preemptive time in broody buster?

[l'abeille]

I had a hen go full-on broody and she had to spend 5 days in the broody buster before she would stop setting. She just rejoined the flock yesterday. The first signs of broodiness were losing breast feathers and not squatting for me. Now another hen is losing feathers and not squatting. She is still laying.

Should I put her in the broody buster now, to pre-empt broodiness? Or should I wait until she stops laying? What is the best course of action? I really want eggs and cannot allow the hens to set for several reasons (although if things were different I would love to see them be mommies!).

 

[feathersnuggles]

I took mine off the nest at nights - putting her on the roost with the others, when she couldn't see her way back to the nest. I really think that was more important than anything else. The cool night air under her roost probably dropped her body temperature quite effectively.

Just gotta do it without fail, until you see she no longer goes to the nest at night. Mine became a bare-chested Blue Wyandotte, 10 months old, who got very aggressive with the rest of the flock due to her broodiness. She stuck to the nest, increasingly -- until I realized what was going on. I almost built a wire cage for her, but in the end it was persistent removal from the nest to the roost at night that broke her. She stopped laying eggs for 8 days. Actually she stopped laying towards the end of my breaking her and once she was broken, she didn't start up again for about a week. Just got her first egg yesterday.

 

[l'abeille]

Thanks, that's good info. so far she is still roosting, but I'll keep checking every night and move her if necessary. I hope that does the trick! the broody buster is mean and she's my fav.

 

[Backyard Hencam]

This is such good information!

I took mine off the nest at nights - putting her on the roost with the others, when she couldn't see her way back to the nest.

Thank you feathersnuggler. I'm going to try this when one of my hens get broody!