Mrs Boss is broody. How to stop a hen being broody
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Chickens | 121 comments
Mrs Boss is one of the original bantams that we bought three years ago. A bantam is a breed of small chicken. As you can see from the photo she is white with pretty black and white feathers around her neck. She reminds me of the portraits of English cavaliers sitting so proud in their lace collars. She also has feathered feet.
When she arrived she was boss, ticking the other hens off if they stepped out of line. But gradually the others fought back and now her demotion is final. She is right at bottom of the pecking order and has a tough time.
Mrs Boss is broody at the moment. This means, as Danny says, “She’s in the mood to raise a brood”. Bantams have a natural tendency for broodiness but this has become a life mission for Mrs Boss. In a way it’s understandable. She can sit in the dark gloom of the nesting box away from the pecking and bullying. The only problem is that if a hen is broody, she does not lay eggs, and Mrs Boss’s small white eggs are the sweetest of them all.
How to stop a hen being broody is fairly simple. If you can prevent her from settling comfortably, she will stop being broody within a week or so. Some hens are fine again after thee days in the broody coop; Mrs Boss is a long termer. The trick is to construct a cage with a floor made of large wire mesh (at least 1″ squares). Put the cage on bricks so that the floor is suspended, keeping the bricks to the outside edges so that she can’t sit on them. Find instructions here on how to make a broody coop. Provide a small drinking fountain and feeder within the cage and pop her in. She will not be able to settle comfortably on the wire mesh floor and within a few days will get over her broodiness.
Mrs Boss hates the broody coop. When we give the other hens treats, such as corn or kitchen scraps, she leaps up and down in her cage in a fury of frustration and rage until she’s given her share. When she has served her time and is released, the first thing that she does is have a long luxurious dust bath.
Tips and tricks:
- When a hen is broody, the comb on the top of her head changes colour from red to pink. Check the colour of her comb every day when she is in the broody coop. When the comb is red she can be let out of prison and will not immediately return to the nesting box, except to lay an egg. It took me ages to work this out.
- If you have a broody hen and don’t want to go down the broody coop path, she will probably remain broody for the entire summer. Every morning and evening, it’s vital to lift her out of the nesting box, or wherever she has settled, so that she can eat and drink. Broody hens can starve to death if ignored.
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Hi-I just came acoss your website when I was asking google about broody bantams. We live in Zambia and this year successfully hatched 5 swainsons francolin under one of my bantams. They are now 8 months old and we have the male calling in our garden every day. It is fantastic. Also when we lived in Botswana I went and brought 6 ex battery hens. The first thing they did was carry straw around and make lovely nests and they laid eggs for ages. I would love to get some modern game birds here if anyone knows how I could do it? Jackie
I only got chickens early this year but have already learned a lot. Re the wire cage issue, the sort of dog cage sold for the back of a car is ideal as they are really strong and safe against a predator. There was one left at our house when we moved here, and it has proved ideal and ‘cured’ three broodies so far, left under the chicken house ‘porch’ out of the weather. One of our ex-batts suddenly lost lots of feathers over her crop and down her neck and we thought “uh-oh, bullying” but it was a brief bit of broodiness. Chickens pull out a lot of chest feathers sometimes when they go broody, but we only learned of this later.
To ‘tame’ brrody hens. Dunk them in a bucket of coldish water. A hens temperature rises when she goes broody and, as with humans, a cool bath help to reduce it.
hello , i have 4 hens 1 cock and 10 chicks 2 of the hens are broody and sitting on eggs , 1 lot have been there just over a month now and i dont think they are going to hatch, 1 of the hens has the 10 chicks and has left them and is laying again i think ? will she lay and go broody again as i bought her with the chicks, could the cock not be working ? please help thank you darren.
We’re fairly new to this “chicken” thing, having purchased 3 hens back in May. All was going well, until one decided to set on eggs. I came across your web site and my husband built the little “anti-brooding” cage. After 1 day, we felt sorry for her and let her out – and, she went right back to her nest to set. So, back in the cage for the 3 days you recommended! And, sure enough, after the 3rd day, she was so happy to get out, she’s been being a “good” chicken ever since! Thanks for the very helpful information! (Will keep the cage just in case we need it in the future!)
Judylyn
Hi Caroline,
What a shame.
Kiev may go broody again this year, with a bit of luck, it just depends on her tendency to go broody.
We have hens that have gone broody once and never again and hens, like Mrs Boss, who goes broody at the drop of a hat. When she hasn’t been sitting on eggs, she can go broody several times a summer.
If Kiev is a young hen, it™s more likely that she™ll go broody again for you (next year if not this). Fingers crossed.
Thank you so much for the clear advice. Our Black Rock hen Kiev has gone broody this weekend. After our initial excitement (including scrubbing clean a broody coop previously used as the guinea pigs’ run and sourcing some fertile eggs for her to sit on) we have realised that we will be on holiday in 21 days’ time. Sadly it looks like we will be putting wire mesh on the bottom of the coop and placing it on bricks as seeing to newly-hatched chicks as well as the hens and kitchen garden is too much to ask our neighbours. Will she go broody again next year?
Hi Nan
Chicken bullying is merciless. Your poor old hen is at the bottom of the pecking order and will stay there until you change the status quo. Perhaps introduce two or three more hens if you have enough space.
Some hens, like some people just don’t have a chance. Of course she is posturing and trying to fight back.
The awful fact is that there™s always a hen at the bottom of the pecking order. However this hen is being really abused (like your hen) you need to change the status quo PDQ.
If you remove the hen, she will recover but face the same abuse when she returns to the flock unless you introduce others to the flock in the interim.
You could, of course, move the main bullying chickens on. Buy several young pullets to replace them and reintroduce your hen to the flock and hope that the new hens are shouldering the abuse.
It™s best to try and take action a bit earlier in the future. If bullying has really taken hold you have deep problems and may need to get rid of the top and bottom of your pecking order so as to rebuild a balanced, happy flock. There are other ways to build a bullied hen™s status “ if she goes broody let her raise a clutch of eggs. Another hen will slip into her position but may have more grit.
Our flock, incidentally, has to be watched carefully. Keeping hens is fun but you are in fact a micro farmer and need to always consider the past, present and future for all your stock. As we have found, leaving them to sort it all out for themselves can have devastating consequences.
Hello, all! I am hoping for some advise about my hens. I have 5 right now (3 left out of 4 original beaubands (rhode island red cross) and 2 black sex links (younger). They have a good size checken coop (has previously held as much as ten), 6 separate laying boxes, a large fence in pen and then allowed to free range when we’re home from work. One black sex link is being unmercilessly picked on by the others. She has so many bald spots it’s making me ill just to look at her. I tired Blu-Kote which only worked for a few days. Now the others take turns jumping on her back and pull feathers out of her head. I an thinking of caging her in sight of them, so as to keep up contact but no abuse. Does any one have any advise here. I’d be most appreciate. Most of the chickens seem to be laying, but one or two may be nearing retirement. The victim is very skittism and my husband says he has seen her posturing in a menacing way towards the others (like I blame her) but feels this may be bringing on the warfare. No rooster, by the way. Thanks for any help you can suggest. Nan
Hello Chloe
Good luck with the broody coop!
I’d love to hear how you get on.