Random Broodiness Question...

[TuesdayChickens]

Er, it's worth noting that plenty of breeds go broody on air and straw, no clutch of eggs needed. We gather eggs pretty much daily here and I've had plenty of hens try to set on nothing.
Otherwise it's good info.

Do you think the broody would accept the eggs from other laying hens at that point? Just curious..

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Do you think the broody would accept the eggs from other laying hens at that point? Just curious..

Yes! This is a pretty normal thing people do, especially with shipped eggs. Sometimes (not always) you can even move a broody hen from their chosen nesting site and give them eggs there. Just slip the eggs you want hatched underneath them at night and wake up to them purring over them like a kitten and trying to bite you to keep you away. I like to let my girls set for about 4 days before I put eggs under them to make sure they're serious about it.

 

[TuesdayChickens]

Yes! This is a pretty normal thing people do, especially with shipped eggs. Sometimes (not always) you can even move a broody hen from their chosen nesting site and give them eggs there. Just slip the eggs you want hatched underneath them at night and wake up to them purring over them like a kitten and trying to bite you to keep you away. I like to let my girls set for about 4 days before I put eggs under them to make sure they're serious about it.

Ok cool, good to know! I have a smaller coop & yard next to my main yard, which is currently housing my pullets. I thought I would use that to keep any hen with chicks, but did wonder how they would take being moved once they went broody! Good to hear it's possible!

 

[TuesdayChickens]

Loving this community!! Thanks everyone for taking the time to answer and relate your experiences!! All really helpful advice!

 

[NatJ]

I thought I would use that to keep any hen with chicks, but did wonder how they would take being moved once they went broody! Good to hear it's possible!

Some people try to break broody hens (make them quit being broody). Sometimes it is easy, sometimes not. It's often done by moving the hen to a different coop, with no nest and nothing to make a nest with.

Some people try to move broody hens and have them set in a different place. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

I eventually decided to let the hens decide: when a hen goes broody, I move her to a separate coop with a nice nest and a few fake eggs in it, and she stays there for about three days. By the end of that time, she might be nicely setting on the nest, so I can give her eggs to hatch. Or she might spend those three days pacing back and forth, frantically trying to get back to her previous nest. A few days of that effectively breaks her broodiness, so she can get back to laying eggs.

I've decided that's much easier than me deciding which to do, and then trying to make the hen do it And it only requires one spare coop, not two set up in different ways.

 

[aart]

Here's all my broody notes:

My go-to signs of a broody:
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?

If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

​

I like to move them to set and hatch:
When I have a broody and want her to hatch I wait until she's been in the nest most the day and all night for 2-3 days...along with those other signs I posted.

Then I put her in the broody enclosure with fake eggs in the floor nest, she won't like being moved, but if she is truly good and broody she will settle onto the new nest within a half a day. Best to move them at night after dark.
Then I give her fresh fertile eggs and mark the calendar.

I like them separated by wire from the flock, it's just easier all around.
No having to mark eggs and remove any additions daily, no taking up a laying nest, no going back to the wrong nest after the daily constitutional.

I remove barrier about one week after hatch. The chicks are usually safe it's the broody who has to 'fight' her way back into the pecking order...which can be quick or take a few days.

Lots of space helps for re-integration.


Do you really want more birds?
You'll need to decide if you want her to hatch out some chicks, and how you will 'manage' it.

Do you have, or can you get, some fertile eggs?

Do you have the space needed? Both for more chickens and she may need to be separated by wire from the rest of the flock.

Do you have a plan on what to do with the inevitable males? Rehome, butcher, keep in separate 'bachelor pad'?

If you decide to let her hatch out some fertile eggs, this is a great thread for reference and to ask questions.

It's a long one but just start reading the first few pages, then browse thru some more at random. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/broody-hen-thread.496101/



Breaking a broody:
If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, IMO it's 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.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[NatJ]

I've seen one Spangled and two White Laced Red ones go broody, and that was all the ones I kept to laying age. I think the White Laced Red I had given to a friend went broody too.

Oops, not quite. When I look back at my notes from that year, one of the White Laced Red Cornish Bantams went broody several times, while the other did not at all. So 2 out of 3, not all three, went broody. They were hatched in late June, began laying sometime during the winter, and the ones that went broody did it sometime in the spring. I didn't keep them for a second year, because I needed to make space for some other chickens (not because of anything specifically wrong with those ones.)

 

[TuesdayChickens]

Here's all my broody notes:

My go-to signs of a broody:
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?

If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

​

I like to move them to set and hatch:
When I have a broody and want her to hatch I wait until she's been in the nest most the day and all night for 2-3 days...along with those other signs I posted.

Then I put her in the broody enclosure with fake eggs in the floor nest, she won't like being moved, but if she is truly good and broody she will settle onto the new nest within a half a day. Best to move them at night after dark.
Then I give her fresh fertile eggs and mark the calendar.

I like them separated by wire from the flock, it's just easier all around.
No having to mark eggs and remove any additions daily, no taking up a laying nest, no going back to the wrong nest after the daily constitutional.

I remove barrier about one week after hatch. The chicks are usually safe it's the broody who has to 'fight' her way back into the pecking order...which can be quick or take a few days.

Lots of space helps for re-integration.


Do you really want more birds?
You'll need to decide if you want her to hatch out some chicks, and how you will 'manage' it.

Do you have, or can you get, some fertile eggs?

Do you have the space needed? Both for more chickens and she may need to be separated by wire from the rest of the flock.

Do you have a plan on what to do with the inevitable males? Rehome, butcher, keep in separate 'bachelor pad'?

If you decide to let her hatch out some fertile eggs, this is a great thread for reference and to ask questions.

It's a long one but just start reading the first few pages, then browse thru some more at random. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/broody-hen-thread.496101/



Breaking a broody:
If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, IMO it's 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.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.
View attachment 2463857

Thank you so much! This is a great write-up!! Also, that picture of the grumpy hen in the crate is cracking me up! Chicken jail

 

[WindingRoad]

Good to know, I will keep an eye out for any broody behavior come springtime.. I do plan to get an incubator and hatch eggs regardless, but allowing a hen to raise her own just seems like a fun project! I would definitely keep the incubator then brooder at the ready in case anything wasn't working out.

Thanks for answering my questions! I am really just getting started in chicken keeping, and have a lot to learn!

You can look on various hatchery sites and in the description of a bird sometimes they will list if a bird has a tendency to be broody. I don't have a roo so I don't really want broody hens.