“Broody” is when a chicken stays in the nesting box in order to “hatch” eggs. She only leaves to relieve herself and to eat and drink. She does not lay eggs during this time and the process lasts about 21 days, which is about how long it would take to hatch a batch of eggs. Some people utilize a broody chicken to hatch out baby chicks, while most others prefer that they don’t go broody so that they can continue to get eggs.
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Using A Broody Hen To Hatch Eggs Or Raise Chicks
Personally, I’ve never used a chicken to hatch eggs (I use an incubator) but I have tricked a hen into thinking she hatched eggs by putting live chicks under her to raise. If you’re going to have them hatch eggs, you want to catch them at the beginning of there broodiness cycle so they can take those eggs to term. I would also recommend that you move the chicken into her own area or large dog crate to make sure the chicken stays on that nest. What I mean is that I’ve noticed my broody chickens switch to different boxes throughout there cycle. Especially if another chicken takes over their box to lay an egg while they left to eat and drink.
As for raising chicks, the most important thing you want to do is sneak the chicks under the hen during the night so that they can be fooled into thinking they hatched the chicks. It’s also important that the chicks are as young as possible so that they can bond to the hen. You’ll want to try and swing this trick later in their broody cycle. If you put chicks under them when they’ve only been broody for a few days vs after a week or two, they may instinctually know that those chicks couldn’t have hatched yet and not accept the babies. This will vary from chicken to chicken as sometimes, even through a chicken is well into going broody, they may still not accept baby chicks. This can come down to inexperience, or that hen just isn’t a suitable mom.
Breaking A Hen Of Broody Behavior
To re-cap, when a chicken goes broody, they stop laying eggs during that time. Many people own chickens so that they can benefit from those delicious eggs. Stopping a hen from being broody can be tricky as they can be pretty stubborn about stopping. I’ve tried removing them out of the box repeatedly, including at night. I’ve tried turning them out with the other hens during the day. But the quickest most effective method I’ve found to work is to move the chicken away from the coop entirely and into my rabbit/orchard area for 2-3 days straight, even at night. This is an area that has no nesting sites and is pretty bare. This forces the chicken to wander around and snap out of being broody.
Another reason you may want to break a hen of going broody is if they go beyond those 21 days. It’s not healthy. Though they do eat and drink, it’s not as much as they should and they continue to weaken the longer they are broody. The lack of activity is also detrimental to their health. These factors will make them susceptible to illness. It may even be helpful to note on a calendar when you noticed your chicken go broody so you can keep proper tabs on how long they’ve been broody for. Good Luck!
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