Broody hen

[ElephantsDontReadFantasy]

I have my first broody hen. She’s sitting in the corner of the hen house. Getting up to eat and drink once or twice a day. Looks otherwise well.

im reading conflicting things about whether to “break” her from being broody or to let her be.

Ive been out collecting eggs? But should I be leaving her to it? They aren’t fertile, we just have a flock of 6 girls.

Can anyone give me any advice about how best to look after her? She’s plenty of water and food and we usually free range. (But have a large container run if I should be keeping her in)

please don’t suggest getting fertile eggs and hatching chicks. 🤣 🐣

If she's healthy it's honestly easier just to leave her be! I have tried various things in the past and most made no difference to most hens. The one that worked a couple of times was to lower their body temperature by wrapping a couple of freezer blocks in something like an old tea towel or two and putting it under where they sit. Depending on the hen house they might just somewhere else, but I kind of blocked off that option too.

Just give her some golf balls to sit on and leave her be. It’s hormonal, she’ll come out of it when she’s ready.

I always take the eggs then kick them out of the coop whenever I see them brooding - but maybe I'm just mean :)

Assuming it's not mid-winter, I also take the bottom off the roost (an eglu, so it slides out) in the day to get air to their nethers if they go inside.

Thanks everyone. I’ll just leave her to it then but keep taking the eggs and find some golf balls 🤣

do you all feel terrible that they go to all this effort and don’t have babies at the end?

No don't feel bad they don't get babies. If you get babies half will be roosters and you need a plan. My home hatch rooster attacks me every time he sees me so no more where that came from!

@ilikecatsandponies I did say to H that under no circumstances should he suggest we get fertilised eggs for her as I wasn’t dealing with cockerels 🤣

She got furious earlier when I tried to swap eggs for balls so think I’ll just leave her be now.

@ElephantsDontReadFantasy how are you getting on with your broody hen? Came on to start a thread as I have one, over a week now. I've been taking the eggs and popping her outside once a day where she eats loads, runs round squawking then beetles back to her empty nest. Feel very sad for her!

Keep taking her off the nest.
Only put golf balls under her if you’re wanting her to stay broody and you’re waiting for eggs.
Keeping her broody for no reason is pointless.

Chuck nice distracting treats down and block access to the nest box during the day (after egg laying) if you can.

Unless Im hatching I break broody hens, cold plunges and putting them in an outside only run during the day

However I had one Bluebell , and I couldnt break her , and cos it was the end of summer could only get fertilised duck eggs and she became proud mama to 5 Indian Runners. She died a year later :( She was constantly broody which put a toll on her

She’s still broody. She’s goes out once a day for food and water. I keep checking in on her and she seems ok. I made a decision to let this broodiness run its course but if she does it again anytime soon I’ll have to think about it.

I've got fat / dumpy fancy hen breeds, which are lovely, but they would stay broody from March through to November if I let them. It's awful seeing them sit inside, loosing condition for weeks on end.

It's really difficult to break them. But the only way I managed to do it is, as a pp said, is to get them to drop their temperature and maintain it at a lower point. The easiest way was to close off their nest box area, so they can only roost on the slatted floor which has air vents and air circulation.

I wouldn't put false eggs /leave eggs under them - for my broody-prone hens, that would be cruel.