# Observations on Broody Hen.



## kjohnstone (Mar 30, 2013)

I could never speak on broody hens before, never having experienced it. I'm in month 10 of first chickens ever. Started with 8, still have 8. Coopless (but not shelterless) pullets went through the nastiest cold that December could muster. At some time in November, I didn't put it on my calendar, so I don't remember exactly when, one of my amber-whites went broody. Lasted 2 months, she came out of it last week. I had noted lots of weight loss while she was broody, so I started putting a little handful of feed into the nest box with her each day, which she would immediately scarf. Now she is done and out and about. Scrawny and feathers a mess. Now she is molting! In January! Snowed yesterday and today. Not laying, understandably. I'm going to make sure she has lots of access to calcium and feed, since she is about to pin-feather out. No bald spots yet, hopefully mother Nature will have the sense to do the molt a bit more evenly. 

Lesson learned from this: Don't be in a hurry to see a formerly broody hen come back into lay. After all that time of foregoing feed for the sake of sitting, she likely has nutritional deficits to catch up on. 

She has fallen to the bottom of the pecking order now, but once she has her strength and weight back, I'm sure she will take her old place in the upper echelons again.

Another thought: Being impatient and culling a recently broody hen is a complete waste, being scrawny, not that good of eating. Also, by the time she gets her weight back, she will be ready to lay. (Not to mention the value of a broody girl to the future generations) I figure if she goes broody at 8 months for the first time (so early) that she will probably have a tendency to go broody. Maybe. Still learning.


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## chickadee3 (Apr 14, 2013)

I had my first broody too! Caught her early, broke her early so no feather pulling or too much weight loss. Am new to chickens too... And thought she was dying!! Thank goodness for knowledgeable relatives, hey?! X


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## piglett (Jun 21, 2012)

kjohnstone said:


> I could never speak on broody hens before, never having experienced it. I'm in month 10 of first chickens ever. Started with 8, still have 8. Coopless (but not shelterless) pullets went through the nastiest cold that December could muster. At some time in November, I didn't put it on my calendar, so I don't remember exactly when, one of my amber-whites went broody. Lasted 2 months, she came out of it last week. I had noted lots of weight loss while she was broody, so I started putting a little handful of feed into the nest box with her each day, which she would immediately scarf. Now she is done and out and about. Scrawny and feathers a mess. Now she is molting! In January! Snowed yesterday and today. Not laying, understandably. I'm going to make sure she has lots of access to calcium and feed, since she is about to pin-feather out. No bald spots yet, hopefully mother Nature will have the sense to do the molt a bit more evenly.
> 
> Lesson learned from this: Don't be in a hurry to see a formerly broody hen come back into lay. After all that time of foregoing feed for the sake of sitting, she likely has nutritional deficits to catch up on.
> 
> ...


broody hens are your friends
they do their best to bring new birds into your flock
so never cull unless she is at deaths doorstep
even then give her a chance


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## cluck13 (Jun 14, 2013)

Broody Hens are fantastic if you want to have chicks at a later stage


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## kjohnstone (Mar 30, 2013)

That's what I'm talking about! Broody hens are darlings. When she would get up to do her daily feed and water, sometimes one or two of the others would lay in her bucket (nest). She never pecked me when I reached in under her to see if real eggs were there. (amongst her wooden ones).


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## TheChickenGuy (Jan 29, 2014)

Some breeds of chickens easily molt after a short period of lay. Decreasing daylength during the winter can also induce molt. When a hen goes broody, you can break it by giving her a cold bath and if the weather is cold, keep her in a warm place till she dries off.


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## happybooker1 (Nov 5, 2012)

*My Serama and Frizzle Cochin Bantam would go broody*

several times in the summer. I would get them off the nests first thing in the AM & lock the coop door. After a few days of this they seemed to forget about it. They always preferred the nest in the coop, not the one outside. I didn't have any eggs to set so preferred to break them of their broodiness.


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## kjohnstone (Mar 30, 2013)

The way I figure it, the break from laying might lengthen the time she has to lay, since she is essentially a production hybrid. Gave her poor ovaries a rest. She is smart and sweet, probably the sweetest of the 8, especially now since being broody. She lays daily now, tho her eggs are only large to extra-large, not jumbo like some of her hatch-mates. Without a really good reason to not let nature run its course, I will just let it be. No harm, no fowl.


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## TheChickenGuy (Jan 29, 2014)

kjohnstone said:


> The way I figure it, the break from laying might lengthen the time she has to lay, since she is essentially a production hybrid. Gave her poor ovaries a rest. She is smart and sweet, probably the sweetest of the 8, especially now since being broody. She lays daily now, tho her eggs are only large to extra-large, not jumbo like some of her hatch-mates. Without a really good reason to not let nature run its course, I will just let it be. No harm, no fowl.


Yes, not breaking the broodiness can lengthen the time she lays. I have read that hens are born with limited ovaries, so once their ovaries have been used up, they can no longer lay. For pet chickens, it is very ok to allow a broody hen be, especially if you have no concern for the missing egg. But in commercial setting, broodiness is never tolerated due to the obvious effect on ROI.


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