How to Break a Broody Hen

[l'abeille]

Thanks for this thread. I have my broody in a plastic dog crate turned upside-down and suspended in my yard. That way there is air flow under her and the pan acts as a roof in case it rains. I hope that will be raccoon proof!

 

[jndorsey]

Thankfully I have a friend who used to rehab wildlife so I'm now the proud owner of a squirrel cage! It's two levels, so I figure I'll flip it over and put her in what used to be the bottom and is now the top - that may get her up off the ground far enough. If not, we'll have a squirrel cage suspended from the roof of our run. Right now she's sitting on so many eggs she can't cover them all up. My father-in-law also told me some people have had better success in breaking them if they covered the cage with a cloth, similar to what you do with a parrot or such at night. Let me know how yours goes, I'll let you know whether I'm successful or not. Tonight is 'moving night', as I had to wait until a a neighbor would be around to help. We'll both have on elbow-length welding gloves!

 

[l'abeille]

I plan to move her back home in the afternoon, which will be after 36 hours in the broody buster. things are looking up. she is eating, walking around in there instead of setting, and she is making her "can I have a treat?" noise instead of her motherly clicking.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Let us know how it goes with your afternoon release. I think it might be better to wait until morning, after 48 hours, but you can try after 36 in the afternoon. I think that the earlier in the day the better, so they've got time to be up & about with their flockmates & forget their broodiness long before bed-time when they might remember "oh yeah, that nest, gotta go set on those eggs!" You can let your hen out & if she continues to show signs of broodiness put her right back in the Broody Buster for another 24 hours or so.

I think it's better to keep it unshaded too, they like the coziness & darkness when they're brooding, so to break them, make the conditions the opposite.

 

[l'abeille]

Well, I did put her back early this afternoon and all is well! Yay broody buster! For the record, I put her in it Fri. afternoon, so it was 3 full days, not 36 hours--I'm so embarrassed at my math error!

 

[l'abeille]

Oh that bad bad girl! She scratched around with the flock from noon til 7:30 but I just went to close up the coop and she's IN THE NEST! Does that mean she is not "busted" yet? She has not laid an egg, but is not a strong layer, so that doesn't mean much in her case. Should I put her back in the cage tonight or wait until tomorrow? Help!

 

[jndorsey]

Well I am happy to report our EHFH* is in the broody buster now. It took two adults with elbow-length leather gloves AND a pillowcase over LittleBird's (her 'real name') head but we got her in there. She was sitting on TEN eggs - none of them her own. If you've ever seen a Fayoumi you know they're not really big enough to spread themselves out over ten eggs. She appears to be stressing out really badly -- I'm not so sure this is going to work for her but we shall see. On another note, our poultry-keeping neighbor told me last night that they'd let their broody hen brood all she wanted, they just made sure to get the eggs out from under her once a day so she'd get out for a short time. After they lost their rooster to the heat, broody hen took on watchdog responsibility and makes noise to let them know there's an intruder - possum, racoon, snake - in the hen house. She'll holler like crazy but won't get up off the nest - they once found a snake who'd wrapped himself around her, attempting to strangle her. She wouldn't budge! On another note - she had ten eggs under her, and with two laying hens we're looking at five days. Does anyone know whether the eggs are OK, or should I throw them out? I know in some parts of the world they don't refrigerate eggs anyway, they just stack them up on pallets in the aisle of the store, like they do Velveeta cheese here. Thanks! And keep me posted on what happens with your brooder!

*Evil Hen From He11

 

[feathersnuggles]

I had a broody Blue Wyandotte hen about 10 days ago. She was 10 months old and had become all completely aggressive and sitting hard on the nest, all day long, her body was super-hot and her chest/belly was completely bare. I tried removing her from the nest numerous times during the day, cooling down her bare chest in the cold breeze before placing her on the ground outside. Didn't work. She'd run around for about 1/2 minute, then Oh yeah, gotta sit on that empty nest. And back she'd go. She was barely eating, and she pooped the most horrid huge stinkers.

That was April 5. I went to the hardware store and picked up a bale of wire to make a broody cage. In the meantime that day, I locked her out of the henhouse, away from the nest. She spent the day crying, pacing back and forth in front of the coop door, desperate to get back inside. That evening when they went inside, she went back to the nest. At nightfall, I moved her onto the roost (to allow the cool night air to flow under her). She wasn't able to find her way back to the nest, it was too dark.

The next day, she was less broody. I removed her in the a.m. from the nest, cooling her belly/chest in the wind before placing her on the ground. That night, though, once again I had to take her off the nest and put her on the roost.

I did that, for 3 nights...moving her to the roost at night after dark when she couldn't find her way back to the nest. I never built the wire cage and I never had to lock her out of the henhouse again. I took the wire back for a refund. In 24 hours, she stopped being broody during the day, and at night, she'd try to sit on the nest but I would move her back to the roost. But it took 8 days for her to resume egg-laying, which she did TODAY! So, a little over a week and we're back to normal. Tada! I'm so relieved. But I feel a little guilty for breaking her - she so badly wanted to be a mother hen.

 

[l'abeille]

Well, I thought I'd share my (tentative) success. I just moved her back to the coop this morning and she is roosting on the roost, not setting on the nest Yay! So that was 5 (5!) nights and days in the broody buster. what a stubborn girl. I was feeling optimistic when I went to get her because she squatted for me, which she hasn't done since becoming broody. Now ensues the reestablishment of the pecking order, but that is another story.

Thanks again to the OP for the advice. I am glad I tried it and hope I get an egg soon.

 

[jndorsey]

EHFH doesn't appear to be settling down - she hates the cage - but I plan on letting her out tomorrow evening. We'll see how that goes. If she's back on the nest, it will be back to the cage. Oddly you mention the re-establishment of pecking order. I'm a bit concerned about that here, as since she is the smallest and the most timid of my three hens, they were brutal on her when she first came to stay with us. I'm just hoping the other two are nice chicken sisters when she is re-introduced! Only time will tell. Problem is if they pick on her too badly, she'll roost in the trees, then we're back to one of the old battles we had with her -- getting her into the run and the coop! Who would have thought chickens could be worse than teen agers?