Broody hen, what should I do???

Question

I have a hen which is broody. She has been missing for about ten days. only appearing now and again for food. She is sitting in the middle of a pampas grass with about ten eggs, which will not be fertile. Should I just remove her, and put her back with the other hens, who, incidentally, have taken to bullying her. Anyones help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

my advice is just leave her alone for a few days, she will soon get fed up when nothing hatches and when they start smelling she will realise

Answer 2

remove the eggs and put her back in the coop and keep her there for a few days

Answer 3

two options - if you want chicks, go onto Ebay or go to a local poultry breeder and buy some hatching eggs.  At some point when she comes off for food, take away her infertile eggs and replace them with the fertile ones.

second options, if you don't want chicks, just move her off and take away the eggs.  Keep taking away the eggs as early as possible after lay each morning or, as someone else said, block the nest so she can't sit on it.

good luck!

Answer 4

Excerpt from the Clucks and Chooks website:

To prevent hens becoming broody it's always good practice to remove eggs frequently, at least once a day to prevent the hen from wanting to sit and nest. If you find you have a broody hen the first thing to do is to encourage them out of their nesting site (I often just pick them up and send them out the coop door).

There are many different methods to stop your hens being broody and some I find rather cruel. The one method is where you collect your hen and put her in a wire cage, hang it off the ground and deprive them of food for a day or 2! I personally wouldn't attempt such drastic measures and have found other successful ways of encouraging them out of their broodiness.

Broody hens prefer a dark, warm and draught free nest so if you can remove at least one of these elements you should be able to get your hen out of its broody phase. I had a hen who decided to nest on the floor of the coop so I built a false floor to allow the cool air to circulate underneath her. After a day of attempting to sit and not being comfortable she gave up and snapped out of her broodiness.

Some can be quite stubborn which I have also experienced in the past. I could not get this one particular hen out of being broody and after 3 weeks of sitting she still showed no signs of snapping out of it. She was getting a bit out of condition due to lack of sunlight and a regular pattern of eating, drinking and generally being more active. I decided that each day after the hens had laid their eggs, I'd fill the nest boxes with plant pots and a football to prevent her from being able to sit. After a week of doing this she finally came out of her broodiness.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

if they are not fertile then you should remove the eggs because the hen will not move until something happens to the eggs but nothing will happen because they are not fertile.

or

remove the eggs that are not fertile and replace them with eggs that are and if you havn't got any fertile eggs ask a friend also with chickens!

Answer 6

Remove the eggs. She will sit for weeks if she is allowed!

Once the eggs are gone she may still return to the same area to sit or lay eggs...

One of the little tricks we did was to ball up a piece of chicken wire (to about the size of a Cantaloupe) and place it in the nest she's made...once she cannot sit there again, she'll leave it alone.

Answer 7

Put her in a small coop and run on her own and take all the eggs away.  i use a mesh grate in my broody coop/run and dont give much bedding. The cold air getting underneath the hen soon stops her fro being broody. if you leave her she will sit on them for weeks.  

Answer 8

Do you have a rooster? If you do they will be fertile. The rooster can mate with her once a month and they will be fertile. If you have a chciken that crows you do..

You shoudl check the eggs to make sure, if you see veins when you candle them wiht  flashlight then there is sothing in htere. I would leave her if you do.

I fyou defiantly dont have a rooster and its impossible you need to get her and put her in with the chcikens. Rempve the eggs or they will stink. Put her in the coop and then put the others in with her after she had been in ther for a while. They will peck at firt but in a coupke of dauys she sould be fine