Why is our Wyandotte hen broody again?! 2nd time

[tomkat1]

We have a Blue Lace Wyandotte that just turned a year old in May. Around that time she went broody and was that way for about 2 months. Late June she recovered and was fine, but now just the other day she went broody again! We cannot and do not want to have any Roosters. Our Rhode Island Reds and our older Barred Rock have never gone broody, neither did our Isa Browns. This broody behavior is confusing to us. How can we break her before winter sets in?

 

[chickenMamee]

We have a Blue Lace Wyandotte that just turned a year old in May. Around that time she went broody and was that way for about 2 months. Late June she recovered and was fine, but now just the other day she went broody again! We cannot and do not want to have any Roosters. Our Rhode Island Reds and our older Barred Rock have never gone broody, neither did our Isa Browns. This broody behavior is confusing to us. How can we break her before winter sets in?

Put her in something that has wire mesh bottom with no bedding. Or in my case, I have a large dog crate that I’ve put broody hens in. No bedding with just food and water. I’ll keep her on my screened porch like that for about two days and it usually works.

 

[SueT]

X2 to post #2. Two months is way too long to let a hen be broody, it can become life threatening. If you don't want to hatch chicks, break the broodiness asap, as described above. If 2 days and nights doesn't do the trick put her back in for another 2 days.
Some hens are just brooders, and you may have to use the broody jail on a regular basis. I have one that goes broody once a month during warm weather!
Good luck!

 

[mixedbreeds]

I to use a small wire dog cage I think they are 24”x36” with just food and water. Make sure the air can flow in from the bottom. Sometimes they can be very determined might take 4 or 5 days but they will stop being broody but they could go broody again so you will need to start over all depends on the bird.

 

[aart]

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, 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.

Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[sourland]

Realistically she will likely continue to go broody throughout her lifetime. I have had some hens brood/hatch as many as 5 clutches in a year.

 

[john_wrightson2003]

Put her in something that has wire mesh bottom with no bedding. Or in my case, I have a large dog crate that I’ve put broody hens in. No bedding with just food and water. I’ll keep her on my screened porch like that for about two days and it usually works.

Thats what i was gonna say.

 

[aart]

Realistically she will likely continue to go broody throughout her lifetime. I have had some hens brood/hatch as many as 5 clutches in a year.

True Dat!
I had one that hatched a batch in March then I broke her 7 times over the summer.
Finally gave her away and she never went broody again.<shrugs>

 

[tomkat1]

Put her in something that has wire mesh bottom with no bedding. Or in my case, I have a large dog crate that I’ve put broody hens in. No bedding with just food and water. I’ll keep her on my screened porch like that for about two days and it usually works.

Thank you we have a large dog crate that we raised the chicks in until ready for the coop. We will try this. This is quite frustrating as we have had a variety of hens raised from chicks since 2014 and have never had a broody one before.

 

[tomkat1]

X2 to post #2. Two months is way too long to let a hen be broody, it can become life threatening. If you don't want to hatch chicks, break the broodiness asap, as described above. If 2 days and nights doesn't do the trick put her back in for another 2 days.
Some hens are just brooders, and you may have to use the broody jail on a regular basis. I have one that goes broody once a month during warm weather!
Good luck!

Thank you, we will try this. Out of 14 chicks to hens in 5 years we have never encountered broodiness until this one.