Broody Hen

Not having had hens for long I'm not sure what to do with a broody hen.

any advice would be greatfully received.

 

Hey Jo

I wrote this piece for the Poultry Forum I belong to and happy to share with you. I'd add to it - be firm. It looks like you're being cruel, but it's for their own good.

Some breeds are more determined than others to go broody. These tend to be the “fluffier” or heavier breeds, such as Pekins, Silkies, Orpingtons and Brahmas, but any hen can go broody should the inclination take her.

Classic symptoms include firmly sitting in the nest box, either on her own eggs or those of other hens, or even on thin air. She will be very reluctant to move, and may peck, screech, growl and fluff up her feathers if any attempt is made to lift her off. When she is outside, she will walk around with fluffed up feathers, clucking quietly and generally behaving in a bad tempered fashion. She will eat and drink but will make every attempt to get back to the nest box. If the house is shut off, she may sit outside, hatching stones, bare ground or other chickens. She will have plucked the soft feathers from her breast to enable the eggs to receive maximum heat from her. She may also have had a laying spurt a week or two beforehand, perhaps laying an egg virtually every day.

If you are not using a broody to hatch out eggs, it is best, for her sake, to break or cool her down as soon as possible, preferably when the first signs of broodiness appear. Without taking this course of action, the hen will continue to sit and sit, refusing to come out apart from once a day to eat, drink and poo. Warning, a good broody will not foul the nest, so these poos tend to be very large and very, very smelly! Towards the end of the hatching period she will go into a comatose state and will rarely leave the nest. In the natural course of things, once the eggs have hatched, she will be showing the chicks how to eat and will put on the weight lost during sitting. However if she is not hatching eggs, a broody may continue to sit for weeks, and ultimately may lose condition.

In order to break or cool her, it is important to "sin bin" her as soon as the signs of broodiness appear. The Sin Bin should be a cage of some description (many use small dog carriers to great effect), but with a mesh floor or bars and raised on bricks. This way cool air can circulate under her, cooling down the bare breast. She must be left in this cage day and night, with food and water available. Ideally, place the Sin Bin in sight of the other chickens, not only to avoid her becoming alienated, but also to show her what she is missing. If there is room, a perch inside gives the option to her of either sitting on the mesh floor or on the perch. At night time, she needs to remain in the Sin Bin, but placed somewhere safe away from predators, either inside the hen house or indoors (e.g. an outbuilding or kitchen). She will need to remain in the sin bin for at least 2 days and nights. If she has been caught early, this length of time usually works, although it may take longer.

This treatment may sound harsh and your hen certainly won’t like it! Ultimately, however, it is preferable to her losing condition.

Hope that helps. It may take up to a week. Here, we are in broody world. In the last 2 months, we've had 6 broodies so far. At this time of year, it's normal and may be repeated in a few weeks time by the same hen!