Whelp…we have our first broody hen. This is Blondie (called that because of all her yellow coloring…all our other Ameracaunas have a rustier coloring to their feathers) and she’s officially gone broody over the past week. Being that she’s a little over a year old and it’s spring, I guess she’s right on time with her instincts, but really…I could do without her drama. I’m wondering, too, if her instincts have kicked in since we have a rooster in our newest bunch of Newbies? He’s still an adolescent and maybe it’s just coincidence, but I do wonder…
Anyhow, we’ve been simply kicking her out of the nest and taking the eggs she’s trying to incubate every chance we get, but she’s become quite a bitch and we work long hours, so I don’t think it’s often enough. She’s taken to pecking at us, screaming/screeching/doing this weird cooing thing all the time and pissing off all the other Ladies by invading their space when they’re laying and picking fights when they try to get in the nesting box to lay. Oh joy!
I found some good information here and here and we’re thinking about sequestering her if she doesn’t chill out quick. It doesn’t sound like any kind of fun, but I’m not sure there’s another alternative at this point.
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I don’t particularly think a broody hen is a real problem (and we’ve had quite a few here, since we have many chickens), but if there’s no way that her eggs are fertile, and you don’t need any new chickens, then definitely break her of it. I have found the easiest way to do this is to move them. Usually just changing their surroundings will stop them, but if not, put her in an uncomfortable place, and she should snap out of it.
Good times! I wish you luck!
Yeah…if we had more space and were not in the middle of town we would absolutely be happy to keep a rooster and let nature do its thing! We will eventually…but not yet. I hope solitary confinement works!
Aww..poor Blondie, trying to be a good mom. This is educational for me. I read the links you posted and it said it’s not good for her or the other girls either. I’m glad I read it, because I’m such a softie, I’d be feeding into her drama.
Yeah…I tend to just want to hope that things like this will juts go away. She’s really awful though, so we’ve put her in solitary confinement. We’ll see how it goes…
Oh joy – I can’t wait to experience all this! This made me laugh “I could do without her drama”
Can you give her fake eggs to sit on?
I’ve thought about the fake egg trick, but she’s really a bitch and I don’t want to encourage her. She’s in solitary confinement right now…we’ll see if it breaks her…
Boy do we understand. We recently broke one of our hens second run of broodiness. We followed the directions you linked to, i.e. isolation in a cool place with water and food for a few days. The only thing I’d add is that we put her in very small space confinement. She couldn’t move or spread her wings. It worked like a charm!
Ha! I sure hope solitary works! She’s in our brooder right now…cool, quiet, dark, with food and water. My fingers are definitely crossed!