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

[ebisu]

For those who let their hens brood but have no roosters, how do you do it? This is the second time my Cuckoo Maran went broody. The first time I put her in broody jail and it was a success but my mom let my aunt borrow the cage so I have no immediate way to break her. I was thinking of letting her break herself this time. What days typically will they break themselves and how many days in will be considered bad? (i.e. she's starving, aching, etc). We live in FL so thankfully, it's getting warmer around 60-70 F around this time.

I will try and take her off the nest a few times but I have work and school and I can't rely on my parents to help. I collect the eggs everyday but I leave duds in there to prevent nesting box wars and I'd hate to take those out too but if I have to I will (at the cost of the girls screaming their heads off).

I have no plans of hatching new chicks so giving her fertile eggs is out of the question.

 

[Sara S]

My hens haven’t gone broody really ever, but I also haven’t had chickens for a long long time

 

[Everose]

For those who let their hens brood but have no roosters, how do you do it?

I don't. The hens won't break themselves or just stop once the 21 days is up, they keep going, and it's unhealthy.
I would take the eggs and place icepacks under the hen to bring down her body temp, she should quit trying after a couple times.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

We once had a small group of chickens and Khaki ducks. Our ducks would never offer to brood their eggs, but our one and only hen to ever go broody got the mind and began to pick a spot. We relocated her into a safe area and gave her a group of duck eggs, and she actually hatched them for us!

 

[Aunt Angus]

For those who let their hens brood but have no roosters, how do you do it? This is the second time my Cuckoo Maran went broody. The first time I put her in broody jail and it was a success but my mom let my aunt borrow the cage so I have no immediate way to break her. I was thinking of letting her break herself this time. What days typically will they break themselves and how many days in will be considered bad? (i.e. she's starving, aching, etc). We live in FL so thankfully, it's getting warmer around 60-70 F around this time.

I will try and take her off the nest a few times but I have work and school and I can't rely on my parents to help. I collect the eggs everyday but I leave duds in there to prevent nesting box wars and I'd hate to take those out too but if I have to I will (at the cost of the girls screaming their heads off).

I have no plans of hatching new chicks so giving her fertile eggs is out of the question.

I have a rooster, but there is no breeding happening because I collect eggs 2x daily. But it depends on the broody. I have two who manage it just fine (eat, drink, dust bathe as needed) and usually quit after a few days. I have others who will kill themselves rather than get off the nest. For the really tough ones, I do broody jail for 2-3 days. One really stubborn Brahma ended up in my bathroom. Ice packs work for some. I wouldn't let mine go more than a couple of days. I find the longer you let it go unchecked, the harder it is to break them.

My FAVE thing to do is have them foster chicks! I'll pick up 2 or 3 from a feed store and put them under her at night.

 

[ebisu]

thanks for the advice! i'll definitely try those out sometime. She was attacking the other girls and preventing them from using any of the nest boxes (she's also top of the pecking order) so i couldn't wait for my mom to get the cage back from my aunt so i have her confined with food and water since yesterday in the large space under the coop connected to the run and completely ventilated/predator and rain proof. not sure if it'll work since there's solid ground underneath. I put up some roosting bars.

She just laid an egg! I understand that after going broody they won't lay eggs for a while but this confused me.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

I shoved five chilly, peeping, day-old Brahmas, right under her smokin’ hot fanny in the middle of the night… No more broody bootie!

 

[Crazychickengirl2]

I just let them sit but take the eggs to eat

 

[BDutch]

I just let them sit but take the eggs to eat

Do you know that a broody stops laying eggs and that its not good for the broodie’s health to sit in a nestbox more then 3 weeks?

 

[Crazychickengirl2]

Do you know that a broody stops laying eggs and that its not good for the broodie’s health to sit in a nestbox more then 3 weeks?

I don't do anything I just take the eggs