My hen has been broody for well over a month. When will it stop?

Question

I have, perhaps cruelly, removed the eggs that the other hens have laid from under her breast, but she has remained in this zombie like state of broody ness for an awful long time. She comes out to feed and have a dust bath everyday, but keeps returning to the nest. How do I make her stop?

Answer 1

Can you remove the nest?

Answer 2

broodiness -move the hen  to a dark spot in the pen where none of the other hens or roo can bother if she has eggs.

Breaking up a broody --Try placing her in a pen so she can't see the nest for 4 days this should do the job.

Some hens are stubborn and will still set without a nest or eggs this calls for a wire bottom cage The airflow will keep her bottom side cool and after a while she will give up. You could also try ice cubes put a few under her.

If this fails try to pen hen with 1 roo together the roo will pester her with mating  and she wont have time for the nest and sitting the roo has to be active, Make sure what ever you do that she has water and food at all times   Good Luck

Answer 3

lol, yep, some girls are soooo stubborn.

*Turns to look at the stupid Silkie that has been sitting on dirt for almost two weeks now*

The place doesn't need to be dark. I just put them in one of my conditioning pens; a 2x2x2' cage with wire bottom. After about 2 days they've had enough of that. I leave them in there for the rest of the week and take the opportunity to dust and worm them, sometimes I even bathe them.

I'm not sure I like the ice cube idea. Their skin is thin and the freezing temperature could damage it in spots, especially as when they are broody, they have no feathers on their underside. However, as I've never done that, I couldn't say for sure.

Works for everyone.

Except the Silkies.

A week after getting to go back to the big pen, they find a nice spot and start to set again, even in dirt if no one is laying eggs for them to steal.

For the Silkies, I either just let them set there, or I put some eggs that are ready to hatch under them and then they are happy when they do.

Answer 4

Dip her back end in a bucket of cold water and that should bring her out of it. Try not to get her feathers too wet or she may get a cold. My hen soon stopped being broody. But she becomes broody every so often.