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I have a hen who is very often broody. We have had a clear 2 months without too much of this until today, but usually she goes broody about once a month.

She drives us mad as she hogs the nesting box and is quite fierce if you try to turf her off. The hens were laying quite well, despite the cold, but now they will all stop.

Tomorrow, I will put her in an old rabbit hutch I keep especially for her.

Any ideas on how to stop her being broody so much? I did think I might give her to somebody who needs a broody hen for hatching eggs. She would be appreciated at last!

G'Day ChickenLady,

That sounds quite weird over here it is the hot weather that sends them broody.

It seems to be a genetic thing with some chooks doing it repeatedly and others not have a bar of it. If you have someone who wants a brood hen that would probably be the best bet.

The standard "fix" is to place them in an airy, bright cage by themselves so that they can't snuggle down and get that "nesting" feeling. Keep them there for a few days to a week. Also, collecting the eggs as soon as they have been laid (difficult I know) helps reduce broodiness. In my experience a broody hen will go broody when they feel like it and sometimes you can talk 'em out of it, sometimes not.

Best of luck

Nev

I'm glad to find this thread as I've got a broody who I'd like to wring her bloomin' neck right now (joking!).

6 days into it and we're now looking at constructing a cage to put her in. Half the prob is that it is very hot at the mo' and she's staying in the chook shed where it is boiling. I don't know where to put the broody cage other than outside somewhere in total shade (I've lots of trees). Then I would have to bring it in at night but I could put her in the spare chook shed which is now a wood store.

I also asked on another forum about the type of wire/size of holes and would it damage her feet but I didn't get any answers. Will she need a perch to roost on as wire won't be very comfortable to sleep on.

We do have some plastic covered wire mesh that was from an old compost bin that we intend to use, up on some blocks of wood with chicken wire for the sides.

Do you keep chooks, Nev? Eternally grateful for any advice anyone could give on this subject. I'm not getting eggs off her any more either. She really IS irritating me a lot! Especially as she is a market bought hybrid and they are supposed to have the broodiness bred out of them!

Wow M3,

Yeah, they are not supposed to go broody!

I have kept chooks for over 20 years, but mainly breeds rather than hybrids.

The plastic coated wire sounds good, as does including a perch.

Keeping them cool is important as I once found to my cost, particularly while in the broody cage. Shade, water and breeze is the way to go!

Nev

Cheers Nev, we'll give it a go tomorrow. It's supposed to be cooler and raining and/or thunderstorms so I guess inside it will be - though I'll probably be outside jumping for joy as I won't have to water the veggies!

6 days of broodyness doesn't seem too much to me... Well, it's different if you want the eggs, I suppose. I worked in France once for 6 months, and one of our hens was broody at least half that time. Don't know what she lived on, I never saw her out of her elected brooding place: the hay heck of the one and only cow we had... Every morning I threw hay on top of her, accompanied by enormous cackling on her part. She worked her way back up to sit on top of the hay. During the day, as the cow was eating, she slipped further and further down. Repeat the next day... Daft animal! No eggs under her, needless to say. She brooded anyway. (Sounds wrong... )

You can guess that hens weren't really important there, they were totally free range and left to fend for themselves - no hen house etc. Once in a while we collected eggs for certain occasions, and sometimes a cockerel was killed.

I'll check my clever books if they say anything about mesh size etc.

Ina

Never had that rain. The broody cage was constructed by hubby and his dad only to find it didn't fit through the door of the spare chicken shed (now a wood store). The door had to be taken off it's hinges and it was shoved through somehow. Kind of defeats the object as if it is hot (like most of the time) she can't stay in there - I wanted to be able to move it out into the shade during the day.

I tried to say - didn't you think to check whether it would go through the door first - but you know men. I just got an ear bashing.

Anyway, yesterday I shut all three out of the hen house and last night put Lady (the broody) in the wood store for the night. Dreading going to check on her - she was jumping about on all the stacked wood and flapping at the chicken wire/reinforced plastic window.

Mind you, her fluffed up size reduced dramatically when I put her in there. Poor mite went all skinny and scared. My poor baby......

Millymollymandy wrote:
I tried to say - didn't you think to check whether it would go through the door first - but you know men. I just got an ear bashing.

You're supposed to say "present company excepted"!

Nev

Millymollymandy wrote: I also asked on another forum about the type of wire/size of holes and would it damage her feet but I didn't get any answers. Will she need a perch to roost on as wire won't be very comfortable to sleep on.

Hi MMM

My book on poultry house construction says 1 inch mesh, and I suppose that it's meant to be uncomfortable to sleep on, so she doesn't get a perch... They call it a sin bin - very apt!

Ina

Thanks Ina, mine has bigger mesh than that so we will have to change it.

Thankfully however the night in the wood shed was enough to snap her out of it - the next day I put her back with the others with the nest box blocked off (after the others had laid) and she looked at it for a bit then went outside and resumed being a "normal" hen! Yesterday she was fine even with the nestboxes open and although she's not laying again yet she isn't interested in sitting on the others' eggs. Yee-haa!

Darned hen is broody again so spent the night in the wood shed again. She's only laid 16 eggs in about 40 days. The sin bin is still sitting there in case this doesn't work..... at least I feel a bit more experienced this time round!

Maybe you should start producing "freerange" chicks for sale as a sideline? At least you know you have a willing broody... And then get another one for producing eggs, if you need more. (But I thought you said you had plenty anyway?)

Ina

I do have enough eggs but I freeze the excess for the winter when they are supposed to not lay so much.

Breeding/selling isn't what I want to do - no time, space, inclination or ... aaaaaaarrrrrrrgh ... French red tape. Would have to register as a business!

True - although I'm sure that half of what I see for sale along the roadsides here should be in some way registered, too... I think it's great that people often ignore the rules. Bartering might be more feasible.

Ina

We used to keep chickens when I was a kid and we often got broody ones. Dad would sing to them ( He had a great voice) and also whistle so they left their nesting. I don't know if it was because they were distracted or just felt they were getting special attention.
On the odd occasion he used to have a china egg which he slipped under the broody hens. Not certain what good this did but I think it meant I could collect the eggs without getting pecked by her.
SO - Try singing to them - I'll take you home again Kathleen was a popular one.
Libran (Linda)