Constantly Broody Hen

[Megamegan25]

Well I’ve read a ton of threads on here about other broody hens. I’m not particularly hopeful for a solution but here’s my hen’s story.
It is a long one… sparknotes version: young hen broody many times won’t stop despite every intervention possible and her health is compromised due to her broodyness. Low weight, dingy feathers, face feathers not growing back.

she is 1 year and 3 months old blue favacuana.

she first went broody right after lay her first few eggs. I was able to break her of it after a couple days of taking her off the nest every couple hours and at night. A few months later she did it again except she would even go back to the nest in the night after I moved her to the roost. After about a week I managed to break her. Then a couple months later, broody again. This time I decided to let her be in The hopes of getting it out of her system. By the end of it she had lost all of her face feathers and the rest of her plumage was a mess. It was around the time of the flock’s first molt so I thought they’d grow back. But she has never grown her beard/muff back. Then as soon as She finished and got off the nest another hen decided to give it a try. Shortly after the other hen finished brooding, the Fauvacauna went broody again. So I tried chicken jail (metal dog crate, food, water, no nesting materials) with a frozen water bottle. After 2 days she was done.

Then we get to last month. She went broody again and I considered putting chicks under her because they are available at the local feed stores. Then I found someone with fertile eggs locally. They gave me 1 dozen. She left the nest a couple times when it was very cold and raining then went back to the wrong nest box. So, I incubated the 5 eggs that had chicks growing inside them. The last chick to hatch I put under her while it was still wet. She kept the chick for 5 days then decided to leave the nest with the chick in tow. As soon as they got out into the hen house she saw a nest with eggs and literally ran to it leaving the chick behind where another chicken nearly pecked it. Then she didn’t let the chick underneath her with the eggs.

So, I consider this experiment a complete fail and have no idea what to do with this hen! She is making herself sick. She weighs a lot less than she did before laying her first egg and her face feathers are not coming back. I’ve checked for mites and even treated the flock for nonexistent mites in case I just didn’t see them.

Any suggestions are welcome. I feel like she has a hormonal imbalance. She is a smart hen with a cool personality so it makes me sad seeing her deteriorate.

I’m about to try different feed. All the other hens are perfectly healthy. They are on layer feed but I’m going to switch to all flock. I have oyster shell grit and regular grit available separately for them. I’ve used a couple different brands of feed. Right now it is producers pride because feed prices have really gone up lately and that’s the lower end but I‘m sure you get what you pay for. They get kitchen scraps regularly, I grow some lettuce just for them, and they roam the yard a few times a week but they have a large enough coop and run where they don’t need to go in the yard. I’d also like to note she is the queen bee of the coop. All the other chickens seem to worship her and she is top of the pecking order.

Thanks if you read this all or have and suggestions! Have a great day.

 

[azygous]

You have a serial broody. That means, during the fertile months, she will lay a specific number of eggs, then go broody. You can probably even count the number of days between starting to lay again and the day she goes broody to predict the next time she will go broody because it's the same number of days each time.

The only tried and true method of breaking a broody is with an open mesh bottom wire cage elevated to allow air circulation undr the hen. The hen cannot be allowed to roost at night or to wander loose during the day as she must not be allowed to make any contact with a surface that can reflect her body heat back to her, thus keeping her body temp elevated by broody hormones. It's the gradual cooling down of her body that disrupts the hormones and stops the broody spell. It takes about three days of continually being caged to break her.

 

[Megamegan25]

You have a serial broody. That means, during the fertile months, she will lay a specific number of eggs, then go broody. You can probably even count the number of days between starting to lay again and the day she goes broody to predict the next time she will go broody because it's the same number of days each time.

The only tried and true method of breaking a broody is with an open mesh bottom wire cage elevated to allow air circulation undr the hen. The hen cannot be allowed to roost at night or to wander loose during the day as she must not be allowed to make any contact with a surface that can reflect her body heat back to her, thus keeping her body temp elevated by broody hormones. It's the gradual cooling down of her body that disrupts the hormones and stops the broody spell. It takes about three days of continually being caged to break her.

Thanks for the reply and insight, @azygous. So, there is no hope of her growing out of this and every few months I’ll have to cage her…Bummer.

 

[azygous]

I'm afraid broodiness is programmed into her DNA. It can be a mixed bag having a serial broody. Yes, you have to deal with her around four times a season, but on the other hand, if you count the days from when she lays her first egg after the previous broody spell, count the days until she begins sitting a nest again, you will have a very reliable way to tell when you will have a broody at your disposal if you wish to have her incubate eggs. It's quite a blessing since it's possible to run your chick plans around a dependable broody.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Pinch her breastbone to see if she's keeping condition; If not, and if you can't break her broody spell, supplement her diet with high fat/high protein treats like sardines packed in oil (I prefer sunflower or olive oil as both have a great amino acid profile) mashed into her normal feed. Broody hens typically don't eat as much, so it will be important to pack as many beneficial calories into her with as few bites as possible. I consider a broody hen a blessing, saves me the work of brooding and trying to teach chicks how to be chickens.

 

[Megamegan25]

Pinch her breastbone to see if she's keeping condition; If not, and if you can't break her broody spell, supplement her diet with high fat/high protein treats like sardines packed in oil (I prefer sunflower or olive oil as both have a great amino acid profile) mashed into her normal feed. Broody hens typically don't eat as much, so it will be important to pack as many beneficial calories into her with as few bites as possible. I consider a broody hen a blessing, saves me the work of brooding and trying to teach chicks how to be chickens.

Thanks @Ebony Rose I didn’t think of using sardines. I have tons in my pantry.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Thanks .

I have one hen that is constantly broody, she weens her chicks somewhere between 3 to 5 weeks, those little squirts are on their own for a week, and she's brooding again... rinse well, and repeat. I think she's found the loophole in the painful process of laying eggs (snickers), and chooses to brood instead She weened her last brood a week ago, laid one egg and has scrounged a dozen of her 'sisters' eggs and three days ago started the brooding process again... My gardener has requested chicks, so... they'll be ready in a month and a half or two. I use the sardine trick with her, and sometimes banana, or papaya and/or hard boiled eggyolks mashed into her regular feed.

 

[Megamegan25]

I have one hen that is constantly broody, she weens her chicks somewhere between 3 to 5 weeks, those little squirts are on their own for a week, and she's brooding again... rinse well, and repeat. I think she's found the loophole in the painful process of laying eggs (snickers), and chooses to brood instead She weened her last brood a week ago, laid one egg and has scrounged a dozen of her 'sisters' eggs and three days ago started the brooding process again... My gardener has requested chicks, so... they'll be ready in a month and a half or two. I use the sardine trick with her, and sometimes banana, or papaya and/or hard boiled eggyolks mashed into her regular feed.

Woah! She certainly found a chicken hack for not laying eggs.
I was bummed when my broody ditched her 3 day old chick for a nest full of eggs. I was hoping she’d be a chicken mamma but she just wanted to sit on eggs.
thank you for the supplemental feed suggestions!

 

[Clodill4rel]

Mine is currently on day 4 of me giving her 4 chicks I hatched …. She’s still sitting on her 15 day eggs I think it’s a blessing lol. I want her to hatch them! Still waiting for her to actually leave them a lot of people say she will but she still hasn’t ….