I need help with my Broody hen!!

[emily_snow707]

I have a hen in my flock who is going broody. We just hatched a bunch of little babies and don't need anymore. Does anybody know any way to stop them from going broody? It's a pain because sometimes we will forget to get the eggs for 2 days and boom! 6-10 eggs wasted since they have embryos forming. Any advice is helpful.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

You just habe to gather eggs daily and break any that try to go broody

 

[aart]

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, IMO it's best to break her broodiness promptly.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire(1x2) on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

After 48 hours I let her out of crate very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate for another 48 hours.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor,
gives the feet a break from the wire floor and encourages roosting.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. You've gotten good advice above.

If you don't have room in your coop for the broody jail cage but do have a secure run you can use the same principle to make an Outdoor Broody Breaker like mine (which I built according to @aart's advice).

 

[emily_snow707]

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, IMO it's best to break her broodiness promptly.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire(1x2) on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

After 48 hours I let her out of crate very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate for another 48 hours.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor,
gives the feet a break from the wire floor and encourages roosting.
View attachment 2819803

Thank you! 18 days after I posted about this and she is STILL broody. I will definitely try this.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thank you! 18 days after I posted about this and she is STILL broody. I will definitely try this.

Not sure why you waited on breaking her but keep in mind it'll take longer to break her now that she's sat this long. So don't be surprised if it takes more than the 48 hours quoted above to break her.

 

[aart]

Thank you! 18 days after I posted about this and she is STILL broody. I will definitely try this.

Just curious @emily_snow707 why did you wait so long to come back for answers to your question?

Not sure why you waited on breaking her but keep in mind it'll take longer to break her now that she's sat this long. So don't be surprised if it takes more than the 48 hours quoted above to break her.

Could be....or she may be near done anyway.