How to deal with broody chicken?

[susan1981]

We have 2 chickens and one of them keeps getting broody and just sitting in the hutch guarding the eggs all the time. I don't even think they are her eggs and I think she may have now stopped laying. When I open the hatch part of the cage, she makes a squarking noise, different from the usual chicken noises. When she did this before, we just kept putting her in the run part of her cage and locking her out of the hatch and it seemed to work - either that or it had just run its course, but now she's doing it again. I feel sorry for my other chicken as well because if I don't close the hatch, she spends the whole day on her own in the run while our other chicken sits brooding over her egg. Is there anything we can do - apart from get a cockerell

 

[Happy Chooks]

Yes, she is broody. Broody hens do not lay eggs, they want to hatch babies. It is a hormonal change - you can take every egg away from her and she will continue to sit.

You have several options:

1. Break her broodiness. This involves a wire cage placed on blocks so there is airflow under her. No bedding materials, just food/water. However, it sounds like you have a serious girl on your hands since this is the 2nd time she's started sitting - so it may not work.

2. Get a couple day old chicks to put under her. She won't know they aren't hers. Chickens cannot tell time either, so she won't know she hasn't been sitting long enough to hatch a baby. If you go this route, slip them under her at night in the darkness. Some hens will freak out during the day. Watch her in the morning to make sure she accepts the chicks.

3. Get her some fertile eggs for her to hatch. Some grocery stores carry fertile eggs, or you can search the BST section here for fertile eggs.

 

[wilbilt]

One of ours went broody 4 or 5 weeks ago. She stopped laying and would just sit on the eggs the other hens had laid. She would occasionally peck a 1" hole in the side of an egg as well. She wasn't eating them - maybe looking for a chick inside?

I forced her out of the coop a few times and closed the door so she would have to stay outside (made her very unhappy!) and would leave the hatch over the nestboxes open after the other hens had finished laying for the day. Most of the time, she would just continue to sit in there, glaring at us.

In the past week, she has been spending more and more time out of the coop and ranging with the others. Yesterday she was out most of the day, so maybe she is getting over it. She hasn't resumed laying, though.

 

[Happy Chooks]

One of ours went broody 4 or 5 weeks ago. She stopped laying and would just sit on the eggs the other hens had laid. She would occasionally peck a 1" hole in the side of an egg as well. She wasn't eating them - maybe looking for a chick inside?

I forced her out of the coop a few times and closed the door so she would have to stay outside (made her very unhappy!) and would leave the hatch over the nestboxes open after the other hens had finished laying for the day. Most of the time, she would just continue to sit in there, glaring at us.

In the past week, she has been spending more and more time out of the coop and ranging with the others. Yesterday she was out most of the day, so maybe she is getting over it. She hasn't resumed laying, though.

She likely pecked it by accident protecting the nest from other hens. I've had hens peck a hole in the egg when I've checked under them. Thankfully they were not developing.

 

[wilbilt]

Maybe, but she did it several times over the course of a month or so.

Always the same 1" diameter round hole. No shell fragments lying around in the vicinity, so I assume she ate those, but the yolk, etc. were intact. If she does it again, I'll upload a photo.

The "ventilated" eggs all went into the compost pile.