[ladyK]

I have my first broody hen - I should be thrilled, but the timing has been really bad and I fear I'm doing it all wrong...
It's quite unexpected really, as I have layer hybrids, and I thought they are not supposed to go broody, and I would think this is an odd time of year too.
But she's been sitting tight for over 3 weeks now - I have been moving her out regularly to dissuade her (and to make sure she's eating a bit) but she insists on going back to sit whether there are eggs or not (my other hens are still laying the odd egg).
Bad timing it has been too, as I was just about to be working away for 10 days when she first started, so didn't have time to do anything about getting hatching eggs. Then when I got back I had to deal with a family crisis, so still didn't manage to do anything for her, and I was hoping she would give up after 21 days, but no, she's still sitting tight.

Now I can start thinking about doing something - but is too late?? Can I put her on hatching eggs now that she's been sitting that long already? Or should I get her some chicks?
If that sems like a good idea, could someone point me to a reliable source of hatching eggs/chicks in North Wales, preferably not too far from the Conwy Valley?

Grateful for any advice. Thank you!

[Hevxxx99]

Don't get chicks: it almost certainly won't work!  Shed probably see out hatching eggs, but not a good time of year to buy as cockerels fertility is low by now.

I suggest you put her in a cage or similar where she can't get to a nest.  She'll fuss about it for a few days but it will "break" her broodiness. Draughty, uncomfortable and preferably with a perch and wire floor is best .

Having said that, I had a hybrid go broody and hatch eggs over the summer and she is still clucking over them now.  I think her hormones are all awry so posssibly she'll never become unbroody!

[HesterF]

I've got Orpingtons which have spent most of the year broody. One of them sat of duck eggs which failed to hatch (left them 30 days) so I bought in some chicken hatching eggs and she then sat tight to hatch those after a further 21 days so she was sitting the best part of two months in total and was fine. BUT it was in spring. Those that went broody again late in the season, I just kept moving out of the nest box a couple of times a day and they've all given up now. Personally I wouldn't give her any eggs at this time of year;

- As Hevxxx99 says, it'll be hard to get hatching eggs at this time of year anyway - many hens are not laying and those that are probably don't have a great fertility
- If you do get lucky with the eggs, you'll be hatching at the beginning of December which could well be a nightmare with little chicks. Certainly based on last year's winter, I wouldn't want to have little fluffy chicks running around in the snow.

H

[chrismahon]

You would be asking too much to expect a hen to produce enough body heat to keep chicks warm over Winter LadyK. Best break her as she could just 'burn out'. As said can be done in a cage with a wire bottom off the ground so she can't build up heat underneath her. Always worked for us within a few days.

[ladyK]

Thanks for your advice everybody 
Point taken, it's a bad time of year for chicks.
Don't really want to shut her in a supsended wire cage, seems quite brutal to me, but maybe I have to go down that route (get a cage first - wire dog crate?)
For the moment I'm trying to keep taking her out, putting her down as far as possible from the nest so she has to walk some, hoping this will cool her down... Maybe she's just too set on it - she's pulled out all her breast feathers too...

[in the hills]

Not the best time for chicks. We have to use a wire cage to break our broodies as they won't give up easily. It only takes a couple of days and I don't think it's too harsh. We prop a wire dog cage on a couple of house bricks. We put the cage in the garden in the day (covered and protected from wind and rain) and pop the cage in the shed or garage at night. Hen is not isolated as she can see the goings on and has food and water as normal. Some of our peekins would spend the entire summer sitting if we didn't break them    .... to me this seems cruel if you don't intend on hatching. With our bigger hens it is sometimes enough to close their coop for the day (there are other pens the hens can go in to lay/shelter) and reopen at night. In that time they have given up on the idea. 

[MelRice]

I had a broody sitting on a huge clutch of eggs all (well most of) October...she did give up when we had a coldere few days at the end of her session. The eggs looked like they might have hatched if she had sat foe a bit longer than the prescribed time but mum knows best and I wasn't exactly sure when she started


She is a hen who secretes a clutch of eggs in an impossible place...the spring clutch was up inside an old machine she did bring all 13 of them down to the hen house after 24 hours.....this lots were under an old log pile much further from the hen house....and there were 15 eggs....and shes only a bantam

[Steph Hen]

I'd definitely break the broodiness - being harsh for a couple of days will save her condition in the long run. Removing the hen once or twice a day doesn't really work, even if I put mine round the other side of the farm they'll be back on in 20 minutes and its just not long enough. My neighbour's mum said to hang them in a cloth bag and suspend from washing line!  Apparently this works and used to be an accepted method! This must be horrible!
I put mine in a small wood and wire ark on grass and close of the house off. Half cover with plastic to keep her dry. Food and water, only takes 3-4 days, and isn't very mean (compared to the washing line treatment)!

[jaykay]

They need 'cooling off' literally, the hot brood patch on their chest maintains the broody hormones.

The most effective way, which I always use, as it seems less harsh than confining them for ages, is to stand them in a bucket of cold water, so that their chest is submerged. Actually I stand them in the beck. Hold her there a few minutes.

Do it early in the day at this time of year, so she dries off before bedtime. Once can be enough, sometimes has to be repeated the next day.

Helps if you are able to shut them out of where they were sitting - I have several houses so I just shut the chosen one for the day.

[Stereo]

We've never used a breaker house but had quite a few broodies this year, most of which we used to hatch eggs with great success. It's too late now though, I wouldn't even think about it. The last ones we did hatched 12 weeks ago and that was too late really.

You can try to break her as above but she will probably give up on her own. It might take a lot out of her if she is really determined though.

[chrismahon]

We've had success in breaking broodies by changing their environment -a disorientation approach. I was advised to take a real problem broody hen to a neighbours garden and let her run around for a few hours. We actually took her to the house and left her in a cage in the middle of a room for a day. That worked, in her case for a few weeks anyway.

[ladyK]

I have looked at all sorts of cages/dog crates I culd get, but they all seem to have a solid base, none with a wire bottom. So in the end I rigged up a cat carrie hanging upside down, so the wire top is now the floor.
It's a sunny but chilly day today here, so hoping his will work

Thanks for the cold water suggestion jaykay - makes a lot of sense!  Only just saw that, otherwise I would have tried this first, as I still don't feel happy about the confinement, but she's in the cage now, so will see how it goes. If there is no imptovement by the end of tomorrow I'm definitely going to try the cold bath.

Thank you all again.

[devonlad]

i'm afraid we've given up on our 2 broody girls. we used to go to great lengths to try and break it but it became such a faff when both of us have to leave early for work that we gave up on it and just turf them out knowing they will return. by rights the two culprits should probably have long been dispatched but one indeterminate hybrid was a gift from my sister in law and the other a light sussex was a departure from our usual hybrids ( black rock, warrens, goldline) because my wife wanted one. she fulfils her role as an ornament and is my wife's favourite- that's about it