Kitchen Garden Forum

A couple of my hens have decided to go broody on me and egg production is right down! Grrrr.

I have read about dunking the rear of the hens in a cold bucket of water to break the broodiness and have been giving the hens a bath twice a day for a few days now but there is no sign of them going back to egg laying. I have also stopped them getting into the hen house so they have no access to the nest boxes.

Last year one of the hens in question went broody twice and it took weeks for her to stop.

However they are still displaying the classic signs of broodiness and wanting to get into the nest boxes to sit all day. Does the cold water trick work and how long can it take. Obviously it will vary bird to bird.

Unfortunately I am not in the position to put eggs under them to hatch as their timing is awful as we have holidays booked and I don’t want to add any more work to my elderly chicken sitter whilst we are away.

Thanks

Jerry

I put mine in a cage which is a recycled Tesco stacking crate with food & water & a perch for about 2/3 days, that does the trick for mine.

Thanks

I have kept her out of house for a few days and nights. At night she has been in a safe run.

This has seemed to break her and she is now not broody. Not laying again just yet but hope she will soon.

Jerry

I think the main thing is to stop their bottoms getting hot, if they are forced to perch & not nest this prevents this & they soon lose interest. I got back from hols last Saturday evening to find a broody in residence, my holiday hen keeper only called to feed & collect eggs, she (The Hen) went into the sin bin straight away & I,ve just let her out this morning for good behaviour