What's a broody chicken and what can you do about it? Or what should you do about it? Or should you do anything about it? So many questions.
So what's a broody chicken. I could have told you a few years ago what one was but it would have just been regurgitation of stuff I read on the Internet not anything I'd actually experienced, which is why I never did a post on chickens going broody. Unless I've experienced it, I try not to talk about it. Which is how you get gems like how to cure a bladder infection, yeast infections and the frozen yogourt tampon and everybody's favourite Ass Maggots.
Now that I have experienced the wrath of the broody chicken first hand, I can tell you all about it. And it's almost as huge a pain in the ass as maggots.
Table of Contents
What's a Broody Hen?
A broody hen is one that has decided she wants to sit on a clutch of eggs to hatch them. Hens can remain broody for up to 7 weeks.
Signs She's Broody
Chickens, like most living things are instinctual. One of their instincts is to incubate and hatch eggs. When they feel that instinct to hatch eggs coming on they do a few different things.
- They go into a dark, quiet place (the nesting box) and don't come out.
- They pluck the feathers away from their chest to "feather their nest" and so there's direct contact between her warm skin and the eggs.
- They get moody and hormonal and a bit aggressive.
- When out of the nesting box or when you go near her she'll have big puffed up feathers and look defensive.
When a hen goes broody it makes no difference whatsoever whether they have a clutch of eggs to sit on or not. They will sit there day in and day out for over a month even if there isn't a single egg under her, because her instinct says ... sit here and hatch eggs ... be broody ... even if there are no eggs in the vicinity. So, instinctual, not intellectual.
Like teenage sex.
How to Prevent it
It's pretty hard to stop animal instincts but you can lower the chances of having a broody hen by doing a couple of things.
- Own hens that aren't prone to broodiness.
When I got my Marans chickens a few years ago I had no idea if they were a broody breed or not. Some breeds you see are more prone to broodiness while others never go broody. That's why I had never experienced broodiness before. My other chickens just didn't have that instinct. (They take after their mother.)
- As soon as you notice your hen getting broody and sitting in the nesting box, remove her and don't let her back in.
If you can catch it early and keep her out of her chosen broody spot there's a chance you'll break the cycle before it gets too bad. But honestly, the chances are slim. Again - it's their instinct the same way your instinct is to eat the entire container of ice cream.
You can either leave a hen to brood for 4-7 weeks OR you can stop it.
How to Break It
You need to do 2 things to break a hen of broodiness: cool her down and put her in an environment where she can't nest.
- The most effective, most humane way to break a chicken of broodiness is to put them in a crate that's elevated off the ground. A dog crate or rabbit hutch work well.
- The crate should be hung just above the ground from a rafter, or you can just set the crate on some bricks to keep it off the ground.
- The crate should have food and water but no bedding material in it.
- Leave the hen in the crate until you can see she isn't broody anymore. She'll look more relaxed and her feathers won't be puffed out when she's stopped being broody.
The crate will keep her away from the nesting box and all nesting materials and allows cool air all around the chicken to bring her temperature down. A chicken's hormones change when she gets broody which stops her from producing eggs AND elevates her temperature. She's hot, nasty, irritable and barren. She's menopause with feathers. She's in henopause.
After living in the crate, cooling down and getting bored and uncomfortable(ish) for a few days she's no longer broody.
Why You Should Break Them
- Hens that are broody don't dust bathe as often as they should which makes them susceptible to mites. This in turn can cause a mite infestation which you do NOT want.
- Broody hens don't lay eggs.
- The heat can kill them. Hens normally go broody in the summer, in an enclosed space with little air flow (the nesting box). Their instinct to brood is so strong that a hen will die from the heat before leaving the nest.
A chicken that goes broody goes into an almost meditative state. That is until you try to touch her or another chicken comes close to her. When broody, Josephine will fluff all her feathers out and scream at the other chickens. BACK THE CLUCK OFF. She's also not fond of me when she's broody.
So there's that little bit of drama to contend with when you have a broody chicken too.
Step by Step
- Most dog crates have a tray that fits into the bottom, but you want the chicken to be cooled from underneath so remove the tray. At this point you'll have big holes that the chickens legs would just slip right through. So cut a piece of hardware cloth to fit the bottom of the cage. If you can do this with your Skeletor forearm that'd be great. Chicken wire would work too.
2. Elevate the crate so air can get underneath. You want as much air flow to cool her down as possible. Some people hang the cage but that seems kind of extreme to me and a little too Tweety Bird so I just put it on bricks.
3. Make sure the hen has water that won't tip over and a bowl of food and put the hen in there. To do that, you have to drag her out of her nesting box which she doesn't want to leave at ALL.
At night make sure the crate is in a safe place away from predators. In the morning you can open the crate door. If your hen makes a beeline for the nesting box you know she isn't broken yet. If she saunters out and gives you a disgusted look over her wing she's probably been broken.
It generally takes 2 sleeps for my chicken Josephine to get back to her normal self. I on the other hand take weeks to heal and recover.
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Mavis, my Cuckoo Marans, was just released from her broody confinement in a small crate I built and my son named the Chicken Chail (jail). Not the first broody spell, probably won't be the last. And I have scars to show for it. Waiting for some eggs now....
I think they need an xylophone to peck at too...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MKKN0lAlATQ
Karen.....Hilarious!
Thank you for the laugh this morning!
Very interesting read and I don’t even have chickens! 😂
I just keep removing them from the nest every chance I get. That, and a couple feedings of sliced melon on the ground for all their non-broody chicken friends to freak out over (making sure broody hen can clearly see what she is missing) usually breaks them in a week or two.
That works with some hens! I have one that is half hearted about broodiness. But others, (like Josephine) are FULLY committed to their broodiness. I've tried taking her out of the nesting box for weeks on end and there's no way. She is determined. ~ karen!
I never had chickens but I remember my mother would put the bird in a burlap sack and hang the sack on the clothesline. The spinning would probably change the hen's mind!
Oh my God, lol! ~ karen
My Grandma did the same thing!
Last week I made a "detention cage" just exactly like the one you have! I have an adorable little "quail chicken" sweet cheeks that is a real cutie bug, but now she is broody and turned into psycho chicken! I took her off the nest and sat her in the water dish to "cool down the belly, cool down the belly" (that's what I would sing to her in the same tone and rhythm as "here come the judge, here come the judge" (if you remember the old Laugh in series you know what I'm talking about hahahaha.) After drying off a bit, she would look around for some ducks to terrorize...these ducks are 4 times her size and are PETRIFIED of her! I thought she was broken 3 days ago and about put the cage away and then wham, sneaking back in the nesting box again. I hope I can get her broken by Thursday as it is supposed to be 105 that day and I would hate to let her out of detention just to have her sneak in a nest box and then suffer there if I forget to check on her. (These chickens are a lot like my kids, always getting into mischief and you have to keep a constant watch on them to keep them safe and alive...but I love them so much it's worth it!)
Good luck with your broody busting! ~ karen!
My Buff Orpington goes broody every 3 months or so. The dog crate works but it usually takes another 2 weeks before she starts laying again! 😡
My neighbor got 2 new chicks and put under her hen after dark. Even though it wasn’t “full term” mama hen seemed satisfied. She was a good mama and protected her brood until the could be on their own.
Thank you for sharing, it was very helpful and educational for me.
My little Barrock, is having the same problem as the first video I saw. The limping , I will try baby asprin.
Thank you Karen.
I got me a broody silky... she was like super mini egg layer, then... it happened.
I am trying the frozen water bottle method, since it is still quite cool and rainy. She is setting a bad example for my spring time layers! wish me luck!
Hahaha the definition of dragging your feet! Poor ol' Josephine! Great info, thanks for sharing!!!!
Love this post :-) We just went through our first broody experience too. I gave in and put some eggs under her. It's now been ten weeks without any eggs and only one chick to show for it - still it is adorable to see mother and chick exploring the backyard together.
I laughed out loud reading this post! You're hysterical. All your chicken posts have just about convinced me to NOT get chickens......I had no idea they could be so 'needy'!
Really enjoy your website....full of info AND hilarity!
OMG, don't ever get silkies! I have two and although they are so cute you want to hug them and smoosh them, they are broody queens. They go broody together and turn into holy terrors. They go into broody breaker jail every month for a week!
Oh yeah! I have a pair of tall bright blue chemical gloves ... like you might use when handling nuclear waste ... for dealing with broody hens.
Nope. Nope. Nope. Still don't get it. Why keep chickens? If it's for eggs, then it's much easier and cheaper to go to the store, and I can get ice cream and chocolate at the same time, and depending on the store, wine too. If it's as a pet, how much can one really interact with something that stabs at your hand when you disturb it, has a brain the size of a chick pea, and sits for hours in one spot? That sounds more like a guy obsessed with watching football, and even he will occasionally move his butt to go earn a pay cheque, or mow the lawn. It sounds like way too much trouble (not to mention poop, maggots and screeching) and way too few eggs or meaningful companionship. This backyard chicken keeping just sounds like a hipster fad to me. Having said that, I should go hide, since I think Karen dislikes hipsters as much as I do.
I've got one hen that goes broody about once a year. This week was that time. I just get fertile eggs from a friend who has a rooster, and stick them under her and let her hatch them.
I love mean broody Josephine, hahaha ...btw you are so cute! you look like Robyn!
She might be a mite broody, nasty and all the rest but she sure is purdy.
Explaining my terrible fear of all chickens. I wasn't pecked by your average chicken... I was pecked by a BROODY chicken. Where were you when I was 9 years old, K? You coulda protected me!
"Back the CLUCK off" for the win. Honourable mention to "henopause." :)