Problems with Broodiness - any ideas or thoughts?

[Kakaruk]

Hello Friends,

I've had lots of broodiness this spring and now into the summer. I usually have been taking the brooders out and putting them into the small coop on 'lock down' with water and food for 2-3 days which seems to 'cure' them. However, I've had 2-3 hens that just seem to go back to brooding and it's affecting the behavior of the flock with aggressiveness, fighting, or picking at feathers etc. Anyway, we had an aggressive rooster early in this flock before I rehomed him and I'm thinking it affected the girls' behavior. I even suspect that the broodiness is like an anxiety reaction, the flock is jumpy and on edge, even after the rooster is long gone. I'm hoping the longer the rooster is gone the better they will get but IDK. Bottom line: any ideas on trying to help have less broodiness, I mean come on man, it's late July and we don't have any fertilized eggs. I have to keep separating the broodies into the small coop and it's a huge pain and extra work. Uuhhhggh!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

What breed(s) are your broodies?

 

[Kakaruk]

What breed(s) are your broodies?

It's a big mix. Some are white like a Leghorn mix, Olive Egger mix, dark brown hens.... It's 4 different ones in a flock of 14. I'm sharing the rooster messed them up. What do you think?

 

[FrostRanger]

I don't think the rooster had anything to do with it. Broody hens tend to make the rest of the flock grumpy too, some birds are just determined to hatch out chicks and the presence of a rooster doesn't change that. As for what to do about this annoying problem, collect eggs frequently as not collecting eggs enough can make it more likely you'll have a broody and maybe try a coop fan? Otherwise, just hang in there

 

[Finchbreeder]

You could give try moving these 4 to a seperate cage - as you have. But instead of returning them after a couple of days - double the timeout.
Not a guarantee - but sometimes extra time works with caged birds - so might with chickens.

 

[Perris]

I've had 2-3 hens that just seem to go back to brooding and it's affecting the behavior of the flock with aggressiveness, fighting, or picking at feathers etc.

Why do you think it is these 2-3 hens' behaviour that's causing the aggressiveness etc.? What are they doing to make you think that?

Are they bored? Are they overheating? Are they short of protein? Are they enduring biting insects or parasites or unpleasant smells? There are lots of reasons why they may be getting irritable and snapping at each other.

Like FrostRanger I don't think the ex-rooster has anything to do with it. I suspect the broodies don't either.

Bottom line: any ideas on trying to help have less broodiness, I mean come on man, it's late July and we don't have any fertilized eggs.

I have had hens go broody into October. The breeding season is not over yet. And they don't know / care the eggs aren't fertilized. Broodiness is driven by hormones. They have no more control over it than you do over your hormones.

I have to keep separating the broodies into the small coop and it's a huge pain and extra work. Uuhhhggh!

You could just leave them be. That's what I've been doing this summer. One gave up after about 6 weeks. Three who started later are still there, approaching the same sort of time scales. I just lift them off once daily at dinner time, and they eat, bathe, poo, preen, drink, and go back, no fuss bar the shouting at the start. That's not a lot of work for me.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@Ridgerunner says that broody hens put on a layer of fat to sustain them for the several weeks they will be broody, up to about six weeks, and that when that fat is depleted they will stop being broody. So it seems to me you could basically do nothing and they will get over it eventually. But of course this means you will get no eggs from that hen for the duration.