Semi broody hen?

[9reasons]

My girl hasn’t laid for about a week and for a few days now I know she is somewhat broody because she stays in the nest box and I have to turf her out and close the door to the coop during the day. She seems a little bit out of it and refuses food sometimes and goes a little bit dazed looking, but she is still eating a reduced amount and scratching around and dust bathing with the others, but she wants to keep going into the roost. Thankfully, my other two chickens aren’t laying yet so having the roost closed during the day is not an issue, but as soon as I open it, she goes straight in and goes to the next box. Tonight, I put a cardboard box in the nest box so now she’s laying outside the nest box in the roost where she usually sleeps. Is there anything else I need to do? Is it possible for a hen to be semi broody? She’s a beautiful girl and so super friendly I almost feel a bit sorry for her. I would appreciate any feedback.

 

[ManueB]

My girl hasn’t laid for about a week and for a few days now I know she is somewhat broody because she stays in the nest box and I have to turf her out and close the door to the coop during the day. She seems a little bit out of it and refuses food sometimes and goes a little bit dazed looking, but she is still eating a reduced amount and scratching around and dust bathing with the others, but she wants to keep going into the roost. Thankfully, my other two chickens aren’t laying yet so having the roost closed during the day is not an issue, but as soon as I open it, she goes straight in and goes to the next box. Tonight, I put a cardboard box in the nest box so now she’s laying outside the nest box in the roost where she usually sleeps. Is there anything else I need to do? Is it possible for a hen to be semi broody? She’s a beautiful girl and so super friendly I almost feel a bit sorry for her. I would appreciate any feedback.

I've been discovering and experiencing this semi broodiness state with two of my just laying pullets. I didn't know it was possible but I'm seeing what you describe. It seems going inside the nest sends them in broody trance, and sometimes for one of my pullet I could even see her falling in and out of broody state throughout the day. This has been lasting for a month now, I don't want to break them with the usual dog crate method because I feel it would be harsh on them. I get the impression they are confused with their new laying hormones.

What I do implies to be at home during the day. I check on them when they go in the nest and once they have laid I take the egg out from under them. Then, in ten minutes if they don't come out on their own I strongly entice them to come out by showing treats or scattering seeds toward the exit . Most days this work, if not, I actually take them out so as not to leave them longer than two hours in the nest and I block the nest for the rest of the day.
One of my pullet is now completely back to normal, but the other that had stopped acting broody started again, so I'm not sure it's working . I just don't want to lock them for two or three days, they are free rangers and I feel it would be very hard.

 

[9reasons]

I've been discovering and experiencing this semi broodiness state with two of my just laying pullets. I didn't know it was possible but I'm seeing what you describe. It seems going inside the nest sends them in broody trance, and sometimes for one of my pullet I could even see her falling in and out of broody state throughout the day. This has been lasting for a month now, I don't want to break them with the usual dog crate method because I feel it would be harsh on them. I get the impression they are confused with their new laying hormones.

What I do implies to be at home during the day. I check on them when they go in the nest and once they have laid I take the egg out from under them. Then, in ten minutes if they don't come out on their own I strongly entice them to come out by showing treats or scattering seeds toward the exit . Most days this work, if not, I actually take them out so as not to leave them longer than two hours in the nest and I block the nest for the rest of the day.
One of my pullet is now completely back to normal, but the other that had stopped acting broody started again, so I'm not sure it's working . I just don't want to lock them for two or three days, they are free rangers and I feel it would be very hard.

A month!? I was hoping she would snap out of it in a few days lol! I have read somewhere that they can stay like this for the 21 day period they would normally sit on eggs but I really hoped it would not last that long. There are no eggs as she has stopped laying but evidently they will sit on imaginary eggs! It bothers me that she’s not eating as much as she normally would…otherwise she seems happy enough outside with the other two but if I left her to her own devices she would stay in the nest box I don’t want to do the dog crate thing either, seems over the top…I wonder how people manage with 20 odd hens going broody? Hopefully some more advice will be forthcoming

 

[SueT]

They can stay broody for more than 21 days….they can go for a dangerously long time. They don’t eat enuf and they don’t lay, so it’s better to break the broody cycle asap. Four of my hens go broody often during summer. At the first sign of it, I get the hen into a wire bottom cage for 2 or 3 days/nights. Then she’s back to normal and starts laying again soon.

 

[ManueB]

They can stay broody for more than 21 days….they can go for a dangerously long time. They don’t eat enuf and they don’t lay, so it’s better to break the broody cycle asap. Four of my hens go broody often during summer. At the first sign of it, I get the hen into a wire bottom cage for 2 or 3 days/nights. Then she’s back to normal and starts laying again soon. View attachment 3395200

But my hens are only semi broody...they still lay, they still do half their days normally...they just have this thing when they go in the nest. If I manage to wake them up, they act normal again for the rest of the day. They would go nuts in a cage.

 

[9reasons]

They can stay broody for more than 21 days….they can go for a dangerously long time. They don’t eat enuf and they don’t lay, so it’s better to break the broody cycle asap. Four of my hens go broody often during summer. At the first sign of it, I get the hen into a wire bottom cage for 2 or 3 days/nights. Then she’s back to normal and starts laying again soon. View attachment 3395200

Omg I have found a round worm in one of her droppings, and once I googled it all, it is all the symptoms that she has, and I now feel so bad, but I did worm her straight away. I thought you only had to worm about once every six months? Anyway, now I need to know how to get rid of roundworms thoroughly

 

[Ridgerunner]

Omg I have found a round worm in one of her droppings, and once I googled it all, it is all the symptoms that she has, and I now feel so bad, but I did worm her straight away.

I'm glad you found your problem. If she has roundworms they all do so you need to treat all of them.

I thought you only had to worm about once every six months? Anyway, now I need to know how to get rid of roundworms thoroughly

I think you'll find with chickens you need to be flexible. There are a lot of things considered "rules" on this forum that I find to be pretty rigid. I find it better to go by what I see instead of blindly following what people say I should see or do. For example, I've never treated for roundworms because mine have never had them. I totally ignore that 6 months rule you mentioned.

To try to clear up some misunderstandings and offer my opinions. Before a hen or pullet starts to lay they store up a lot of excess fat. That fat is what they mostly live off of when broody. That's so they can spend practically all their time on the nest instead of needing to look for food and water. They still go off of the nest occasionally to eat, drink, poop, and maybe take a dust bath but usually not that often. I've had a broody hen come off of the nest twice a day for over an hour each time and I had one come off once a day every morning for about 15 minutes. Some I never see off of the nest but I know they are coming off because they are not pooping in the nest.

They will lose weight while broody but that is fat put there for that very purpose. It does not hurt them, that is what is supposed to happen. That fat can last for much longer than 3 weeks. There is no rigid number of days or weeks that fat can last, it can vary by hen and how much she eats when she comes off of the nest but I never worry as long as it doesn't go beyond 5 weeks total. There is no science behind that 5 weeks, just an arbitrary number I picked. If it will be 5 weeks before she hatches I don't give her eggs. I do set some guidelines for myself. If it is going to be more than five weeks before eggs hatch or I don't want her to hatch I break her from being broody.

I just don't want to lock them for two or three days, they are free rangers and I feel it would be very hard.

You might consider this. If she is broody she does not want to free range. She wants to stay on the nest. Yes, she will be upset because she wants to be on the nest, not because she misses free ranging. The sooner she breaks from being broody the sooner she is out free ranging, mingling with her flock, laying eggs, chasing grasshoppers and enjoying life as a chicken.

My test to see if a broody hen is committed enough to deserve eggs is that she has to spend two consecutive nights on the nest instead of sleeping in her normal spot. There are many different signs that a hen might be broody. I've had hens go two weeks showing some or many of those signs without passing the two consecutive nights test. Often they break themselves but occasionally one will flip over to being a fully committed broody. I don't do anything to break these uncommitted partially broody hens.

You can do as you wish with yours. I consider it kinder to break a broody if you are not going to let her raise some babies than to let her hopelessly continue.

 

[ManueB]

I don't do anything to break these uncommitted partially broody hens.

You can do as you wish with yours. I consider it kinder to break a broody if you are not going to let her raise some babies than to let her hopelessly continue.

I was thinking of letting them hatch in spring. I'm not set for hatching inside, it's too cold now, and they are only eight months. I will certainly follow your point with the two nights in the nest- I need to anyway, because I want to switch their bantam eggs for standard eggs that my neighbor will give me.

As to now, if I take them out of the nest not letting them stay for more than two hours, they stop acting broody for the rest of the day, so this is why I don't feel I should break them in a cage. Once they are out of the nest and out of the broody trance, they don't come back to the nest. It would be like locking a healthy chicken in a cage for two days.

Or do you suggest I should leave them in the nest as long as they don't come out on their own, so that they really become fully broody, and then break them in a cage ? I am hoping they will come out of it without having to do that. But it does seem as soon as one goes back to normal the other starts screaming and puffing when she enters the nest .

 

[Ridgerunner]

Or do you suggest I should leave them in the nest as long as they don't come out on their own, so that they really become fully broody, and then break them in a cage ? I am hoping they will come out of it without having to do that. But it does seem as soon as one goes back to normal the other starts screaming and puffing when she enters the nest .

They can be really aggravating, they usually don't do what you want them to and certainly not when you want them to. I think you can go either way. It will not hurt them.

 

[rosemarythyme]

It would be like locking a healthy chicken in a cage for two days.

It really wouldn't do them any harm. I've isolated chickens for any number of reasons (my breaker/isolation units are always kept in the run or the coop) and once they're out, they just go back to normal.