What is a broody hen?
Tis the season of broodies! I currently have broody orpington, ducks and a turkey. Each one has their own quirks and needs. I will talk you through my pens, what the broody looks like and what I am doing now and will do in the future.
Let’s start with a broody hen’s behavior. The chickens will flatten out, stay on the nest, cuss you if you get too close and I have one that bites! They will take up nest boxes and other hens may climb in on top of them to lay their egg. Sometimes you will hear the term, “hard broody”, that means that she is in the zone! She doesn’t want to eat, drink, move, talk about anything and definitely doesn’t want you messing with her eggs! The ducks are a bit different, they build nests, they lay several eggs to build a clutch. As long as you keep pulling the eggs, she won’t go “hard broody”. Turkeys! Turkey hens are a whole different dinosaur! One day she was planted in the corner and was hard broody, concrete broody, in the zone! Same behavior as a chicken, flattens out, hisses, bites, will not move for anything!
Broody hens really don’t need much extra care. I will typically make them get up to poop, eat and drink. They have their own special poop, it’s big and loud! You do not want that mess in the nest box. They need to eat and drink because some hens will set to death. I have one nest box that can be hot in the summer, I will hang cage cups on it with water when it’s hot. So how do I get them up? I scruff them and put them down on the ground. Broody duck hens, mine won’t set the full 28 days so I usually keep disrupting them to get them to stop. The turkey hen, nothing I have found will get them up to eat and drink, so I leave them be.
Now one thing I have not discussed, what about the eggs? There are no eggs under my broodies! Turkeys are awful moms and will usually break the eggs. Occasionally they may sneak a baby in, but unless I take it, it won’t survive. Ducklings are well cared for by mamas but drakes will kill them so I take eggs to incubated them too. The orpingtons that are broody do not have fertilized eggs, so I take those eggs as well. IF you want them to raise the babies, make sure to mark the eggs with the date with a sharpy. Pencil will come off. It is important to take any new eggs daily to not have a variety of development stages. Once an egg hatches, mama will only set for another day or so and abandon the nest, its important to keep eggs the same age under her.
Now, how to break a broody hen. There are multiple ways, some work better than others, some more harsh, it will take some trial and error to figure out what works for your girls. First is to just keep removing them, this will work if she isn’t hard broody. Cooling them off will break them, like dunking in cool water to cool their bellies, the whole bird isnt necessary. This is attempting to bring her body temp down. A wire bottom cage off the floor will do the same. IT will allow cool air to flow under her and cool her off, do not give her anything to nest down on, the wire bottom is the trick.Moving her to new space will sometimes work. A broody hen has a timer and she knows when it has been 3 weeks, you can wait her out as long as it is not too hot and she is healthy. If it is really hot, I would encourage you to break her if she isn’t setting on eggs. She won’t eat much and definitely won’t be drinking much and it will impact her health to leave her there. Many a hen has died on a nest.
Should you move a broody hen? IF you have her on eggs and want her to hatch, then the answer is no, leave her be. Mark the date on the calendar and then keep an eye on her at hatch day. Her body language will change when she is done setting and ready to move. At this point, move her to the floor if she isn’t and put her and the babies in a space by themselves. My reason will shock you! A mama hen will protect the babies from other hens, and a rooster typically wont bother them either. However, while she is out teaching them to scratch and eat and such, they can find issues like water bowls to drown in or even puddles! The biggest reason is feed, they need starter and while she is being a mama, the others will come in and eat the starter and knock over the waterer. Putting them by themselves for a week or so will get them started on the right foot and then you can start letting them comingle during the day. I would still isolate at night for feed and water and even morning too. Mama can eat the starter, its not an issue, she needs the extra nutrition too because she is depleted.
I hope this helps answer some basic questions about broody hens, comment below if you have any questions!
Jennifer