Need Help with Broody Hen

[Hen Power]

I have an Ameraucana that went broody about 3 months ago. But I wasn't able to find her nest - she probably has about 100 eggs in her hidey hole now.. She would come out of her secret location at about 5 a.m. to eat and drink and poof, be gone again. I caught her this morning and have her in a cage.

My question is.... how long do I keep her caged to get her out of her broodiness. I'm at my wits end with this bird.

Thanks in advance

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I have an Ameraucana that went broody about 3 months ago. But I wasn't able to find her nest - she probably has about 100 eggs in her hidey hole now.. She would come out of her secret location at about 5 a.m. to eat and drink and poof, be gone again. I caught her this morning and have her in a cage.

My question is.... how long do I keep her caged to get her out of her broodiness. I'm at my wits end with this bird.

Thanks in advance

Oh my. Probably 3-4 days. Given how long she's been broody I'd keep her in a full four days and on the night of day for put her on the roost bars in the coop and see how things go in the morning. If she tries to go back to a nest box or her hidey hole, put her back in broody jail for another 2-3 days but I doubt that will be necessary.

 

[Hen Power]

Thanks. I have her in a large dog cage now. I have it covered as she was terrified when I caught her. She'll be jailed until she gets probation!.

 

[Sunshine_Chick]

I kept my easter egger in for 3.5 days. I also "dunked" her in a bucket of cool water each day. Fill a bucket with cool water & place her in it for ~5 mins. Mine didn't fight me at all. You can look-up the bucket method. The idea is to cool them down. Broodiness is a hormonal thing. Good luck!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Thanks. I have her in a large dog cage now. I have it covered as she was terrified when I caught her. She'll be jailed until she gets probation!.

Poor gal. I have a broody I let hatch eggs this spring and then broke her when she went broody again, and now she's broody for a third time so I'm saving more eggs. But come on, give me a break! Her name is Blue (because she's blue lol) but I have started calling her Pterodactyl after her famous broody Pterodactyl screeching.

 

[aart]

I have an Ameraucana that went broody about 3 months ago. But I wasn't able to find her nest - she probably has about 100 eggs in her hidey hole now.. She would come out of her secret location at about 5 a.m. to eat and drink and poof, be gone again. I caught her this morning and have her in a cage.

My question is.... how long do I keep her caged to get her out of her broodiness. I'm at my wits end with this bird.

Thanks in advance

3 Months!!!
I take it you don't have a cock/erel?
Have you other birds been laying out there too?
May take longer to break her if she's really been broody that long.


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 on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[Sonya9]

Wow. That hen may have lost a lot of weight after sitting for 3 months. Please make sure she is encouraged to eat plenty.

Next time please collect the eggs and don't let it go on for this long. The situation would be equally bad if some of those eggs were fertile as a couple might hatch but the rest would be further behind in the incubation and would die in the shell.

If you decide you want to have a broody hatch out chicks or raise babies please research how to do it the first or second day she starts to sit on eggs. A hen house is NOT a natural environment to hatch out eggs and special steps need to occur at the very start to have a successful hatch without embryos or chicks dying unnecessarily due to the unnatural environment.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Wow. Next time please collect the eggs and don't let it go on for this long. The situation would be equally bad if some of those eggs were fertile as a couple might hatch but the rest would be further behind in the incubation and would die in the shell.

If you decide you want to have a broody hatch out chicks or raise babies please research how to do it the first or second day she starts to sit on eggs. A hen house is NOT a natural environment to hatch out eggs and special steps need to occur at the very start to have a successful hatch.

I think the original poster said she wasn't able to find the nest. I can vouch from experience that hens are good at hiding eggs. I once found a nest with 23 eggs in it.

 

[Sonya9]

I think the original poster said she wasn't able to find the nest. I can vouch from experience that hens are good at hiding eggs. I once found a nest with 23 eggs in it.

With 100 eggs all the other hens found the nest. Plus the first night the hen didn't return to the hen house is a sign she is either trapped, dead or is sitting on a hidden nest somewhere!

My bantam hen laid 12 eggs in the woods this spring, I knew she was laying them (could hear the egg song in the woods) and when she didn't sleep in the henhouse one night I knew she was sitting and followed her back to the nest site the next day (it was hidden in thick brush and not easy to find but it was located that day and moved).

 

[aart]

With 100 eggs all the other hens found the nest.

I think the 100 eggs was an exclamation, not a fact.