Is Broodiness Itself a Problem?

[deerman]

Have seen hens die on the nest......from egg bound. Watch a hen go down hill from laying the more eggs they lay the more they" bleach out"

 

[deerman]

Quote:
My guess she got sick , reason she lost the weight....don't think being broody cause it....buy some fertile eggs and put under her.

 

[aghiowa]

I've been thinking about that, but we're about 2 1/2 months away from warm weather here, and we're only allowed 6 chickens in my city. Might do it anyway though.

Angela

 

[cybercat]

An old breeder trick that will work. Dunk her in a bucket of water till it is over her back. Not the head just the body and make it coolish water. That should drop her temp enough to snap her out of broodiness for a bit. I know many top breeders that swear by this. If she is real determened do it twice.

 

[nuchickontheblock]

My currently broody girl seems to have some underlying respiratory problem, where she sounds like she has laryngitis or asthma every so often for a few weeks. Then she goes into a broody cycle and the respiratory symptoms disappear. . . .weird:/ She's done this 3 times in the past 3 months. I'm going to let her set it out this time without any interference from me and see what happens.

 

[spartacus_63]

Quote:
This is just my experience and different birds react differently, But I have not found mine loose much weight if any. I think I will weigh my brooders this year just to measure. If your bird was sick, that may have caused additional weight loss.

I do think prolonged or repeated brooding could eventually hurt do to the change in the metabolism. I use my broodies to raise the chicks also. By the time mother hen is ready to ditch her teenagers, she has had plenty of time to get back into the groove.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I have to agree with this. My (first time) broody that hatched her chicks this morning after 30+ days on the nest; I had to replace her eggs on day 11. She's young, just 7 months old, and small to start with. Refused to leave her nest for any reason. She had food and water just a few inches from her nest but wasn't touching it and not pooping. She was small to start with and lost quite a bit of weight; enough that I could tell just by looking at her.
I finally resorted to handfeeding her foods she couldn't resist and pushing her off the nest to poop.
My other two broodies, both silkies, are doing great about eating and leaving the nest to poo, but that first one didn't have a clue.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I think that every hen has her own component of broodiness. Some have little to no amount, and will never go broody. Some may do it only once or twice in their lifetimes. Others will regularly & routinely go broody their whole lives.

Therefore, some hens will be easier to break of their broodiness than others. With some, all it takes is lifting her off the nest & putting her out in the yard with her pals. Others need to be confined in the wire-bottomed cages for days to change their mood.

I don't think it would kill a hen to let her stay broody for months at a time, but I also don't think it's really best for her. Certainly she's getting a rest on the nest, she isn't depleting herself by making & laying eggs, but she's in a situation that's only meant to be temporary. I've had hens that set eggs for 3 weeks only to have none hatch, so I re-set her with fresh eggs for another 3 weeks. The hens would be fine, but I'd be hesitant to continue doing that more than 8 weeks or so.

If you have a hen that is a determined broody, I think it's kindest to let her set rather than continually trying to bust her broodiness. Find a BYCer or other chickeneer in your area who has eggs they'd like to have incubated. Your hen can incubate other kinds of eggs too, duck, turkey, goose, guinea, etc. Or just give her 3-4 eggs to set, enough to satisfy her urges. Find someone willing to take any cockerel or surplus pullet chicks. You can have fun watching your hen tend her chickies for several weeks or more before you have to re-home the extras. Or just swap your broody hen for a different one who is less family- and more career-minded.

 

[Mahonri]

I finally gave up and let a hen go broody. She is retarded. She started out with 8 eggs, 3 days ago, but when I looked under her today, one of the eggs was cracked. I thought about waxing the crack but decided not to. I pulled it out and looked at what was inside and there was development! That means my Polish roo had actually made it on top of my EE hen.

I'm going to try and break any more broodies, it's just too much drama in the coop.