Repeatedly Broody - advice needed!

[MIchickenlady]

Hi everyone
My 1 y.o. Buff Orpington hen has been broody every 8-10 days since this spring. Over and over and over
I've made a broody breaker with a dog kennel, raised up on blocks so her belly is exposed, and she has spent SO much time in it this summer-I hate it for her when all she wants is to be a mama.
We have 4 hens, we live in village limits that only allows 6 hens max, no roosters. We *could* maybe get a fertilized egg or a baby chick and slip under her...but I have no idea where to get only 1 chick? Our coop size really could only handle 1 more chicken. But would giving her a chick to adopt just make her broodiness worse in the future?
What do I do with her? Shes very sweet and friendly, but she just wants to live in the nest box. Right at this moment she is baracaded in my kitchen on the linoleum floor with food & water cuz I couldnt bear putting her in the broody breaker yet again. Poor thing. I'm open to any and all ideas.
Thank you!!!

 

[Shadowfire]

If your community does not allow roosters because they crow too much, invest in a humane no-crow collar. You can get one from My Pet chicken.com.

 

[Peppercorngal]

I have a hen that has been broody almost from the day she was old enough to lay! Actually I named her "Broody"! Two weeks after she started laying she got broody. She stopped laying but would move from nesting box to box to sit on the other hen's eggs. When I would gather the eggs, she would stand on the roost and wait for a hen to lay an egg and then she would sit on that! She did this for a couple of weeks. Everyday I would take her off the nest and put her outside the coop. She would eat and drink and return to the nest! She got over being broody, oh, for about 2 weeks. Even laid a couple of eggs. Now it's the same thing all over again. When I enter the coop she blusters and puffs and tells me to get out! I'm not going to fight her hormones and I just take her off the nest once a day and let her be who she is! I don't really think "breaking a broody hen" is in the best interests of the hen and I don't mess with the roosters because they crow. That's what they do! I let my chickens be chickens. You may try to just let your hen be and take the eggs everyday. She will either sit or get over it! Good luck.

 

[EggWalrus]

If your community does not allow roosters because they crow too much, invest in a humane no-crow collar. You can get one from My Pet chicken.com.

I don't agree with the use of No Crow Collars since I had a rooster choke to death while wearing one when trying to eat a frog. As I understand it, a roo that had been "caponized" before he starts crowing, won't crow. There are lots of videos that show how to make a Roo into a Capon. Out of curiosity I decided to caponize one of my roos that just wouldnt quit fighting, to see if it would cool his heels. He had just started to try crowing and it sounded more like "I'm a Woo Woo" than "Cock a doodle do". A year later we changed his name from Mo (short for Mohamed Ali) to Little Woo Woo.
Big Bad Mo don't crow much any mo'.
He used to be the bird that the whole coop feared, now they all call him Sweet Pappa Woo Woo Dear. Big Bad Mo don't fight any more. And barely crows.

 

[Trish1974]

If you are not overly attached to her maybe you could offer her for sale as a broody, or advertise to trade her for a non-broody hen. If you were closer I'd buy her!

 

[KikiLeigh02]

I wonder if you let her have 2-3 chicks if you could sell them after she weans them? I'm not sure what the market in your area is like. @Trish1974 has a really good suggestion too! Trading for a non-broody hen might be a really good option for you!

 

[MIchickenlady]

If you are not overly attached to her maybe you could offer her for sale as a broody, or advertise to trade her for a non-broody hen. If you were closer I'd buy her!

oh, but I am attached to her!!-shes the sweetest hen, runs to me to pick her up and stroke her to calm her fluffy self down lol i really want to help her, i just dont know what else to do!! I cant get a roo-not allowed and frankly Im not interested. We're a girls only hen-club
Is it cruel to keep her if shes gona keep being perpetually broody? she has normal happy hen days, a few, and then shes back at being broody. sigh. HELP!

 

[MIchickenlady]

I wonder if you let her have 2-3 chicks if you could sell them after she weans them? I'm not sure what the market in your area is like. @Trish1974 has a really good suggestion too! Trading for a non-broody hen might be a really good option for you!

I need ideas about where to get 1-2 chicks or fertilised eggs?

 

[KikiLeigh02]

You could try local FB poultry groups, local classifieds, your state thread on BYC, or the buy/sell/trade forum!

 

[aart]

If you don't have space for more birds, don't get or hatch more birds.
If you must give her some eggs, try the Michigan state chat thread.
I have a serial broody this year I just keep putting her in the breaker...6 times since she hatched in March..think she's finally over it...but not holding my breath.