How to raise Backyard Chickens: Re: [CHICKENS-101] How to break a broody hen?

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Re: [CHICKENS-101] How to break a broody hen?

Couple of things I have heard but not tried:

Put her in a cage with a wire bottom, no nesting material, no eggs, of course.

Put her in a cage or small pen with a very "active" rooster.

I have a couple of broody banties I will be trying to break in the next couple of days. I plan on putting them in a strange pen and gradually introducing some strange chickens. Will see if that works.

Your hen sounds extreme in the broodiness department. Maybe the only solution would be to use her to incubate eggs and let her raise the chicks. She should go through a period of a few weeks while she is raising the chicks and laying eggs for a new clutch where she is not broody.

kathy

In a message dated 6/9/2013 2:50:01 P.M. Central Daylight Time, patsmenagerie@gmail.com writes:

Ok guys, I need some advice. I have a 18 month old RIR banty. She has been broody since maturing last summer, so much so that her name is "Mama". I did let Mama hatch one egg last summer but since then I take any and all eggs away every day. Mama is so broody that she will move from nest box to nest box to find any freshly layed egg. Mama was brooding when I packed her with the rest of the flock into a dog crate and drove them 1500 mile cross country. She sat on the floor of the crate brooding the entire 3 days and at the end of the trip she was sitting on any eggs layed by the other hens on the floor of the crate. Straight out of the crate she plopped herself on the floor of the coop in her broody state, then up to a nest box. I have tried locking her outside in the 10x10 run by herself while allowing the other hens free range and access to the hen house to lay their eggs. When i put Mama out she will literally drop into brood where I place her and still be there when I l
et her in at dusk at which point she dashes back to a nest box to brood some more. She's very sweet and maternal, always clucking in that sweet motherly way that broody hens do. I just feel bad that while my other hens and one rooster are out all day enjoying life free range this hen just sits indoors in her box or out on the dirt when I lock her out clucking away to some imaginary egg!

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