Hens going broody can present a problem when hatching chicks is not the plan. Broody’s can be that way for weeks to months; not laying eggs and taking up space in the nesting boxes.
Broody hens can also start a chain reaction, with other birds seeing the behavior and following along. This can lead to a serious drop in egg production and more noise in the coop as the layers try to find a nesting box not occupied by a broody hen.
Throwing In All The Chips
We have personally had a hen be broody for months when we ran an experiment to see just how long it would last. At the time we had no understanding that she could do serious harm to her body.
A broody hen eats and drinks very little, so a long duration can have serious health risks. Death can result in serious cases where the hen sits on infertile eggs or no eggs indefinitely. So how to you limit broodiness and stop it from spreading?
Doing Time Without Committing a Crime
The answer to that question is to lock them up. Confinement away from the coop for a few days usually takes care of the issue. Broodiness is a completely natural behavior, but not everyone can wait for it to pass. Those with smaller flocks would go without eggs for an extended period of time.
Large flocks would be able to live with a few broody hens and still do well with egg production. They would still run the risk spreading broodiness to other hens however, which they may want to discourage.
The best way to deal with this situation is isolated confinement. Being away from where they are comfortable laying helps break the hens of being broody. Some also suggest a dip in cold or cooler water as a treatment for broodiness.
Using Nature As A Remedy
In nature animals reproduce to have their young at the times where their diets are most plentiful according to the seasons. Breeding usually occurs so that birth aligns with nature; abundant with the requirements to sustain new life. This explains why broodiness in hens typically starts in spring.
After a hard fall molt and recuperative winter from egg laying, the girls are ready to get back into laying mode. This coincides with new vegetative growth and a ramp up in soil and insect activity. For chickens this is the best time to rare young.
We can use some of natures cues to help to discourage hens from continuing to be broody. Dips in a cold bath for instance, work because this naturally goes against when chickens would brood.
Animals in general don’t give birth when it’s cold and finding food is as this makes raising their young much more difficult. The cold water tells the bird to go against its instinct, because it is not time.
This ain’t for everybody
While this method may not be for everyone, this is what we do currently and it has yet to fail. Understanding that abundant food sources help to trigger broodiness we withhold food for 3 days at the onset as well as isolate the hen from the flock.
For those 3 days they only receive water and whatever they can scrounge up in the broody pen. The new environment, lack of food and safety of the nesting box work quickly to break the behavior.
This method has worked for us every time. The birds are not withdrawn or weak upon return and have not been gone long enough to lose their position in the flock. They return to normal flock activity.
Don’t shoot The Messenger
Now I say this again, this method may not be for everyone. We do not neglect, abuse, or mistreat our animals and this is only used to break broodiness. This is not done with cruel intent; rather it is inducing a change using an understanding of nature. Placing the hen in an unfamiliar location without resources helps to break her of being broody because it goes against the conditions that would normally trigger broodiness. While this method will likely be met with some controversy, it works.