The broodiest chicken in the world.

[Penny P]

I'm a super-newbie here, and am pretty new at chicken-keeping. I manage a coop with 9 hens at a school, so the bird in question in not on my property and I am not there every day (we have a rotation of parent volunteers helping with care over the summer), which causes standard chicken maintenance questions to become more challenging (keeping water from freezing in the winter, cooping up ranging birds before dusk, etc.).

I have a broody bird. She went broody over the winter, and it was extremely cold so I was worried about her losing weight and becoming compromised to the low temps. Since school was in at the time, I was able to get to the coop frequently and physically remove her from the box regularly, and she seemed to snap out of the phase after two or three days.

She became broody again in early May, soon before school ended. I tried removing her again to see if I could convince her otherwise, but she was pretty persistent, and because the weather wasn't as much of a concern, I let her go. I check on her regularly, and she does leave occasionally to eat or drink, but she is otherwise found sitting in the same box, and she never goes out to range. We gently reach underneath her each day to collect eggs (is that cruel?), because most of our other birds join her in the same box to lay, and she then sits on everyone's eggs...If we didn't gather from underneath her, we would have no eggs!

Anyway, it is now almost mid-June, and she's still broody (I believe she is healthy, I don't think her remaining in the box is due to any kind of illness or injury). It seems like, since it has been more than a month, that she has entered another cycle of broodiness (is that a word?). What would you do in this situation? I hate for her to sit up there indefinitely with no chance of hatching babies. Should I try once again to break her behavior?

Someone has offered to get us some fertilized eggs for her to sit on, and that seems like a nice idea to me. Maybe if she actually hatches something, she will feel satisfied and move on? Does it work that way? But if I choose to do that, will I have to make special accommodations for her? Does she need to be separated from the rest of the flock or anything?

I would love any advice on how to proceed. Thanks!!

 

[Penny P]

Oh, and I'm not entirely sure of her breed, so feel free to weigh in with an opinion if you have one. I asked on the "What Breed is This" forum, and a couple of people have suggested Black Sexlink, which seems fair enough. Are they typically so broody? We have eight other birds, and none of them have ever been broody...just this lady.

 

[donrae]

Black sex link is as good a term as any. That's a common color to get when crossing any black and red birds.

If she's been broody a month, I'd be hesitant to give her fertile eggs as she may likely quit on them part way through incubation.

I don't like the idea of hens brooding with no purpose, I feel it takes a lot out of them for no reward. So, my advice would be to either break her or give her day old chicks. If you choose to break her, I'd use a wire cage suspended so air circulates under her. Give her food and water, and maybe a roost, but no nest. Just the wire cage bottom. 3-5 days in that does the trick for most broodys.

If you want to give her chicks, get them as young as you can. I've grafted chicks under a week to a hen easily, but my understanding is the chances decrease the older the chicks are. Conventional wisdom says to add the chicks at night, but rebel that I am

, I've often added them during the day with no problems.

 

[lazy gardener]

I like Donrae's suggestion, especially since this gal has been broody for so long. Are you sure she's broody? Does she spend the night on the nest? Is she flat like a pancake, does she get testy when you touch her? Will you have a place for her to keep the chicks away from the rest of the flock for at least a couple of days? You may want to read a few of the broody threads so you'll know what to expect, especially since her housing is a unique situation.