Another "broody hen" post... but hear me out!

[beany_bot]

I have a broody hen. Shes a young BO and had only been laying about a month before she went broody.

She has been ULTRA broody now for over 6 weeks! and I cannot for the life of me snap her out of it. By ULTRA broody I mean If I didnt manually lift her off the nest each day she would die. she has not once in 6 weeks voluntarily gone for food / water or a poo. I have to make her.

So far I've tried

Removing access to nesting boxes - She just remains broody in a hole in a corner
Seperation - doesnt work
Ice packs under her - doesnt work
Removing all egss - doesnt work
giving her eggs - doesnt work
Dunking her in cold water and icing her belly, several times a day, all day long - doesnt work.

No matter what I try, given the chance she just goes straight back to being broody. Please to god help me fix her! If broodyness is hormonal, is there a drug or tablet they can be given?

 

[SnackMeat]

I'm not sure if Suprelorin would break the broodiness or just stop the egg laying.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/suprelorin-implant-to-stop-hens-laying.1300435/


So she has been given eggs and they've hatched and she still didn't snap out of it?


Have you put her in a bin of cool water up to her breast, let her soak for a few minutes and then let her go?

I've heard the sound of chicks cheaping can break a brooder but that's when the eggs are hatching (supposedly why the rest of the eggs get abandoned.) I don't know if this could be artificially done but maybe playing chicks chirping would help flip some switch in her brain, either with or without the bath?

 

[LaFleche]

You can get her day old chicks to slip under her, three wozld be enough in case you do not want or need any more birds in your flock, then sell them later on. Usually they will switch from broody mode to chick caring mode within a few hours or one day/night max.

This year my hens all are crazy going broody several times each and I had a hard time breaking their extremely stubborn broodiness.
Three of them were allowed to hatch eggs, all of them successful and good mommas.

But I had another one that was at her fifth attempt and would just not stop no matter what I tried. So I gave her a few eggs and she is a great first time momma to her four chicks, one of the best I had in decades.

 

[beany_bot]

I'm not sure if Suprelorin would break the broodiness or just stop the egg laying.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/suprelorin-implant-to-stop-hens-laying.1300435/


So she has been given eggs and they've hatched and she still didn't snap out of it?


Have you put her in a bin of cool water up to her breast, let her soak for a few minutes and then let her go?

I've heard the sound of chicks cheaping can break a brooder but that's when the eggs are hatching (supposedly why the rest of the eggs get abandoned.) I don't know if this could be artificially done but maybe playing chicks chirping would help flip some switch in her brain, either with or without the bath?

So the eggs I've given her are unfertilized. I live in a suburb so can't have a rooster.

As for chicks. I do actually have 3 chicks currently in our house. Being sort of hand raised by us and the children (they want them to be super tame). But I was very nervous about the broody hen seeing the chicks, thought it might make her worse?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You have to give her very young chicks, like day-olds, for her to adopt.

Have you tried this?

Here is @aart's excellent Broody Hen Breaking article:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/broody-breaking-ala-aart.77915/

R.I.P., @aart

 

[beany_bot]

I just dont have any room for more chicks / hens sadly. So I cant just give her chicks / fertilised eggs. If I did that everytime a hen went broody I would end in in carnage.

 

[LaFleche]

So the eggs I've given her are unfertilized. I live in a suburb so can't have a rooster.

By giving her unfertilized eggs you encourage her broodiness.

Try @aart 's way which was linked above by @BigBlueHen53

And if she is causing you too much stress there is always the option to sell her to someone that is in need of a broody and will appreciate her dedication.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I just dont have any room for more chicks / hens sadly. So I cant just give her chicks / fertilised eggs…

Even temporarily? Do you have any chicken-keeping acquaintances who would love to get some young broody-raised chicks to add to their flocks? (I live in town with flock size restrictions, but these often don’t apply to chicks, puppies, kittens, etc.)

 

[Rdh1223]

I had a whiting true blue that was similar, wouldn't leave the nest unless I made her. I happened to replace the pine shaving just because it was time and for some reason that snapped her out of it. Don't know if the fresh pine smell or just change in general did it or maybe it just ran its course but I was happy it was over, she made collecting eggs much more of a chore than I like.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Please to god help me fix her!

Try Aart's method or rehome her. You don't need to be stressed like this.

Instead of 48 hours I keep mine in the broody buster for 72 hours before I let them out. If that doesn't work I put them back in for another few days. It will not hurt them, they can eat, drink, and poop.

Since you don't want a broody hen rehoming might be the better choice.

Since she has been broody for 6 weeks it is too late to give her eggs to hatch. If your three chicks are older than 3 days from hatch I would not try to give them to her. It is unlikely she would accept them or they would accept her. Besides you want to raise them to be very tame. That's really hard to do with a broody hen.

Good luck!