They've all gone mad! Whole flock broody!

[ManOverBoard]

Okay, so we've been having some interesting and odd behavior from the girls. We've never had a broody before so we weren't sure, but we're now definitely sure it's being broody. We were excited about having one broody, but now all of our 10 hens are acting broody! It's like a bunch of clowns trying to fit into a clown car...a whole bunch of them will pile into the same nest, they start making all these crazy noises too! We've got 5 nest boxes, but they all want one specific one! I ended up having to move it to a more central location in the coop just to make sure there was enough air flow to keep everyone cool enough. We've even got a fan on them now. They all pile in there so high that it's a three layer lasagna of hens, and they all start heavily panting. I lift everyone out and try to get them focused on something else, but they all end up back in the nest. Eventually someone gets too uncomfortable and jumps out only for another one who hasn't gotten in yet to join the party. It's just madness! Some of the girls are starting to exhibit very pale combs and I'm getting worried that there stressing each other out. They're already in recovery mode from our rooster we just rehomed, but this is just too much. We moved the girls to a newer bigger coop and sent Slick the rooster packing to give the girls some reprieve, but they're definitely not getting it with all this broodiness.

How can we help these girls. 10 broody hens in one coop all at once is just nuts!
Again, we've got no experience with broodiness but it seems to be spreading like a bad case of the chicken pox in our coop!
Everyone's about a year old.
And this behavior has just exploded in the last week.
Advice? Please!

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I think hens of various breeds can make their flock mates go broody, just as dominant roosters can make submissive roosters become more effeminate. They can influence each other’s hormones in ways I don’t think are well understood.

 

[CoopBoots]

Wow. Mind if I inquire as to breed? That's pretty impressive and (as far as I know) unusual behavior for an entire flock of that size!

Depending on your coop setup and whether or not anyone is still laying, I'd prevent access to the nestbox area and potentially the entire coop. You might choose one to sit, or two if you can get them to settle in different boxes, and then keep the rest outside (but safe) for the rest of the day for 2-4 days. I've had success breaking this way but I also had my broody sleeping on wire overnight to keep her cool/hormones hopefully down.

 

[LTAY1946]

Sounds to me like you need 10 nest boxes with doors and limit one hen to a box. Choose for them. Really I don't know the correct answer. I have 4 - 5 gone broody all at once but I've got 75-80 hens also. I have a problem keeping them from trying to set in rollout nest boxes.

 

[Sussex19]

Wow, never heard of a broody breaker before will investigate! Thank you!

Its basically any kind of dog crate, or similar, which can be raised off the ground.
That way, they hens get a breeze blowing under their feathers, and they are kept out of the nest.
It usually works within 3 or 4 days.
I didn't used to like the idea, but after seeing just how much easier it is, compered to looking after 6 or so broodys at once, I am a new fan, lol!

 

[BlueBaby]

2 buff Orpington and 8 bkack Australorp

Both of those breeds are known to go broody.

 

[CoopBoots]

We've got two buff Orpingtons and 8 black Australorps . Our big buff mamma was first to go followed by one of our Australorps. Id tried blocking it off, but then they started laying eggs in the floor of the coop and I was worried with the circus going on in there that an egg would get cracked and lead to egg eating. I like the separation idea. We've got mid fifties here at night. Do you think it would be too cool for the rest of the flock outside especially as they are missing feathers from our old rooster?

I have chickens that overnight in temperatures of that range with just tarp and good wire for shelter. Provided no storms, they stay dry, and the area is predator proof, I wouldn't be concerned about it for my girls, especially perched together. The coolness may actually work to your advantage.

 

[rosemarythyme]

It's really unfortunate timing for the girls to go all hay wire as we've got 17 chicks just feathered out in a small enclosure in the main coop trying to integrate. They're all very friendly with the chicks, do you think that's got something to do with it?

Actually, it can - the sounds from the chicks could've triggered some hormones. I've had that before.

 

[Sussex19]

I'd like it if one or two of them would adopt what hatches from the incubator now, but I don't want them all raising chicks. I'm already nearing my 25 chicken cap for my township. We've got roosters to cull but they're only young yet and not really big enough for eating. We're really only interested in chicks that could come from our buff Orpington girls, and we're nearing the end of the 21 day carry over from a rooster, although our young roosters are cheeky and do hop on the big girls when they're out for a visit during the AM feeding, (they're only 5weeks old though so no help there.)

What I would do, is decide which ones look like the best mothers, and then break all the others in a broody breaker (metal/mesh crate)
That should make it a lot easier to manage.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Wow, never heard of a broody breaker before will investigate!

That would save you a lot of headache, if you put them in use as soon as broodiness is verified - https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/broody-breaking-ala-aart.77915/