Broody chickens

[Busybee123]

I have kept hens for quite a number of years but this year some of my Barnvelders which i bought as pullets last year have decided to go broody. Never had this problem before because I kept Rhode Island Reds and Black Rocks which don't seem to go broody.

I've been told that dunking them in a barrel of water puts them off being broody but sounds a bit drastic to me!

Any suggestions on how to put a hen off being broody?

 

[Brosville]

It is said that if you grab them and throw them up in the air whenever you're passing that the sudden flapping induced shakes them out of it - or an old method was to have a "naughty coop" just made of slats in which you incarcerate your broody and you haul it up in the air (and leave it there for some time) so that the airflow shocks them out of it (it's the antithesis of a "nest") - they can't get "comfy" so give up.......
Sadly, broodiness is "catching", once one of 'em goes, the rest may follow....

 

[SER]

or an old method was to have a "naughty coop" just made of slats in which you incarcerate your broody and you haul it up in the air (and leave it there for some time) so that the airflow shocks them out of it (it's the antithesis of a "nest") - they can't get "comfy" so give up.......
Sadly, broodiness is "catching", once one of 'em goes, the rest may follow....

You don't need to haul it into the air, we used to have a dedicated broody coup but now use a puppy/small dog cage, the broody is shut in with food and water somewhere fairly open this tends to put them off after a day or few!

Also collect eggs as often as you can as leaving them lying around for too long can encourage them to go broody.

 

[Busybee123]

Sadly, broodiness is "catching", once one of 'em goes, the rest may follow....

Two out of seven are already broody. I've tried taking them out of the nest box and putting them out with the other hens but they soon head back to the nest. Also, the other non-broody hens are giving them a hard time.

All of the cures for broodiness seem to involve causing the hen a lot of stress.

Maybe I should just go with the flow and hatch some chicks...

 

[Busybee123]

You don't need to haul it into the air, we used to have a dedicated broody coup but now use a puppy/small dog cage, the broody is shut in with food and water somewhere fairly open this tends to put them off after a day or few!.

Would you have to leave them out in the cage day and night?

Problem is I have foxes about and a hen out in a cage at night would just encourage them.

 

[Brosville]

back in the old days they'd haul the "airy coop" up in the air, suspended from a tree for a day or two to keep them out of the way of the fox! - I'd certainly separate the broodies out before others follow suit!

 

[Frisbee]

Would you have to leave them out in the cage day and night?

Problem is I have foxes about and a hen out in a cage at night would just encourage them.

I have a 'sin bin'...or 'naughty coop'.....whatever you want to call it. The small one is a cat box, the larger is a 6' ark with living quarters.

I prefer the 6' ark and it does the job. Just put the broody in it with no accesss to inside during the daytime.......obviously make a shade area if the sun is hot. Give water and food. At night I shut them in the sleeping area with no nest box and no bedding. You are basically refusing them the oportunity to get warm and comfy. It takes 3 days to break them. If you just take them off the nest, they will quickly go back. If you just allow it to stay broody then they don't eat and eventually loose body condition. To be fair to them you've either got to leave them sitting on proper fertile eggs or break the broodiness.

I sometimes use the cat box if my arks are full. I have it outside in the day and shut in my shed at night....or it could go in the main chicken coop. It's doing the same thing, preventing them from sitting.

The quicker you put them in a naughty coop the quicker they break. If one has already been sitting for a week then it might take more than 3 days to break.

Throwing them in the air is just plain cruel.

Frisbee

 

[SER]

Would you have to leave them out in the cage day and night?

Problem is I have foxes about and a hen out in a cage at night would just encourage them.

We leave them in the cage day and night but move the cage into a secure shed at night.

 

[tkwinston4]

I have a 'sin bin'...or 'naughty coop'.....whatever you want to call it. The small one is a cat box, the larger is a 6' ark with living quarters.

I prefer the 6' ark and it does the job. Just put the broody in it with no accesss to inside during the daytime.......obviously make a shade area if the sun is hot. Give water and food. At night I shut them in the sleeping area with no nest box and no bedding. You are basically refusing them the oportunity to get warm and comfy. It takes 3 days to break them. If you just take them off the nest, they will quickly go back. If you just allow it to stay broody then they don't eat and eventually loose body condition. To be fair to them you've either got to leave them sitting on proper fertile eggs or break the broodiness.

I sometimes use the cat box if my arks are full. I have it outside in the day and shut in my shed at night....or it could go in the main chicken coop. It's doing the same thing, preventing them from sitting.

The quicker you put them in a naughty coop the quicker they break. If one has already been sitting for a week then it might take more than 3 days to break.

Throwing them in the air is just plain cruel.

Frisbee

As per what Frisbee said, just don't let them get comfy. After three days they should be back to normal. We used a wire cat carrier with newspaper and obviously food and water. Left her is full view of her mates so she doesn't get hen pecked when returned but locked her away at night away from Mr fox.

Please don't do any chicken throwing!!

 

[Busybee123]

Please don't do any chicken throwing!!

I won't, don't worry!

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will have to sort out some kind of "naughty coop" today.

Do I need to keep my two broody hens apart, in separate naughty coops?

Or can I put them both in the same naughty coop?

 

[Frisbee]

I won't, don't worry!

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will have to sort out some kind of "naughty coop" today.

Do I need to keep my two broody hens apart, in separate naughty coops?

Or can I put them both in the same naughty coop?

I put mine in the same one, but just keep half an eye on them.......if you've got top chicken and bottom chicken you could get a pecking problem, but I generally find that they are too busy thinking how to get out to worry about who their room-mate is.

Frisbee

 

[Busybee123]

Ok, thanks again everyone for the advice.

I've made a temporary "naughty" coop outside beside the hen house and have by broody hens installed with food and water. Will have to move them indoors in the evening.

One of them is happy enough all fluffed up sitting on the ground. The other one does not seem too bothered.

 

[Frisbee]

The fluffed up one sounds like she has been broody for the longest time.....may need an extra day.

In future, now you have your 'naughty' coop you can pop one in there as soon as you have the slightest incling. It won't do any harm and the sooner they snap out of it the sooner they are laying again.

Don't put them loose in the main coop....you'll just find them on the nest again in the morning.

Frisbee

 

[Busybee123]

Thanks again for the advice - "naughty coop" worked a treat and hens are now out scratching around with the others. They were in the naughty coop from Thursday afternoon until I let them out yesterday afternoon (Sunday).

Each night I put them in a large cardboard box (about 1m x 1m x 1m high) in my greenhouse with a wire mesh on top to let air and light in.

When I went to close shed doors last night one of them was back on the nest box but I put her up on the perch and she stayed there until morning and came out with all the rest.

 

[Stephenw]

Hi

Hope u got broody hen put off. I had a broody pekin cross and we ordered eggs for her and now shes gone of being broody. Thankful the eggs werent put under her. So will have to put them in the incubator.



Steve

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have a broody sitting on six of our own eggs (well I say six but I sneaked in two more when hubby wasn't looking ) and she has hardly eaten for three days. She won't even take live mealworms from me....just sits hissing at me!!
Oh well...sigh..........

 

[Busybee123]

Hi

Hope u got broody hen put off. I had a broody pekin cross and we ordered eggs for her and now shes gone of being broody. Thankful the eggs werent put under her. So will have to put them in the incubator.

Steve

They seem to have gone off the idea for now.

I think hens are a bit more predictable than bees (well my bees anyway)

 

[Busybee123]

I have a broody sitting on six of our own eggs (well I say six but I sneaked in two more when hubby wasn't looking ) and she has hardly eaten for three days. She won't even take live mealworms from me....just sits hissing at me!!
Oh well...sigh..........

I don't have any experience of this myself, but I have been told (from someone who kept hens many years ago) that they used to lift the hen off the eggs once a day so that she could have a poo and have some food and water for a few minutes - maybe when you lift the hen off the eggs you could put a fleece blanket on top of the eggs to keep them from cooling down.

Mind you, the same person told me that the cure for a broody hen was to dunk it in a barrel of water........

 

[Erichalfbee]

Mind you, the same person told me that the cure for a broody hen was to dunk it in a barrel of water........

It is!!!!

 

[Frisbee]

I have a broody sitting on six of our own eggs (well I say six but I sneaked in two more when hubby wasn't looking ) and she has hardly eaten for three days. She won't even take live mealworms from me....just sits hissing at me!!
Oh well...sigh..........

I lift my broodies off most evenings, you have to carefully lift their wings to make sure no eggs are hidden under them first. Lift them right off and put on the ground a little way from the coop. After a few minutes looking round they get up, have a poo and then go for a peck/scratch/ drink/feed/whatever. I leave them like this for about 15 minutes. Depending upon the broody I tie a long piece of string around one leg. Some broodies don't need this and are catcheable or herdable back to their eggs, it's just an insurance policy. So when the free time is up I pick up and take back to the coop. Food and water should be freely available...... I feed wheat only during the brooding. They generally have something to eat and go back to the eggs. I don't cover the eggs, they won't get cold during that time.

Frisbee

ps. If you don't lift off and they just sit there....some broodies are silly like that, they end up fouling the nest....not nice.