Is my chicken Broody? If so, what do I need To Do

[Chick2020]

Hello,

I have had my chickens for about 8 months now I noticed my chicken is staying in the nesting box. I hear the chickens screaming and this one chicken i hogging the box. i have more than one. So ive een keeping a eye on her. Its been a week now. She is laying eggs. No problem. What should i do in this situation? please help

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Do you have a rooster/or want to hatch eggs? Or are you asking for advice on how to get her to stop.

 

[Chick2020]

Do you have a rooster/or want to hatch eggs? Or are you asking for advice on how to get her to stop.

i would like to know how to get her from staying in the nesting box

 

[arwoon]

i would like to know how to get her from staying in the nesting box

I have a hen who is currently broody right now, and I just repeatedly take her out of the nest box all the time, like at night, and I put her back on the roost bar with the others. I make sure she is eating and drinking.

I've had a hen starve herself over eggs before that wouldn't hatch because we no longer had a rooster.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Well, in that case, if she is really broody (this article can help you tell), then you'll want to 'break' her.

How I would do it is to repeatedly take her out of the nesting box for a couple days. If that doesn't work, she'll likely need to go to 'broody jail'. This is basically a cage that prevents them from laying down and brooding. (it does not harm them. Add a roost, though. Chickens naturally roost, so not letting them lay down and fluff up won't hurt them. )

Here's an article for an outdoor broody breaker. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/outdoor-broody-breaker.76592/

Or, for something more simple, a wire dog crate with a roost sticking through the bars, a food and water dish is really all you need. NO bedding.

 

[gtaus]

I had some hens go broody last summer and I just let them sit in the nest box until their hormones told them to leave. I don't have any roosters, so there was no chance of hatching eggs. However, I am rethinking that decision because I ended up losing 2 birds, and I think maybe they got too weak sitting in the nest all day instead of going outside and foraging for food like the other girls. Don't know if being broody was their downfall, but I think I will try to break a hen's broodiness from now on - for their own health.

i would like to know how to get her from staying in the nesting box

A simple solution might be to put a board in front of the nest boxes at night so the broody hen cannot spend the night in the nest box. That might not break the broodiness, but it will prevent hens from sleeping in the nest boxes. I sometimes find a hen preferring to sleep in a nest box. Don't know why, but it happens, and then they go back to normal maybe a day or two later.

 

[Chick2020]

Okay, Thank you so much for your advice!

 

[Chick2020]

Well, in that case, if she is really broody (this article can help you tell), then you'll want to 'break' her.

How I would do it is to repeatedly take her out of the nesting box for a couple days. If that doesn't work, she'll likely need to go to 'broody jail'. This is basically a cage that prevents them from laying down and brooding. (it does not harm them. Add a roost, though. Chickens naturally roost, so not letting them lay down and fluff up won't hurt them. )

Here's an article for an outdoor broody breaker. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/outdoor-broody-breaker.76592/

Or, for something more simple, a wire dog crate with a roost sticking through the bars, a food and water dish is really all you need. NO bedding.

I will try that right now thank you so much!

 

[aart]

A bird might stay in the nest because she is a lounger(likes to hang out before and/or after laying).
Or she may be hiding from bullies.

My go to signs of a broody bird:
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?
If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

I break them most the time.
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.