Official BYC Poll: What Do You Do With Broody Hens?

[ChicKittyHouse]

I have a Barnvelder, Spice, who goes broody about once a month if she doesn't have chicks. Sometimes I break her. I have a dog crate in the run so she's not isolated, but it can take a week to break her! I let her sit a couple of times a year. She currently has 2 babies that are 8 weeks old. She will usually take care of them for 10 to 12 weeks. When I do get an egg from her it's beautiful! I'm usually able to sell the ones I don't want to keep.

 

[K0k0shka]

I have a Barnvelder, Spice, who goes broody about once a month if she doesn't have chicks. Sometimes I break her. I have a dog crate in the run so she's not isolated, but it can take a week to break her! I let her sit a couple of times a year. She currently has 2 babies that are 8 weeks old. She will usually take care of them for 10 to 12 weeks. When I do get an egg from her it's beautiful! I'm usually able to sell the ones I don't want to keep.

I have a Barnevelder that goes broody often, too, and she’s not content with raising just one batch per year - she keeps wanting more! I didn’t expect this. I’d read that this breed isn’t prone to broodiness.

 

[SubArcticFowl]

I am watching this thread closely. I am hoping I have a hen go broody this spring and then I'll get some fertile eggs to put under her.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Mostly I allow them to brood chicks but when I want to break a broody I use broody jail for 3 days, 3 nights - a wire bottom cage in the main coop at night and outside during the day so still within the flock.
I allow them to brood within the flock unless there is an issue then I will seperate.
I only have Silkies so lots of broody mummas each year currently 3 are broody, 2 are raising 3 chicks each and another is sitting on 8 eggs. My 9.5 year old started laying again so she may go broody in a few weeks too.
I do like to eat eggs though so I try to have just one or 2 brood at a time! It's many months before I get eggs from a broody -3 wks to hatch plus around 12 wks raising them. Nowonder my old hen is still laying because she broods so often

I nearly lost one of the chicks the other day to a black bird, crow I think, swooped down but mumma Puff attacked and I ran to help. Lucky all are ok They all stayed in the enclosed run area the rest of that day.

 

[Ascholten]

I have one that gets this way every so often. Knocking her off the nesting box a few times typically stops this behavior. Sometimes I have to go out at night and do this too. A time or two sleeping on the floor and she stops the broods real fast. One time I did have to put her in her own cage and let her do a solo sabbatical for about a week to stop the behavior.

Hopefully we don't have to deal with this anymore because it IS annoying. She gets to the point where the other girls will try to go in there to lay and she's harrassing them, and then squabbles happen when she wants to grab the egg the moment it falls out the others pooper and roll it under her.

 

[_Moon_]

I let them wing it, lol.

 

[Feather father]

So I'm looking into breeding a chicken that could if given the opportunity to raise chicks on there own I would separate broodyhens and then I would introduce a rooster I've studied intensively to determine the traits I want

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I haven't had a broody hen...yet

 

[M-H-Fielding]

A hen goes broody because she wants to sit on a nest and hatch chicks. During that time the hen can be very protective, growl, peck, and your sweetest hen could turn into a meany. The hen will get a clutch of eggs and sit on them even if they are not her own.

So what do you do with broody hens? Place your vote above, and please elaborate in a reply below if you chose "Other".

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Further Reading:

• Signs you have a broody hen
• Guide to Letting Broody Hens Hatch and Raise Chicks
• Broody Hens Vs. Incubators The Pros And Cons

(Check out more exciting Official BYC Polls HERE!)

I have a broody who will only sit on turkey eggs IDK why. She refuses her own eggs, pushes them out of the nest.
She also seems to have memory problems.

 

[PioneerChicks]

If I'm in a position for chicks, I let them brood. I separated my first broody but don't anymore, so long as the other chickens don't knock over the chick waterers and cause more work for me.

If I have to break them, I use a few different methods depending on the situation. I typically take the eggs away and kick them off the nest several times a day. In more severe cases I use the broody box (pen or cage with open-wire bottom to get air under the hen).