My Broody Hates Chicks . . . .

[goldies99]

haaaa....if she is mean i would get rid of her Too!!!!....how are you trying to break her???.....this is how i break my broodys...and it has never let me down...the way to break her is to put her in cage off the ground...(set it on a table or something) away from the coop....(so she cant see the coop)....with a wire bottom and no bedding.....something like a rabbit cage....this will allow her body to cool, and bring her temp down....keep her in a well lite space...(but not in beating sun)...or if you put her in a garage, keep a light on her 24/7 ....keep her in the broody breaker for 3 days....or longer, till she breaks.....i have some hens that take a week or more to break....make sure she has water and food in her cage at all times....when you take her out of the broody breaker, if she runs back to the next boxes she should go back in.....

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

A few years ago two of my bantams went broody. Libby had gone broody first with Lucille going broody sometime later. They both sat on the same nest covering the same eggs. One day I had peaked in the coop and found a half-dead chick. I brought it in the house and tried to save it. Sadly it didn't make it. Sometime later, another chick hatched, same problem. Finally I caught Libby pecking at a chick that was hatching. I got her out as quickly as I could. She acted like she didn't even care! Thankfully, though, there was Lucille. She managed to hatch one more chick which was Lucy.
Lucille had another hatch of chick the next year.That time I had switched her eggs with standards'. That was the last time she has gone broody. Lucy has had two hatches herself. First was TSC Silkies and her latest was three of her very own. Those finished hatching yesterday.
Where is your hen in the pecking order? Some hens are bullies. Libby has always been at the top of the pecking order and she loves to attack and chase any hen that is bigger than her. I like to call her Queen Libby for she acts like the boss.
A hen attacking her chicks is not really that rare. Every time you have a new brooder you should watch it for the first few days. If your hen is known for killing frogs, mice, etc. chances are she'll attack chicks.
If you want an easy way to break her broodiness, try hanging a wire cage where she has no privacy and where she can't keep the underneath of herself warm ( I have never tried this, so I don't know if it works, but I have heard it works).
I had a hen who went broody just before I moved her to a new coop in a new flock. She had no access to her old nesting box. She tried everything to find a new nest which was including last years Christmas tree. She finally gave up, thankfully. She was a very skittish hen. Her name was Twilight. When she was younger she got bullied around some. I wouldn't trust a hen who has been bullied around chicks. I've seen it before where a bullied hen will become a bully. Has your hen ever been bullied by other hens?

 

[Peppercorngal]

haaaa....if she is mean i would get rid of her Too!!!!....how are you trying to break her???.....this is how i break my broodys...and it has never let me down...the way to break her is to put her in cage off the ground...(set it on a table or something) away from the coop....(so she cant see the coop)....with a wire bottom and no bedding.....something like a rabbit cage....this will allow her body to cool, and bring her temp down....keep her in a well lite space...(but not in beating sun)...or if you put her in a garage, keep a light on her 24/7 ....keep her in the broody breaker for 3 days....or longer, till she breaks.....i have some hens that take a week or more to break....make sure she has water and food in her cage at all times....when you take her out of the broody breaker, if she runs back to the next boxes she should go back in.....

I tried to break her by putting her in the brooder cage. It didn't work. I now have chicks in the brooder, so I have nothing else that I can "put her in". It is 100 degrees daily here now, and our garage is metal and very hot. Even if I had a cage I couldn't put her in there. I don't have a shady place away from the flock and no cage so she will remain like she is for now. She is really a sweet chicken, not the top of the pecking order, and not the bottom. She is friendly to people, lets me touch her and pick her up without issues. I've never seen her bullied by the flock either. I have a crippled up Buff Orp (Buffy) that is the picked on chicken. She was mauled by a dog as a chick and walks funny, looks like she has wry neck. She lays everyday anyway! Broody girl is just a Mystery. . . .

 

[Peppercorngal]

A few years ago two of my bantams went broody. Libby had gone broody first with Lucille going broody sometime later. They both sat on the same nest covering the same eggs. One day I had peaked in the coop and found a half-dead chick. I brought it in the house and tried to save it. Sadly it didn't make it. Sometime later, another chick hatched, same problem. Finally I caught Libby pecking at a chick that was hatching. I got her out as quickly as I could. She acted like she didn't even care! Thankfully, though, there was Lucille. She managed to hatch one more chick which was Lucy.
Lucille had another hatch of chick the next year.That time I had switched her eggs with standards'. That was the last time she has gone broody. Lucy has had two hatches herself. First was TSC Silkies and her latest was three of her very own. Those finished hatching yesterday.
Where is your hen in the pecking order? Some hens are bullies. Libby has always been at the top of the pecking order and she loves to attack and chase any hen that is bigger than her. I like to call her Queen Libby for she acts like the boss.
A hen attacking her chicks is not really that rare. Every time you have a new brooder you should watch it for the first few days. If your hen is known for killing frogs, mice, etc. chances are she'll attack chicks.
If you want an easy way to break her broodiness, try hanging a wire cage where she has no privacy and where she can't keep the underneath of herself warm ( I have never tried this, so I don't know if it works, but I have heard it works).
I had a hen who went broody just before I moved her to a new coop in a new flock. She had no access to her old nesting box. She tried everything to find a new nest which was including last years Christmas tree. She finally gave up, thankfully. She was a very skittish hen. Her name was Twilight. When she was younger she got bullied around some. I wouldn't trust a hen who has been bullied around chicks. I've seen it before where a bullied hen will become a bully. Has your hen ever been bullied by other hens?

No, broody is not the bottom of the pecking order and has not been bullied. Neither is she a bully to others. She is people friendly and fits into the flock as far as I can see. She just hates chicks!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

No, broody is not the bottom of the pecking order and has not been bullied. Neither is she a bully to others. She is people friendly and fits into the flock as far as I can see. She just hates chicks!

I've had hens that were very people friendly. Neither one of them would I ever trust around chicks. It's the personality they have. They appeared smarter than the other hens and would do things that none of my other hens would do. They never went broody, though. Possibly that has something to do with it?

 

[goldies99]

if she is truly broody, it is unlikely she will break by herself....and it isnt healthy to let her sit in a next box all day....

 

[Peppercorngal]

if she is truly broody, it is unlikely she will break by herself....and it isnt healthy to let her sit in a next box all day....

I don't let her sit in a nest box "all day". In a previous post I said that I make her leave the box at least twice a day. She also will leave to eat and drink and wander a bit on her own. I gave lettuce to the flock today and she came out to partake with the others. Don't worry, I won't let her die in a box!

 

[aart]

or as husband says "she'd make a good dinner".

Yep, name her 'soup'.

I tried to break her by putting her in the brooder cage.

Was the brooder cage wire bottomed and up off the ground?

 

[chickens really]

Hello..So you didn't have actually any eggs under her at all and then got outside Chicks for her to mother. I'm thinking she didn't understand what was going on. A Broody Hen should set on eggs. Once the eggs internally pip she hears them in the eggs before they externally pip and then hatch.
Possibly she would be a great mother if the process is done naturally..

 

[Peppercorngal]

Hello..So you didn't have actually any eggs under her at all and then got outside Chicks for her to mother. I'm thinking she didn't understand what was going on. A Broody Hen should set on eggs. Once the eggs internally pip she hears them in the eggs before they externally pip and then hatch.
Possibly she would be a great mother if the process is done naturally..

I guess you didn't read the entire thread (I understand why you wouldn't) but Broody sat on and hatched chicks before. Naturally. The chicks hatched during the night and I found them dead in the morning. I didn't know at that time whether the rooster killed them, or the other hens, or what happened. I know now. . . .