Overly Broody Lady

[PlainChicks]

Ive got a Golden Wyandotte a little over a year old that has become severely broody! She sits in a nesting box all day every day with or without eggs. I’ve tried taking her out and making her stay out of the nesting boxes for over a week but it’s not breaking her of this. She doesn’t appear to be losing weight or feathers so she must be eating at some point. My other 4 girls pick on her when she’s outside, and she acts like the world is ending. Any suggestions on what I can do to help her? Thank you!

 

[azygous]

GLWs are notoriously intense broodies. I had one years ago that was so fierce when she was loaded with hormones that she once broke out of her broody cage where I was trying to break her.

That's what you need to do. Get a roomy dog crate with an open mesh bottom. No bedding, no solid surface that can reflect body heat. The objective is to cool the body temp so the hormones will dissipate.

The longer you wait, the longer it will take for the hormones to release their grip on her. You need to keep her in the cage day and night with food and water and maybe five minutes twice a day to dirt bathe and stretch her legs. But you need to grab her before she zips inside to a nest, which she will after about two minutes of being freed.

It can take as little as three days or as long as a week to break her. The test will be if she doesn't race right into a nest box when you let her out of the cage.

Keep the cage in the midst of maximum activity and in a well lighted spot. A fan set up to blow air under her will speed up the process.

 

[aldarita]

OMG I have 2 seven week GLW (first time)…. I will be crossing my fingers in big hopes that they don't become broody. The broody that is raising them since they were one day old is all I want regarding broodiness, she is certainly a hand full

 

[aart]

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
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.

Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.