Broody already :(

[MontyJ]

One of our Australorps stayed on the nest all day yesterday. Dew had to take her off to get the one egg she was sitting on. Now she's sitting on a golf ball. I wonder how long it's going to take her to figure out it's not going to hatch.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It could take months. Its practically guaranteed she will stick for over a month if you dont do something. A hen builds up excess fat, especially the fat pad in the vent area. They live off this fat when they are broody. Thats why they can go so long without eating much while they are broody. Theyll lose a lot of weight while broody, but that is just excess fat until it runs out. Some will break from being broody then but some will just keep on going. Thats when it gets dangerous for them.

In my opinion, if a hen goes broody, you need to either give her fertile eggs to hatch, chicks to raise, or you need to break her. If you want fertile eggs let me know real soon and Ill get a half dozen in the mail to you. Im going to a wedding this weekend so they will need to be in the mail by Thursday. Ive still got your address. Or I can ship them the middle of next week.

If you decide to break her, you can read all kinds of ways; throw her off the nest (never worked for me) dunk her in cold water or make her sit on ice (never tried either). The way Ive always used and have always been successful is to put the broody hen in a raised cage with a wire bottom. Put food and water in there, even a roost if you want, but no bedding and nothing that looks like a nest. You want the air to blow on her bottom and cool her. Keep her in there for three full days and nights. If she heads back to her nest when you let her out, do it again, maybe for 4 days. Ive never had to do it a second time but some hens might be more stubborn than others.

My way to tell if a hen is really broody is that she stays on the nest for two consecutive nights instead of roosting in her normal place. Them going broody is caused by hormones. Ive had several act like they are going broody, even as far as spending one night on the nest, but never kick over into full broody mode.

 

[so lucky]

Sounds like good advice! (like button) I have had a girl sit for hours in the nest, but she has always come out on her own so far.

 

[bj taylor]

is it odd for chickens to go broody when winter is coming?

 

[Ridgerunner]

BJ, in the wild, yes. But chickens have been domesticated. They are not wild anymore. Weve messed with their instincts to get them to lay so many eggs for so long at a stretch. Another possible factor is that some people provide extra light to get them to lay during the winter. That can mess with their instincts too.

Ive had three try it in the last month, all hatched early this spring. I dont have room for any more chicks so they get the broody-buster. I do not provide any extra light so that was not a factor with mine. More do go broody in spring or summer, but its just that they are now domesticated. Nothing is really unusual.

 

[dewdropsinwv]

As far as I know she didnt sleep in the nest box, I checked last night before I closed the coop. She was on the roost, When I opened the coop to let them out she was outside, just checked again, she was in the same box....just sitting.

 

[canesisters]

You could try what I'm doing. One of my hens went broody a while back - I was so tickled that I let her hatch them even though my rooster was a mean SOAG. Well, his 2 sons are starting to show some of the same behavior and I'm going to find out eventually if I really CAN process my own birds.
ANYWAY - she went broody again and since I don't have a mature roo right now, I put the word out to some local folks. One of my not to far neighbors is trying to hatch some dorking eggs but her incubator isn't working right so she's going to bring a dozen or so eggs Friday. We'll see how Nova does. She'll pick them back up once they hatch and brood them herself at home - but depending on how the hatch goes, I might keep one or two. Dorkings are cool birds.

 

[journey11]

Of the few breeds I've tried so far, the australorps were the most broody. Usually you get this ONE hen, who wants to do nothing but sit around all day. I put mine in a cage for isolation and put her in the basement and limited her to 8 hours of light per day, so she'd think it was winter and a bad time to try to hatch chicks. It worked, but a month or two later, she'd be back at it again...and back in the basement! Although, if you want to hatch your own eggs someday, it is nice to have a good broody around. Good luck!

 

[dewdropsinwv]

Well, there's only one problem with this one going broody...... no roo! We gave our roos away a few months back. no one close by has chickens besides me. I will just keep taking her out of the box until she gets the idea. I take her out of the box and she will just sit on the floor of the coop. If I take her out to the run she will just sit on the ground like she is pouting.... lol I have removed her from the box about 5 times today. I went out to lock them up for the night and she was back in the box, I took her out AGAIN and set her on the floor, she just sat there so I put her on the roost.... lol

 

[MontyJ]

Thanks for the offer Ridge, but I think I'm going to build a broody buster box. I do not want, or need, any more chickens right now. If she were to hatch a few, it would be mid December or later before they were feathered out. It can get awfully cold here before then. Besides, i would rather learn to break her of it. Otherwise, the only option i will ever have for a broody is to give her eggs or chicks. Where would it end? A fella can only eat so much chicken.