Poorly chicken

[Lesley-Jean]

What is a Broody?

 

A hen lays only one egg every day or two. She does not start to incubate them until the whole clutch is laid. This way all the chicks will hatch at the same time. The physiology of a hen changes after she's laid her clutch and she will become hotter than usual and will pluck feathers from her legs and chest to allow the eggs to get closer to her warm body. She will remain sitting on her eggs, with her wings slightly spread to help keep them warm, for 21 days. She will mutter and growl if disturbed, and may even peck to defend her nest. She will only leave the nest once a day to eat, drink and defecate. If a hen is allowed to remain broody you should make sure she does do this at least every other day so that she will not either starve or get the eggs dirty with her droppings. (Broody droppings usually come out in one large, very bad-smelling glob.) Once the chicks start to hatch she will remain on the nest with them for 24-48 hours. Any eggs that have not hatched by then will be left behind when she takes the chicks for their first walk. At this time water and chick feed should be available for the chicks. The hybrid hens produced for egg laying tend to become broody much less frequently than the pure bred hens. When we remove eggs the nest, the hen believes there are not yet enough and continues to lay.

 

Symptoms to look for

 

Reluctance to leave the nest

Fluffed up flat, feathery pancake, muttering and growling if disturbed

Sitting on any eggs left by other hens

Warmer than usual body

Plucked chest and inner legs

Nest building - picking up sticks, twigs, straw etc. and throwing them over her back

 

Breaking Broodies

 

To stop a hen from remaining broody it should be discouraged at a very early stage (the first day or so).

 

Removing the hen from the nest and preventing her from going back to it for a few days. You could fill the nest with something like a brick or garden ornament or up turned flowerpot, but this can be inconvenient if other hens need to use the nest to lay, so you may need to remover her to another run without a nesting box if available.

 

Flying lessons could cool her undercarriage. Just hold her at waist height and allow her to flutter to the ground a few times.

 

A cold water dunk is recommended by some. Put the broody hen into a bucket of cold water. Making her wet through may lower her body temperature sufficiently to stop her being broody. She will also then spend time preening her feathers and may decide to forget being broody. This may need to be done several times per day for a few days.

Putting a “clutch" of ice cubes under a broody will help to lower her body temperature and reverse the broody hormones. It may take more than one "clutch" but it may cure her.

 

A broody cage may be needed for the more stubborn hen, a wire or slatted bottomed cage raised off the ground. The airflow up through the wire or slats keeps her underside cool so lowering her body temperature and after a few days she may give up. See the “Building a broody box” link above. The cage should be placed in an airy place which is safe from Mr fox and preferably where she can see the other chicken(s). You can buy a broody cage in pet shops or on Ebay.

 

My bantams are going broody in the heat but I've found this simple thing soons sorts it out.

 

I remove the small set of bars (mark 2 only) from the front of the eglu and place over the nest. It very quickly breaks the broody spells and I also make sure it remains the same at night as the temperature the 2 generate when huddled together in the nest makes them broody by morning

 

BBx

 

hello thought I would update you!! it been a while but after at least 3 weeks Broody is no longer broody lol! well I dont think she is!! all thanks to dripping car sponge in the nest box lol she wasnt happy!xx

 

Your broody hen should always have access to food and water and you should keep an eye on a her as she will not look after her own health as well as she should. Lack of food can cause poor condition and she will not dust bath to prevent lice infestation.

 

Your hen will come back into lay after being broody. (Not sure how long this takes but will edit to give this information when we have it).

 

Mine took between a week and 10 days to come back into lay.

 

In answer to how long before they come into lay again the longer you let the hen remain broody the longer she will not lay after being broken............I left Bunty sitting on eggs (which did not hatch ) for the full 21 days after which she gave up of her own accord, and it took 12 days for her to come back into lay, on other occasions were I have used the broody cage it has only taken between 5 and 7 days for her to start laying again, hope this helps..................

 

about a week after I cracked her broodiness - a small - but well-formed egg!

 

Update on my broody Hatty !

 

She eventually stopped being broody after 21 days, which at least proves she can count ! She started crouching after a further 6 days and layed her first egg 5 days later (Hooray!) A total of 30 eggless days.

 

 

If this all fails you may like to give her a clutch of fertile eggs to hatch but please read this topic before embarking on hatching