what do i do with a broody chicken?

[veggielover]

For the past few days one of my girls has been determined to keep her eggs away from me...... she's barely been out for food and water. Today she has come out to feed so i've taken all eggs..... was that the right thing to do? This is the first time this has happened and i've had her for about 2 years now, can i now expect my other 3 ladies to do the same?

[lynda66]

yes leaving eggs encourages the broodyness .... you could always get some fertile ones for her to hatch

[veggielover]

hmmmmm now there's a plan!! lol my friend has bantams, 1 hen 1 cock, she was getting eggs then suddenly they stopped..... or so she thought, hen decided that if she was gonna keep taking her eggs away from her she's gonna lay them outta sight...... we were having a clear up in the garden the other day when we noticed that betty had disapeared, we found her under the shed sitting on 3 eggs!!!! Can u imagine my friends face if she had got up one morning to find baby chooks running round..... lol

[lynda66]

baby chooks are lovely ... if she has a cock then she will probably get some soon

if you do want to put eggs under then leave a few eggs with her so she stays sitting then swap them for fertile ones

[di]

.....and give her a good dusting with red mite powder...even if you think you don't have a problem with them!!!
Oh!and Good Luck!!!....cos you know you want to!!!

[frias]

Out of my original 6 ex-batts, only one has ever gone broody, and she has now done it 4 times! I haven't got a cockerel and don't want to hatch eggs as I couldn't deal with any unwanted cockerels. I recognise the syntoms as soon as she starts now as persuade her otherwise.

[veggielover]

She's still broody!!!! i'm taking eggs away everyday but she just won't come out of the nest apart to eat and drink. I am the same as you frias, would love to give her fertilised eggs but can't deal with unwanted cockerels.........

I am now gonna try putting a marked hard boiled egg under her but am wondering if this would just prolong the problem?

[Nicos]

I think you have to decide if you want chicks or not.
If you do- keep her broody by letting her sit on an egg- you can buy wooden ones if that'd be easier. Then send off ASAP for fertile eggs.

OR

If not- turf her out of the nest area- it'll take her about 3 days to calm down if she's not allowed to sit on anything..and then about3-5 days before she starts to lay again( if I recall correctly!)

either way- make a decision ( the first one is obviously the best!!!)

[OverWyreGrower]

I've just 'broken' a broody Welsummer.... we didn't want any eggs hatching etc...

So... I got a small wire mesh crate (this was a dog crate for a small breed dog) and put her in it, outside, with water and only a little food.

I kept her in it for the whole weekend, just lifting the crate inside the bird shed at night.

Keeping them in the crate means a) they can't go and nest in the nest boxes, b) the wire crate (it has to be wire) enables air to circulate, cooling the broody chickens breast down, c) the short supply of food makes the body stop the broody process as the bird doesn't have enough energy to brood.

It sounds horrible, but all the other chickens stood round the crate for the duration of the day, so she wasn't lonely!

In fact, she is back in lay now, as we had our first egg off her yesterday!!

[RichmondHens]

Yup - Solution is as above or just let her sit it out and take away eggs daily. She will stop brooding naturally after about 4 weeks, if you don't mind not having any eggs from her. If you DO want eggs, then force her back into lay with the sin bin method, as above.

[OverWyreGrower]

Yup - Solution is as above or just let her sit it out and take away eggs daily. She will stop brooding naturally after about 4 weeks, if you don't mind not having any eggs from her. If you DO want eggs, then force her back into lay with the sin bin method, as above.

My hen wasn't even sitting on eggs! She was so focussed on being broody that the other hens were laying in the other 2 nestboxes and she never noticed

If one of them did have the cheek to sit in HER nestbox, she just sat on them instead

[Chuky cupcake]

A seperate crate or coup can turn her off broodyness, I'm told it's not supposed to be comfortable and a couple of days should do it. Maybe just blocking the nesting box for a short time may work, good luck.

[walldanzig]

He He it must be broody season. I've been told that a wire mesh crate will do it they can't settle. I stuck some eggs under mine and will hopefully see them hatch

[RichmondHens]

Definitely broody season! Have noticed yet another bantam making "the noise" and fluffing up this morning, although she's still out and about. Another day and she'll disappear off to the hedge I expect ......... sigh! That will bring current total number of broodies up to 6 ........... :-)

[Suechooks]

I've a nice ark all ready and am dying to buy some fertile eggs but not one of mine is showing any sign of even thinking about it!