Have your hen become broody, won’t leave her nest, won’t eat anything, stop laying eggs?
Breaking the broodiness of your hen takes enormous effort and time, But don’t worry!
This article shows the easy and effective ways to break your broody chicken in 3 days while prioritizing their health and taking back to their laying cycle.
If you are a beginner this will also cover the topic of how to identify a broody hen. Let’s break it, to make it.
What is a Broody Hen and What Causes Broodiness?
To break a broody hen, you must first understand what a broody chicken is and why they act this way.
Broodiness is a natural behavior and hormone change in chickens, occurring at any time of the year, especially in springtime.
It makes hens sit on eggs and hatch them even if the eggs are infertile or if there are no eggs at all. Broodiness also stops hens from laying eggs.
She’ll stay in the nesting box, fluff up her feathers, and may become aggressive if disturbed by someone.
So, ok what causes this broody behavior?
Hormonal changes cause Broodiness. When a hen feels the urge to hatch eggs, her body releases a surge of prolactin hormones that prepare her for motherhood.
It’s like a switch flips on, and suddenly, she feels like her main job is to sit on eggs. Isn’t it amazing how nature works?
Broodiness behavior is a positive trait, as they can hatch chicks without artificial machines.
Moreover, hen broodiness seems to be contagious, if one of your chickens becomes broody all other hens like to start.
How to Tell if a Hen is Broody?
Identifying a broody hen is easy and anyone can tell if a hen is a broody or not. But still, if anyone has an issue identifying a broody chicken, here are the signs of a broody hen:
- Sign 1: a broody hen always wants to sit on eggs or stay in the nesting box.
- Sign 2: in this behavior, a hen will fluff their feathers when someone approaches her.
- Sign 3: The hen will flatten herself to cover all the eggs and nesting box.
- Sign 4: they are too aggressive and protective when someone wants to be near them.
- Sign 5: a broody hen will continuously cluck (warning others) when leaving their nest.
- Sign 6: they don’t leave their nest but just release a huge, stinky broody poop.
- Sign 7: a broody hen will have a bare broody patch on her breast to expose her moist skin to the eggs for humidity and temperature control.
- Sign 8: they will also not be interested in eating and drinking.
- Sign 9: these hens will lose weight due to their dedicated energy for hatching eggs.
- Sign 10: they will keep their away from other chickens.
- Sign 11: broody hen will stop laying eggs.
Can You Stop/Break a Broody Hen?
Can you stop this momma behavior in your chickens? The answer is yes, it is possible to stop your chicken hen from going broody.
But there is no doubt that it can take some time and patience. Moreover, you need to try different strategies and methods and find what works best for both of you.
Is it Safe to Stop or Break a Broody Hen?
Breaking or stopping a hen’s broodiness seems like Cruelty to chickens but, this is not, so feel free of these thoughts.
It is safe to break or stop a hen’s broodiness if done carefully, especially when they sit on unfertilized eggs or you don’t want chicks.
It’s often beneficial for her and other flocks, as they don’t want to eat and drink and also disturb the order of eating, laying, pecking, etc of other chickens.
But ensure to avoid those methods that can stress her like excessive handling, chasing, or isolating her in dark, cramped spaces, etc.
How Do You Break a Broody Hen?
Finally, we are at the point of how to break a broody chicken, this process will require some effort, time, and different humane strategies or ways to do this job.
Let’s dive deep into the most effective and best ways to break broodiness in hens:
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Naturally Break Hen Broodiness
There are natural ways to break a broody hen, yes this is true. Some herbal remedies and supplements work in breaking broodiness.
Herbal remedies like chamomile, lavender, and peppermint can slow and calm the broody behavior of hens.
These remedies balance her hormones (prolactin) and disturb her broody behavior. You can use essential oils, and tinctures, or add them to her food.
Likewise, supplements also help in breaking this behavior. Vitamin B6, iodine, and vitamin E can regulate a hen’s reproductive hormones.
This reduces the chicken’s desire to brood. You can mix these supplements into her food or give them as treats.
Remember that natural remedies might not work for every hen or not work effectively.
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Removing The Hen From the Nesting Area
As broody hens always stay in their nesting box or nesting area, you can disturb this one behavior.
Frequently take the hen out of the nesting box or area but carefully and gently.
You can leave the hen in another pen or coop or a place where no nesting box or dark area exists or leave with other chickens.
Before taking her out from the nest protect yourself with at least long hand gloves and be prepared, as when you approach her they will ruffle her feathers, aggressively herself, and peck at you.
The point is to distract her from the nesting area, busy them in activities like foraging, dust baths, etc, or play with them.
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Removing Eggs and Bedding From Hen
As a hen becomes broody they will sit in a nesting box even if there are no eggs, so how does egg removal from them work?
It does not work for all hens, but works for some hens. Repeatedly removing eggs from some hens can break their broodiness.
Carefully take out the eggs by your hands from under the chicken on which they sit. They may peck you and be angry at you so prepare yourself.
If you can’t see your hen stressed and unhappy, you can convert the real eggs into fake ones. Put something round like eggs but not real eggs like stones, golf balls, or fake eggs.
But this works on some hens, not on all. Also, fake eggs may longer the broody behavior of the hen so remember this.
Now the hens are somewhat uncomfortable but not fully, so removing the bedding will also disturb their broody behavior.
And can help you in breaking the broody cycle.
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Distract Your Hen From Their Activities
As broody chickens want to stay in nesting and dark areas, no drinking and eating, not interested in meeting with other flocks.
So we need to distract her from these things to activities that keep them busy.
Encourage her to forage, peck, dust bathe, leave her with other chickens, and more like these.
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Lock Your Hen Out Of The Coop
This is somehow the same as jailing which we discuss later, but simpler and easier than that.
Broody hens are interested in their nesting and dark area so just lock your hen out of the coop or lock the coop to prevent entering the broody hen.
But make sure to give access to other chickens for laying or something else.
The hen will also try to find other comfortable places and sit there but you should hide those places too or prevent hen access to them.
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Jailed Your Hen in Confined Space
Jail your chicken until their broody behavior breaks, a place where they have no nesting areas, no dark corners, and no worm area.
This means we are making the hen as bored and uncomfortable as they can, as broodiness comes from a calm and comfortable environment.
A chicken jail can be a cage or pen, an enclosed pen, a small confined space—whatever. Ensure to keep whatever you use for jailing in a safe and stable place and away from other flock.
The jail should also provide plenty of airflow under and around the chicken as she sits. If possible, place them in a cool area.
Lastly, just place the broody hen in the jail with plenty of food and water, leave the hen for 2 to 3 days, and always assess their overall health.
You can cage your hen for the whole day and night or just jail them for daytime and free her for night time plus allow her to go back with other chickens.
But ensure to block her access to the nesting boxes and continue the daytime jailing or quarantine until the hen is no longer broody.
The main point of jailing your broody chicken is to bore them and make them uncomfortable as much as we can to disturb their broody cycle and behavior.
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Give Your Hen a Cold Bath
As we discussed before the hormones that make brood the hens are more likely released in hot temperatures and also cause the hen to become hot so this can also tell us a way to break her broodiness.
Which is a Cold Bath or Coldness.
Cooling the broody hen is an effective way to break her broodiness. The sooner you give a cold bath to a broody hen the less time she will spend being broody.
Remember before cooling your broody hen, the weather should be warm and sunny, and cool down her chest and vent area.
Here is the step-by-step method to break hen broodiness with cool water:
- Step 1: Fill a tub with cool water, the water should cover the hen’s belly and chest. If you live in a cold region then use refreshing cool water instead of cold water.
- Step 2: Carefully place the hen into the water, making sure the water covers her chest and belly.
- Step 3: Leave the hen in the water for a few or 10-15 minutes, this will interfere with their broody cycle.
- Step 4: Take the hen out of the water and allow the hen to air dry naturally, encouraging her to walk around.
- Step 5: Then put the hen in a clean and well-ventilated coop or open area away from the nesting box and dark places.
- Step 6: Continue doing this several times a day until she is no longer broody, but ensure the weather is warm.
Always keep an eye on the broody hen’s behavior. Once she stops sitting in the nesting box and resumes normal activities like foraging, her broodiness has likely broken.
Point to note that this practice is not recommended in the winter months and if you accidentally get her too wet, drying her off gently with a blow-dryer set to a comfortable temperature.
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Conclusion: Always remove your broody hen from the nesting area, remove eggs and bedding from the hen, distract your hen as much as you can, prevent the hen from entering the coop, jail you hen, and lastly, if they are still broody give a cold bath. |
How to Stop a Hen from Going Broody?
Stopping hens from broodiness is a good way if you want a regular supply of eggs or don’t want to hatch chicks by hens.
But how do you know that your hen is going broody?
When they become broody (not fully) they don’t have many signs to identify their broodiness so you need to observe their first or coming behaviors.
They will spend an unusual amount of time sitting in the nesting box, fluffing up their feathers, growling noises, acting aggressively, typically stopping laying eggs, etc.
Now let’s learn how to stop a hen from going broody once you notice that they are becoming broody:
- Distract them on time with any activity.
- Busy them by dust bath, playing, foraging, etc.
- Collect eggs twice thrice a day, do not leave them in the nesting box.
- Move the hen to an open area or room to move freely.
- Make their surroundings full of activities to prevent boredom.
- Don’t leave them in one place for a while, especially in a dark place.
- Light their coop and nesting box with artificial light to prevent darkness.
- Regularly change the location of the nesting box or add a new one.
11 Most Broody Chicken Breeds
Almost all hens go through broodiness behavior, but some chicken breeds are more prone to go broody.
So if you want to avoid this behavior in your chickens and want your chicken to lay, you need to avoid these chicken breeds.
Here are the 11 most broody chicken breeds:
- Silkies
- Cochins
- Buff Orpingtons
- Sussex
- Columbian Wyandottes
- Cornish
- Partridge Rocks
- Australorps
- Brahmas
- Buffs
- Buff Rocks
11 Chicken Breeds That Are Not Too Broody
As we discussed some breeds easily go broody, so some chicken breeds are not too broody.
Here are the 11 chicken breeds that almost don’t go broody:
- Crevecoeur
- Leghorns
- Hamburg
- Lakenvelder
- Minorca
- Polish
- Hybrid Production
- Rosecomb
- Sebright
- Sex link
- Sicilian Buttercup
Why Do Some Chickens Go Broody?
Broodiness is a natural thing in chickens and they can occur to almost all chickens.
Let’s discuss the broodiness reasons:
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Rise of Prolactin Hormones
The first and main reason for chicken broodiness is hormones when hens are urged to sit on eggs and hatch them. His body releases more prolactin hormones that ready hens for motherhood.
Prolactin hormones are produced in the hen’s pituitary gland, located at the base of the brain, and are responsible for activating the maternal behaviors associated with broodiness.
These prolactin hormones often rise by longer daylight hours which is why hens are more prone to go broody in spring.
Along with prolactin, other hormones like estrogen and progesterone play a role in preparing hens for laying and hatching, but the main one is prolactin.
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Role of Breeds
While all hens can become broody, some are more near to broodiness behavior as we discussed earlier.
If a hen like a silkie, cochin, orpington, etc is more prone to this behavior they can easily become broody.
On the other hand, some breeds are mostly for egg production not for broodiness like leghorns, sexlink, polish, etc these types of breeds are rarely broody.
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Seasonal Changes
Seasonal changes also influence broodiness in hens like all animals. Almost all hens are more prone to broodiness in warmer months than colder, especially in springtime.
In these times when days are longer, temperatures are warmer, and more abundant food supply which makes this time perfect for chicks’ maintenance and survival.
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Environmental Factors
Environmental factors also lead to broodiness. Factor like a quiet, safe, and secure area with nesting boxes.
The availability of eggs in nesting boxes, bedding materials, and the overall feeling of safety can encourage broodiness in your hen.
Likewise, if a hen feels threatened or stressed, she is less likely to become broody, as her instinct will shift towards self-preservation rather than nurturing.
How Long Do Hens Stay Broody?
Now, if your hens become broody and you don’t want to disrupt their broodiness with any methods, and instead choose to leave it as is, the hens will naturally break their brooding on their own.
But in how much time?
Commonly a hen chicken stays broody for about 3 weeks, that’s right—21 days is also the golden number for hatching.
This broodiness time might continue for an additional week or more. During this time hens are more interested in sitting on eggs and less interested in leaving the nest even for food.
One more thing to remember is that if a hen sits on unfertilized eggs they may be broody for 6 to 8 weeks or even more unless you break their broodiness.
How a Broody Hen Can Affect Your Flock?
A broody hen can affect your flock, they have a big impact on their friends.
The first is when they become broody they separate themselves from other flocks, this behavior stirs up in other chickens and also stresses and confuses them.
The second impact is they also affect other flock pecking orders, a broody hen disrupts this order.
Third is a broody hen stops laying eggs, this can also affect other chicken’s egg-laying order.
Fourth is, broodiness seems to be contagious if one hen becomes broody the other also wants to hatch or sit on eggs.
Fifth, a broody chicken also becomes super protective and aggressive. She pecks other flocks for their nest.
Sixth they are not interested in eating and drinking, so this can affect their health.
Can a Hen Die by Broodiness?
Broodiness is not a disease and in fact, this is not an issue, chicken dying from broodiness is rare and no one in my flock dies from this natural thing.
But during broodiness, hens are not interested in eating and drinking which leads to dehydration, malnutrition, and weight loss.
Moreover, due to the lack of movement, they can get exhaustion and parasite infestations which can cause infections and further weaken the hen.
Also when the hen starts laying again after broodiness, sometimes they have an issue called egg binding which can be life-threatening.
Additionally, constant broodiness also weakens hens, making them more vulnerable to illnesses.
Last but not least In extreme weather, a broody hen can suffer from heatstroke in hot climates or hypothermia in cold conditions, especially if she isn’t eating and drinking enough.
These issues can weaken the hen and also make them more prone to disease which may or may not lead to death.
So, ensure she eats, drinks, and moves well and regularly. Checking her health and parasites is also crucial. If necessary, intervene to break her broodiness.
Will a Broody Hen Stop Other Hens from Laying?
A broody hen physically and directly can’t stop other hens from laying, but indirectly they can interfere. How?
As broody chickens always stay in the nesting box and don’t leave them, this can prevent other flocks from accessing the nesting box and laying, which can discourage egg laying.
Broody hens are super aggressive and fight, this can cause stress and tension within other chicken hens and this can interfere with their egg-laying.
The presence of a broody hen in the nesting box and coop can lead some hens to avoid these areas due to the broody’s aggressive behavior, which may result in delayed egg-laying.
Should you Break a Broody Hen?
This all depends on you and your specific needs. If you want to continue the egg supply then break their broodiness. But if you want new chicks from eggs then don’t break.
Moreover, if they sit on unfertilized eggs or you don’t want chicks then they will waste time and energy so break their broodiness.
Additionally, broody chickens neglect their health. They don’t eat and drink and sit in one place for a prolonged time which leads to parasites, so this is also a reason to break her broodiness.
Their behavior can disturb other flocks from living comfortably, this is another reason.
At last, broodiness is a natural thing and if you don’t want to intervene, after 20 to 30 days their broody behavior will likely pass on its own.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, breaking your chicken broodiness takes time and effort but with these effective ways, they can take almost 3 days and little effort.
Our main goal is to help your hen go back to laying eggs while staying healthy and happy.
I hope this article helps in breaking the broodiness behavior in your hen. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
FAQs
What is broodiness in chickens?
Broodiness is when a hen wants to hatch eggs. She sits on a nest often and gets upset if you bother her.
How do I know if my hen is broody?
Look for signs like she won’t leave the nest. She might also puff up and get mad if you try to move her.
How can I prevent broodiness in my chicken flock?
To stop broodiness, make sure there are enough nesting boxes. Control the light and take eggs from nests often.
How long should you leave a broody hen in a cage?
In a “broody breaker” cage, she typically needs to stay in the cage for about 3 to 5 days. The exact duration depends on how stubborn the broody behavior is.
How long does it take to break a broody chicken?
Breaking a broody chicken typically takes 3 to 7 days, depending on the chicken’s temperament and the method used.
How do you reset a broody hen?
Methods include using a broody breaker cage to cool her down, removing her access to nesting areas, and ensuring she spends time in an environment that distracts her from sitting. Once her behavior returns to normal, she can be reintroduced to the flock.
How to break a stubborn broody hen?
Breaking a stubborn broody hen requires patience and consistency:
- Use a broody breaker cage: Keep her in a wire-bottom cage for 3 to 5 days to cool her down and disrupt her nesting instincts.
- Limit nesting access: Completely block off the nesting boxes to prevent her from returning.
- Ensure she stays cool: Cooling her body temperature by increasing airflow around her or even dipping her in cool water (if the weather permits) can help.
How to break a broody Silkie hen?
Silkie hens are known for their strong broody tendencies, and breaking them can be a challenge:
- Broody breaker cage: Use a wire-bottom cage for 3 to 7 days to cool her down and prevent her from nesting.
- Remove nesting materials: Ensure she doesn’t have access to soft bedding or nesting boxes.
- Keep an eye on her: Silkies can be particularly stubborn, so it may take longer to break the cycle, or she may go broody again soon after breaking.
Why do I need to break a broody hen?
If a hen stays broody too long, it hurts her egg-laying. It’s key to get her back to laying eggs.
What are some gentle ways to break a broody chicken?
You can gently move her from the nest. Give her a special coop or cage. Water can also help break the broodiness.
Can I use natural remedies to break a broody hen?
Yes, herbal remedies and supplements can help softly. They’re good to try before more serious steps.
