[Ailenandpete]

One of our hens has been broody for about two months maybe longer , sitting on the other eggs, not  coming to play even when it is really sunny.  It eats and drinks very rarely but does not look  all unhealthy. Has anyone any ideas ?

Pete & Aileen

[barley]

this works for me every time I have a brooder

I have a collapsible dog cage

put the hen in there with food water shelter during the day and somewhere safe at night - I use my garage at night

it has a wire bottom so the hen cannot sit comfortably - it takes roughly 3 days of being in her prison cell to snap them out of broodiness


it sounds cruel but the idea is to stop them sitting comfortably and get cool air underneath them as when broody they just want quite warm and comfort as if they were hatching eggs

it works for me every time - being broody is perfectly natural but if they stay like it for to long it can take it's toll on their health

[ANHBUC]

Welcome to the site Ailenandpete.   

I would go with what barley says as they do lose a lot of condition when broody for too long.

[andy46]

Hi and welcome to the site.One of my girls was broody last week and i asked for advice and one of the replise was to dunk her bottom in cold water(sounds cruel) so tryed that and it worked a treat. Put her in for about 5 mins i had to do a couple of times now she is back to normal.

[Prod]

I know this may sound daft, but does the fact that one is broody affect the others? My bluebelle went broody so I let her sit on 6 eggs, 3 of which hatched 2 weeks ago. A couple of days later my cream legbar went broody and she is now sat on 5 Nankin eggs which are due to hatch (hopefully) this week.  Now my buff orpington has been sat in the nest box for 2 days on a dummy egg!!!  I hardly get any eggs theses days!!!

[ANHBUC]

It is very contagious if they can see another broody, on the other hand it is the breeding season.   

[Prod]

It is very contagious if they can see another broody, on the other hand it is the breeding season.   

Ok  dunking in cold water it is then.......

[ANHBUC]

I have never tried that Prod, I prefer to put the broody in a rabbit hutch in a cool shed.  They seem to snap out of it after a few days as they can't see the coop.  The main problem is that they start to lay again and soon after go broody again!   

I have a friend who has a broody hen (2 months) I offered to give her some fertile eggs so she moved her to another coop for brooding and she snapped out of it!  Once back in the main coop she is again broody.   

[Prod]

yet another question......  despite a couple of dunkings in the duck pool my Buff Orpington is still broody.  I don't mind and might get her some eggs to sit on. The question is, she is sat on a dummy egg at the moment, but if I put real eggs under her will she automatically stay on them till they hatch??

[ANHBUC]

Some will but she may give up if there is too long a wait for the fertile eggs.  I used my incubator for some eggs for a very young broody (she was hatched early February this year) as I wasn't sure she would sit long enough.  Once the chicks hatched I swapped them for the eggs she was sat on and she is now a very proud mum of seven.  I also had a brooder ready just in case she did not accept the chicks or wasn't an attentive Mum.

[Prod]

My cream legbar has been sat on 6 Nankin eggs since about 21st July....do you think it unlikely they will hatch now???

[ANHBUC]

My cream legbar has been sat on 6 Nankin eggs since about 21st July....do you think it unlikely they will hatch now???

Sometimes they don't sit tight for the first few days so incubation may not have started straight away.  If you have a candler you could check to see if they are fertile.  If not I would be tempted to leave them another couple of days.  Even ones I have hatched in the incubator have hatched late.

[Prod]

I will give them till over the weekend  then should I a) just remove them b) let her to leave the nest when she is ready c) take her off the nest & discard the eggs or d)  put some new eggs under her?

[ANHBUC]

If none hatch and you can get hold of some chicks that are 1 to 3 days old you can swap them for the eggs.  I swapped 2 eggs for 7 chicks and it worked.  Do have a brooder handy though in case they are not accepted.

If the eggs were not fertile or died early stages they can explode so best to remove them.  You can put more fertile eggs under her but she may abandon them.  I would remove her from the nest and try to get her built up again before her next batch. 

If you are thinking of putting more eggs under her I would give her a good check over as it really takes it out of them sitting for so long.  Then when they are raising the chicks they feed them first and spend a lot of time in protection mode.  I am taking my favourite broody Dotty to the vets this afternoon as she has a rattle when breathing.  I removed her from her chicks a couple of weeks ago so she could build herself up but noticed the rattle last night.  I will be weighing her before I take her to the vets so that she can gauge how much medication she needs.  She only weighed 700g when she was last unwell but she is my smallest bird.

[Prod]

She has lost a little weight and looks 'tired'  I keep her on her own with food and water  but she hasn't really touched it so I take her off the nest each evening and, although she sits down at first, she does eventually get up and eats & drinks a little (& poohs a lot!!!!)  and then she makes her way back onto the nest.  This is never longer than 5 or 6 minutes.  Could taking her off the nest have caused problems???