It is springtime, and with that usually comes a broody hen. Which if you plan on letting her hatch eggs this can be a good thing, but if you don’t want her hatching eggs you will need to break her broodiness. Here are some ways to break a broody hen!
What is a broody hen?
A broody is usually a very determined hen that wants to hatch eggs. She will likely puff up her feathers and growl or even peck you if you try to move her. Broody hens will only get up from their nest once a day to eat and drink then she will go right back up to her spot. She does not care how many eggs she has she will just make a huge nest with them. Some hens have been known to try and sit on over 20! A broody hen will also stop laying eggs once she thinks that her clutch of eggs is big enough. The problem with a broody is that if you have no rooster you won’t be getting any chicks so it is very unhealthy for her to sit on them.
How to break a stubborn broody hen
If you stop her early on then it will be a little easier than if you waited, so try to stop her right away. If you go and constantly steal the eggs from her, then remove her from the coop you may be able to break her, but if you do that I would recommend wearing gloves unless you want to be pecked.
Another way to stop her is by placing a frozen water bottle or ice pack under her. This will cool her down and most likely snap her out of being broody. Because hormones will increase your hen’s body temperature this is what makes her go broody so by putting something cold under her it will usually stop her from being broody.
If your broody hen is being really stubborn then it may be time to head to chicken jail. All you have to do is set up an old dog crate or something like that, with food and water and let your hen stay there until she appears to be broken from her broodiness. Many people have done this and had great success with it!
There you go, you now have a few ways to break your broody hen. In the comments let me know how you break your broody hens!
The 1912 Homestead 