It's been over 3 weeks and our hen is still EXTREMELY broody

[beany_bot]

Hi folks. I need help breaking our hens broodiness it's crazy how intense it is.
Been at least 3 weeks now. Maybe getting g closer to a month. She is a young buff Orpington and has only been laying a couple of months.

Things I've tried.

Ice pack under her (many times)
Removing her from nesting box
Putting her on roost after dark
Time...
Removing any eggs quickly.
Getting her outside the run.
She still remains broody, puffed up, clucking, and determined to be broody.

If she can't get in the nesting boxes (I've blocked them) she just behaves broody below them in the floor.

What else can I try? Must be impacting her health now. I have to force her to eat and drink.

 

[nuthatched]

Do you have a dog crate? Put her in it, no bedding, a roost and food/water.

 

[Debbie292d]

Having been raising/breeding silkies for the past 9 years, I'm used to broodies.

We use an XXL dog crate, due to having five broody at the same time. If you only have one at a time, you wouldn't need this huge of one.

We put a 2x4 in the bottom for them to roost on.

We have a feeder that is a small bucket with hooks so they can't spill their food.

We use a nipple bottle attached to the top so they can't spill their water.

It's placed inside our breeding coop, so they are safe from predators, and I can leave the light on all night.

It takes about 4-5 days.

 

[beany_bot]

I dont have a dog crate. and really not even sure where I would put it if I had one!

 

[beany_bot]

Does it have to have a wire floor? I've found some locally but they all have a sort of "baking tray" metal sheet floor.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Doesn't have to be a crate if you don't have one, anything similar will do - I've used dog exercise pens, even a brooder. The important thing is the hen shouldn't be allowed to go back to the nest at all until broken. A crate is ideal (especially elevated) because it lets air get under her to cool off her belly.

Realistically it's been this long already that she might break simply due to duration, however some birds don't seem to know when to stop.

 

[RoyalChick]

Does it have to have a wire floor? I've found some locally but they all have a sort of "baking tray" metal sheet floor.

Mine are like that. Turn it upside down. Make sure air flows under her.
My Tassels was broody for 6 weeks. She is nuts!
Only thing that works with Tasseks is to pack the floor of the cage with ice (I make ice bricks in takeout containers). She has a small piece of 2x4 so her feet don’t sit on the wire or the ice, but her chest gets nice and cold and wet!
Here she is mad at me because of the cage and the ice.

 

[beany_bot]

Mine are like that. Turn it upside down. Make sure air flows under her.
My Tassels was broody for 6 weeks. She is nuts!
Only thing that works with Tasseks is to pack the floor of the cage with ice (I make ice bricks in takeout containers). She has a small piece of 2x4 so her feet don’t sit on the wire or the ice, but her chest gets nice and cold and wet!
Here she is mad at me because of the cage and the ice.
View attachment 4165403

How does that ordeal take her to "snap out of it"?

 

[RoyalChick]

How does that ordeal take her to "snap out of it"?

I am still learning (fortunately she gives me many opportunities to experiment!).
So far I have found that excluding her from the nest and or putting her in the cage make no difference. She would stay broody for forever!
I have never let her go past 6 weeks and the times I have used ice blocks she snapped out of it within 24 hours. In summer heat that means multiple additions of ice each day!
I have never tried ice early on in her process so I don’t know if it would be effective after only a few days, but after 3-6 weeks it has worked.
By the way I use ice not ice packs because I think maybe getting her chest all wet from the ice may help.

 

[beany_bot]

How do you know when she is no longer broody?