I need help with my broody hen

[christineavatar]

I have a broody hen who has been broody since May. I didn't have a mature enough rooster so I tried various 'cures' suggested on this site. They all failed. Then the young rooster I had gotten this Spring matured enough to 'boff' the other chickens so I put several of their eggs for her to sit on. However, she kept moving from one box to another allowing none of the eggs to hatch. So, I finally have put her in an old dog crate with an open bottom. I am into my fifth day AND SHE IS STILL BROODY!!!
Does anyone have nay suggestions for me?

 

[TigerLilly]

Quote:
Keep her in there with the eggs & see if she stays on them? Might as well try to take advantage of the situation if you can; I would. Keep her in there with food & water & hopefully at the end of 3 wks or so she'll hatch out some chicks AND not be broody. At least that's what I'm hoping...

 

[nobodyherebutuschickens]

Hmmm. This all sort of depends on whether you want your hen to hatch some babies or just plain old stop being broody. Would you really want to risk compromising the hatch if she decides she doesn't wanna have kids after all? I put my broody white orp in a large dog crate with some fertilized eggs, and she hatched them just fine. I think she liked being by herself without any distractions. My RIR "caught" the broodyness, and I told her "No, fluffy-bums, we don't need any more babies." Since the chicks were done using the dog crate, we just stuck her in there all by herself for a good week. She stopped being broody right quick.

 

[christineavatar]

I think after all this time I want her to stop being broody. She has been broody since mid-May and I know she has not eaten properly all that time. She has been eating 'regularly' since I've put her into the pet cage but this is September - mid-September. I am hoping to find a way to break this cycle so that she can be 'just a chicken' until the next round. By then I should have fertile eggs and allow her to hatch them in three weeks - not three months. (Actually, four months)

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

If that were happening to me, I'd make her sit in a hutch all day except letting her out once a day for some exercise (with food and water within reach inside the hutch) on some eggs. Let her be a mama, I would say.

But if you don't want some chicks, then I'd make her set in that hutch with a wire bottom for a couple of days then move her back (this worked for me recently with a couple of broodies).

 

[Impress]

I always have to do the swamp cooler method, a wire cage up off the floor with a fan blowing on ice water in a bowl set underneath. Before I had my swamp cooler set up, I'd bring them inside in a dog crate with a hard plastic bottom and set the crate ON the register and turn the air conditioner on full blast.

If you do want them to set on eggs though, you need to put them separate, make her a broody box because they will get confused about where their eggs are, and if they see other eggs somewhere else they will trade the ones that have been sitting on for the new ones constantly.

 

[Aub]

I just saw a video where someone dipped their Broody Hen in cool (not cold) water to bring her body temp down. I have a silkie that just started sitting on eggs 2 days ago and I'm going to try and break her of this ASAP. I've just been taking her off the eggs and putting her outside the coop and that seems to be ok for now.

 

[christineavatar]

I think she has been broody long enough. She needs to be a 'regular' chicken for a while so giving her eggs at this point wouldn't do.
How long should it take her to 'snap' out of it?

 

[BackyardBoogie]

I have a broody buff orpington. A friend suggested I put her on a bag of ice overnight to cool her body down. So, last night I gave it a try. I took a small amount of ice (maybe 2 cups) put it in a ziploc and covered it with an old t-shirt. I waited for her to go to sleep, picked her up off the coop floor and stuck the ice under her. This morning she was up and running, so hopefully we have a cure!