Letting Broody Hens Lie...

[StevenMNielson]

I have a BO, Daisy, who went broody about 3 weeks ago. Instead of trying to break the brood by the cage method, I figured I would just move her to the roost by hand at night and in the morning to get some scratch and water. She takes the morning 5 minutes to dirt bath, pooh, and grab a fast nibble before she runs back to the empty nest.

Question: this will end on its own, right? I mean, without little peepers popping up. I wanted to let this thing run its course, but now it is getting to me a bit. I want eggs and a happy hen... not this beast that replaced my happy Daisy

Should I have just broken the brood? Or is 21 days of patience going to pay off soon?

Thanks,

Steve

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

hell sit on the eggs till they hatch even if there arent any eggs.... i would get her some hatching eggs

 

[3goodeggs]

OH! I know that hen! It was at about three weeks when my first BO broody woke up.
But there were five others to replace her. It backs up the egg layers in a bad way. This Saturday I am trying the blue coolie block under the crate nests and see if we can't get this to finish up already. Mean hens are not fun.

...and the other girls have their legs crossed waiting in line for the only open nest box.
I feel your pain.

 

[Kittymomma]

It really depends on the hen. Many of them will give up after a few weeks or a month, but some of them are stubborn about it and will try for months which can affect their health since they don't care for themselves very well while broody. I think it's best to break them right away if you're not going to give them fertile eggs or graft day old chicks onto them. It seems mean I know, but I really believe it's better for them then just letting it go.

If they are still selling chicks at your feed stores you could pick up a few and slip them under her at night. I just gave my bo 4 ee chicks last week and she is being a great mommy. She's the top hen so I just left her and the little ones in the main coop--nobody messes with "her" chicks!

 

[stuckinthecity]

...You could always look at it as the hen trying to add more laying hens to your flock. I would never waste a broody hen...but that's just me I guess. lol

 

[dixiedoodle10]

We had several hens that went broody and we finally let two of them set on eggs, between the two we got 5 chicks. One rooster and 4 hens! Now the broody hens went thru moult and look great now.