Dealing with a broody chicken

noway2

noway2

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I know the subject has come up several times. I just searched for the term “broody“ and found several threads. The one post by reeldoc, saying “I hate broody hens, that is all” made me smile, but fee nostalgic as I do miss his postings. Anyway,

We have one bird called a Steele egger that lays blue eggs. Shortly after introducing a couple of younger chickens into the flock she became broody. Did I say broody? I first noticed her sitting on the eggs where they usually lay them and she chattered at me when I went to collect them. Finally chased her off a clutch of eggs with a shovel but man was she fighting. Pecking at the shovel, squawking and carrying on. Got her out the coop door and she was fighting to get back in. Knocked her off the ramp and she gave up and went an attacked the other chickens.

Next several days she kept nesting on them. Hmm.. but could be more easily driven off. Finally caught her and put her in a cage / coop by herself where she couldn’t brood any eggs or nest comfortably. she would “Cluck” loudly and you could see her throat swell when doing so. She’d kick and dig… a mad hen. Finally after several days she stopped clucking and stared acting normal again. Let her out to integrate today. She stayed out and even ate lettuce when I gave them some today. Collected a few eggs this evening, she wasn’t sitting in them. After dark, closed up the coop and she was perched up in a beam, not nesting. Broody apparently is over.

I hate a broody hen, thanks Reeldoc.
 
Broody jail works great.

One mistake I made was removing the bird from the coop. I say it was a mistake because once she laid her first post broody egg, we put her back in with the flock. She was immediately bullied and we had to take her back out and she lived alone.

We learned if broody jail was inside the coop, it worked much better.
 
kcult said:
We learned if broody jail was inside the coop, it worked much better.
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Previously, when our RIR went broody we put them in a small dog crate with a wire bottom so they couldn’t get comfortable and left it inside the coop area where they were still in the flock, so to speak. This time, we put her in the small coop / cage (that we used for our first chicks) in the main coop area (16x16 kennel) so she was still socialized. I think the cage worked a little better / faster, but the trick is to stop them from being able to try to hatch the eggs and force them to cool off.
 
Car0linab0y said:
We had a buff orpington ho got broody. When she did we put her and the clutch of eggs in a kennel in the coop and let her hatch the eggs.

Cheaper than buying them.
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Yeah, if you have a rooster, a broody hen, and want chicks, let the damned bird do the work. ;)
 
Car0linab0y said:
We had a buff orpington ho got broody. When she did we put her and the clutch of eggs in a kennel in the coop and let her hatch the eggs.

Cheaper than buying them.
Click to expand...

My first experience with a broody hen (bantam) ended up with using her to hatch seven chicks from donated eggs.

That was the start of a second flock.
 
kcult said:
My first experience with a broody hen (bantam) ended up with using her to hatch seven chicks from donated eggs.

That was the start of a second flock.
Click to expand...
Cool. We ordered 8 chicks several weeks ago from a hatchery and recieved 9. The 9th has no line on the packing list. We think it might be a “pecker”. That’s going to make for some interesting discussion. From a sustainability standpoint, you need a rooster. I also think if my parents had one, they may not have lost the flock to raccoons as they fight a lot better. On the other hand, they can be mean, they’re loud, and you get fertilized eggs (yuck, I know the contribution is almost microscopic and you can’t tell, but the idea).
 
noway2 said:
Cool. We ordered 8 chicks several weeks ago from a hatchery and recieved 9. The 9th has no line on the packing list. We think it might be a “pecker”. That’s going to make for some interesting discussion. From a sustainability standpoint, you need a rooster. I also think if my parents had one, they may not have lost the flock to raccoons as they fight a lot better. On the other hand, they can be mean, they’re loud, and you get fertilized eggs (yuck, I know the contribution is almost microscopic and you can’t tell, but the idea).
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Most hatcheries throw in an extra chick or two depending upon the size of the order. That way if you lose one in shipping you'll still have what you ordered.

We have ordered up to 100 and they throw in 1 or 2 of each breed.
 
Both of our silkies are broody. We tried separating them which worked for a while but the habit returned. Coincidentally, when we got new chicks, one of the broody hens took immediately to mother henning the new chicks so we quit fighting their broodiness. Silkies don’t lay a lot and we got a new batch of chicks scheduled to deliver next month so “say la vee” or whatever that French saying is. 😁
 
Oneofsix said:
Once the egg is fried, who can tell anything? 😉
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Yeah, well when you eat it “over easy”, i guess the term takes in a new meaning. :p

Still, I know. If you look at an unfertilized egg you’ll see a circular spot. That’s the female genetic component. If it’s fertilized, it becomes a bullseye. The difference is minuscule, except in one’s head.
 
I've got 18 RIR's that will be 1 month old on Wednesday. I have 17 that hatched out yesterday (more popping out in the bator as I type) and one hen on 4 egg's that should be hatching out tomorrow. All RIR, to go along with the 39 I already had. I'm in no need of egg's.
 
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I have one bird that gets broody. We pull her off, set her outside, and grab the eggs, she'll get some water and make her way back to the empty nest, after a week or so she gives up. We let her hatch some once, I think she slowed down being broody.
 
We had one go broody a year or two ago. The wife went and bought a couple of chicks, waited till night time and we swapped out the eggs under the hen with the chicks. Next day the hen was happy and taking care of the chicks. She raised them and protected them and now they are part of our flock.
 
I have tried to soak broody hens in lukewarm or cooler water. It cools down their body temps supposedly.

I have so many chickens I could just make that hen a stewbird and be done with it. Buff Orpingtons are the worst broody hens I have ever messed with. We have one that will peck, grab and twist meat off your hand. She's been jerked out of the nest by the neck a few times
 
Update: I think my Steele Egger is broody again. I suspect the combination of hot weather and putting new chicks in the flock, which preceded the last instance of it. I've noticed for the last few days that she's been loudly 'clucking' but she still seemed to be out and about, but today I saw her sitting in the coop where the egg clutches are usually found. I will likely have to go out this afternoon and shoo her off with a broom. Of course, my wife's out of town and I doubt I could corral and catch her by myself to isolate her.

Edit to add: one of my marans laid it's first egg yesterday. I got a small dark copper colored egg.
 
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