]

I know this thread isn't quite right for my question but I cant find the answer anywhere. If you have a hen with a cockerel and she starts laying fertilised eggs will she definitely become broody and sit on them or not? I have one hen and this is happening and I want to hatch the chicks. So far she had laid three fertilised eggs and she is having that massive broody poo I've heard about but she is not sitting on the eggs yet. These are the first eggs she has ever laid. Any advice welcome!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I know this thread isn't quite right for my question but I cant find the answer anywhere. If you have a hen with a cockerel and she starts laying fertilised eggs will she definitely become broody and sit on them or not? I have one hen and this is happening and I want to hatch the chicks. So far she had laid three fertilised eggs and she is having that massive broody poo I've heard about but she is not sitting on the eggs yet. These are the first eggs she has ever laid. Any advice welcome!

Not every hen will go broody, so you will have to wait and see. There are certain breeds that are more prone to broodiness and others that aren't. Having a rooster doesn't necessarily help with a hen going broody. Broody hens will sit on nothing and on unfertilized eggs.

 

[bruceha2000]

I know this thread isn't quite right for my question but I cant find the answer anywhere. If you have a hen with a cockerel and she starts laying fertilised eggs will she definitely become broody and sit on them or not? I have one hen and this is happening and I want to hatch the chicks. So far she had laid three fertilised eggs and she is having that massive broody poo I've heard about but she is not sitting on the eggs yet. These are the first eggs she has ever laid. Any advice welcome!

What @oldhenlikesdogs said AND a hen will lay a clutch of eggs before she sits. They won't start to develop until they are at "under the hen" temp which IIRC is somewhat above 100F. If she sat on the first one it would start to develop, then the second, etc. If she is going to hatch them, she will likely wait until she has 6 or more eggs. Then in ~21 days, they will hatch.

 

[bruceha2000]

Case in point!!!!!!

Daughter and I went to the mailbox (on a post at the road about 20' from the driveway) this afternoon. Happened to see one of the White Rocks sitting under a bush just after we rounded the corner. Wouldn't likely have seen her from the lawn side. She is one we sometimes have to call and hunt for when we leave and she has always EVENTUALLY come. About an hour later I was mowing and when I got near that area, she was still there, didn't flinch at all. They don't usually like the rider much, it is pretty loud. A couple of hours later when I finished mowing I went to that spot and found ...

A baker's dozen brown eggs. She hasn't even started to act broody yet. All passed the float test with flying colors so were washed really well with dish soap and put in the refrigerator. We have no rooster otherwise I would have moved them and her to a nest in the barn.

I don't know what her little chicken brain will think when she next goes back to that nest and finds it empty. I'm not sure how the coon that found the other hen didn't find this nest unless it is the presence of the hen that they smell or something.