How to Break a Broody Hen

[Sunny Side Up]

I've always got my eye out for discarded materials that could be used for confining chickens for a variety of reasons, and by now have a nice collection to use for housing broody hens. Right now I have 3 bantam hens each setting on 2 goose eggs. I had a 4th one, a big Speckled Sussex, that made her nest in a location of her own choosing. I'm kicking myself for not moving her to a more secure location before giving her 4 goose eggs to incubate. A 'possum got in there and took one of the goose eggs after tearing out half the hen's tail feathers. The odd thing is that while I was certain that I had removed all the chicken eggs before adding the goose eggs, I missed seeing one of them and it hatched the night of the 'possum attack. Since the hen had been setting for 4 weeks already I decided for her sake to let her raise her chick instead of continuing to incubate the goose eggs. I have them for bait in a trap but so far the 'possum hasn't returned...

 

[galanie]

Well, she finally wore me down. Tomorrow, I go to the feed store and her her two chicks. After all this time and all she's been though, still being broody, I just can not say no. And if something happens to the two, at least her broodyness will have been broken.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Let us know how well the transfer takes, praying for success!

 

[galanie]

When I got to the feed store they had 3 chicks left, no sign to show what breed or anything. All I know is that they are black lol. And of course it was SO busy there I don't think anyone really had the time to go find the chick orders to see what they ordered. So I have three black mystery chicks.

But, it went perfectly. I snuck them under her at night, and in the morning came out to see a happy hen clucking to her new family. She is penned with them right now in a really small enclosure in the coop so she can't leave them and go messing around for an hour.

So far, so good! I figure at the least, it'll break the broodiness! I'll take a picture later today.

 

[eggocentric]

This is more a question then a reply. I have been told that if I had a rooster my hens would stay "stimulated" and they would not go into a "broody" state of mind after laying for only a month. Now this information is coming from the same source that recommended the breeds I have.

Is there any validity to this in your experience?

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Galanie, I'm glad for your hen & you, hope the chicks turn out to be something you like...or can easily sell.

Eggocentric, I've never heard anything like that, but like many of these theories, may contain a crumb of truth. I keep roosters with my hens and I don't think they do anything to influence their broodiness one way or another. I think it has more to do with the hen herself, the traits bred in or out of her, her hormone levels, her individual genetic makeup, and the little voices only she can hear in her head, signals from the mother ship.

You know that chickens have been domesticated for thousands of years and have been selectively bred for mankind's benefit. Many of the breeds designed for egg production purposes have had the broody instinct selectively bred out of them. Other breeds with more ornamental purposes have retained that instinct because it's not so essential to keep them from brooding.

However, individual results do vary. There are even some of the White Leghorn hens going broody in those factory farms, and some of the typically broody hens may never want to set.

I really don't think the rooster has much influence over a hen's broodiness. Was it a man who told you that?

 

[galanie]

This is more a question then a reply.  I have been told that if I had a rooster my hens would stay "stimulated" and they would not go into a "broody" state of mind after laying for only a month.  Now this information is coming from the same source that recommended the breeds I have.  

Is there any validity to this in your experience? 

My opinion? Complete hogwash. I have had a couple of different roosters for my girls and if anything, they were broody more with no rooster. A rooster adds a certain amount of unrest and drama to the scene. For the same reason, they lay more w/out one.

 

[eggocentric]

Sunny Side Up,
Very observant of you to ask if the source of the information is a man. Yes. But he claims he read it in a booklet written by a women with 60 years of experience with bantams. Go figure. I just had to ask. I'm at my wits end with my two broody girls. They are family so I can't get rid of them. My coop and yard are two small to take on more chickens unless they were two more bantams. I only need eggs enough for two people so .....

This is a priceless learning experience and I can't thank you and all of the other knowledgeable people enough for what you are teaching me. I didn't know keeping chickens was going to be so complicated.

 

[eggocentric]

Galanie,
Thank you. I'm so new at this chicken thing, I figure I'm much safer asking, even the odd questions.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Well, it seems that men are the most disappointed to learn that a rooster is not needed in order for hens to lay eggs, so I figured a man would promote this theory that roosters affect a hen's broodiness. I wouldn't discount anything that anyone with 60 years' experience says, so perhaps it was true with her flock, or maybe this guy misunderstood what he read.

If you have bantams who are frequently going broody, that may just be their temperment and you may not be able to change it. In my flock it's the bantams who go broody the most. Some of them will go several times a year, others just once or twice, some have yet to do it. Most of them are mixed-breed banties. In my layer flock I have some purebred production breeds and other mixed breeds. Occasionally one or two of them will go broody, some years none of them will. I have some breeds that are supposed to have more broody tendencies, like the Buff Orpingtons, who have never wanted to brood. Others have gone only once or twice in their lifetimes.

You've got a dilemma if you are keeping chickens for their eggs and you are limited to your broody bantams. If you don't want to swap them, perhaps you could find someone nearby who would trade you eggs for your table in exchange for having your hens incubate eggs for them. Often a live hen can do a better job of successfully getting eggs to hatch than an electric incubator. They aren't limited to bantam chicken eggs either, my banties have hatched standard-sized chickens, ducks, and even geese!