The EASIEST way to stop a hen being broody - lock her out, not up!
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- Опубліковано 28 сер 2024
- Most systems for stopping a hen being broody lock her up in a cage that's cool, breezy and has nowhere for her to sit comfortably and brood.
But there's an easier way - just lock her out of the chicken run! It works to reduce the prolactin hormone in her body by keeping her active and in a cool and bright environment away from those eggs. And it's absolutely no hassle for me to do.
If you want to know how to recognise broodiness and why you should consider stopping it, check out my earlier video here:
• How to stop a broody hen
For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand
/ chickensinmygarden
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Good video! I learned more about breaking broodiness in 8min. then a year of watching other videos, Thank you
Thank you for watching and for your kind compliment. I always want to know How and Why and Is it really true, so I guess other people do too.
Have a great day 🙂
I may have to set up a pen just for these.16 hens, and one went broody. Since there are other hens laying using the house, I just keep taking her out of the box. Today, she came out on her own at noon and hasn't gone back. 2 weeks, I guess she knew I wasn't going to leave her alone, and her loud squawking and picking at me was not working, lol! And maybe the nest box which is getting more sun now, was a bit too warm too.
I want one to hatch some eggs, but not right now while it's crazy late Winter, not Spring yet.
I love your vids, so informative. :)
Glad to hear she finally gave up.
I did used to have a separate cage that I used for breaking broodies but now in town every space needs to have multiple uses 🙂
The footage of you moving a broody hen around, and her creating a massive gravity well wherever she was placed, that was comedy gold. :)
Thanks 🙂🙂
Great info as usual. I’ve had a hen that’s been broody since the end of September! I’d been locking her out during the day but letting her back in at night and obviously this was re-setting her broodyness. Now after 2 days of being out of the house completely she’s looking like she’s finally coming out of it. Thanks.
Excellent! I'm glad she's getting over it 🙂
This ABSOLUTELY WORKS! Thank you so much for this excellent counsel!
I used these methods for just 2 days with a few broody hens. They hated being somewhat separated from the others, hated being in the bright sunlight, and kept running back and forth trying to find a way to get back inside. They had no access to the coop or the run, but had full pasture freedom that is usually only given to the flock for part of the day..
They only downside to this is that those two hens were more vulnerable to hawks or predators for the part of the day that they were pastured alone. But they stayed along the edge of the coop run area, running back and forth until they finally selected some safer shady places when it was hot.
I did not wait until they were fully broody to lock them out...lots of clucking and nest hogging was enough for me. Also, I checked to make sure they did not sleep in the nest boxes at night when they were back with the flock in the evenings. Success in just 2 days!
Thank you again for your insightful channel!😃
Thanks for sharing that. It's always good to hear about success. And of course you did everything right, including catching them early. 🙂
I had a good laugh over the one broody who forgot how to walk..LOL..Now THAT'S broody! We humans can get that way, ourselves, sad to say. And your advice could work for that as well. Lol..Thanx for posting.
That's my Gonzo. She was an amazing broody and a great Foster mother too. Long gone to the heavenly flock now, at the grand old age of 9.
@@chickensinmygarden I'm sorry for your loss. I read that they can live to 20 yrs old.? They stop laying as they get older, it said, but still lay some.
Yes they can live longer. I even did a video about it, featuring Gonzo
ua-cam.com/video/pPUvDRfT71M/v-deo.html
But here's a cuter video about Gonzo and some foster chicks
ua-cam.com/video/Zr0ujRPwNeQ/v-deo.html
This is what I do. Will work every time.
Hello I am new to your channel. I have been watching your older videos and learning so much. There's always something new to learn. I'm happy to see a new video. I have a small flock of chickens and just love them. By the way, from watching your videos I was wondering if you make all the cute art in your videos? If so great. I'm a digital artist myself and also plan to paint the outside of my coop in an orange fruit theme. Greetings from Florida.
Welcome 🙂 I'm glad you are enjoying the videos. I always have lots to learn too and I love sharing it.
I do kind of make the art work. I don't paint from life and I actually can't draw anything in proportion but I take bits of ideas from here and there and compose and paint them. For something tricky like the fantail bird on the Close the Gate sign side of my hen house I trace a picture first then paint it.
I’m so thankful for all the wonderfully informative videos you put out! I just found your channel today, I subscribed and going through your playlist. You’re the best> thank you so much! 💐
Thank you, that's great to hear.
I have quite a few videos now, in playlists according to subject, and most of them have information that never goes out of date, although the quality of some of my earlier ones is not the best 😀
This is an awesome idea, I actually did this couple years ago and it worked. Had 2 broody hen yesterday it was cool and rainy (they had options to get out of the rain) left them on the grass all day till bead with food and water. Both are in the nesting boxes this morning 🤦🏼♀️
A few hours sleeping cosily in the nest box will fire up those broody hormones 🤔
Have you got a video on how to get them used to the grandpa feeder? Mine were fine on the first setting so the treadle didn’t move but on the second setting where the treadle moves slightly is frightening them so much they aren’t feeding from it! Love your videos ❤️🇬🇧
Hi Barbs. Don't give up but take it slowly.
You have probably seen my original video about the Grandpa's Feeder
ua-cam.com/video/je5xmWhQj_s/v-deo.html
Absolutely the easiest way to teach young chicks is to let them copy mama hen, as you see them do in this video
ua-cam.com/video/25yyqFKkQYA/v-deo.html
Even just having chicks around hens who are already using the feeder gets them used to the sound.
But not everyone has that luxury and of course there's always the first lot to experience it. With my most recent batch of three, I had them out of sight and sound of the main flock so they had to learn on their own. It isn't a big feature of this video
ua-cam.com/video/40S_Sb4mt50/v-deo.html
but I did make a point of capturing their learning process because it was so long since I had had young chicks learn on their own.
They took most of a day to eat out of it when Ifirst put it in - not moving. Then I have footage in this video of their reactions the first time it moved. Then some footage taken only 2 days later when they had got used to it.
I left it on that first moving-slightly setting for a couple of weeks. Then moved it to the next setting and finally a couple more weeks later to the fully functional setting.
At each point I made sure they had full tummies before I made the change then left them to it - eat when you get hungry! And took lots of time between each change.
I hope that helps. Do reply if I can help further.
Maybe I do need a video about it 🙂
Once I thought about your question I realised there was quite a bit to say, so I have just now done a video about it 🙂
ua-cam.com/video/U-01sHFOpcg/v-deo.html
I have just this problem from time to time with one particular hen. My Johena is a determined brooder. Every day I'll pick her up and take her far away from the coop and put her in place in the yard she really likes to be. The only thing that seems to snap her out of it is a really nice place to scratch.
That's a lovely "cure" 🙂
Good video, though as you say it depends on your setup, our Auckland girls get to roam the section so locking the broody out means locking them up, so we do broody bin until the others have laid then switch to lock out.
Topic suggestion - what to do when your hens go broody but still lay for a couple of days!
Yes that's a difficult call. I usually let her sit for up to half an hour if I think she wants to lay. But I have the luxury of time to watch her now I'm retired. In my working days when I was away from home for 12 hours a day, they were often days into broodiness before I realised.
It's true broodies are really time consuming! And a write off when you've left the neighbours in charge over Christmas 😂🐔🥚
Oh no!
I have a winter broody and have to rob her of keestered eggs daily. She pecks a bit but I laugh and take them anyway. I notice we have the same technique to reaching under them for eggs. I don't have this ability to lock her out yet, but once I get the extra run around my garden and a the seperate yard for a summer coop then I will! I have this saved for such an occasion. Thanks for another great video.
Thank you. I've heard some broodies can be quite vicious but I've never had them more than peck at me and growl.
@@chickensinmygarden Haha. Mine barely peck but they are not happy. This one will call to the rooster to come and save her, but he comes in and says, "Well it is just the treat lady, what do you want me to do." Or something like that. haha.
She finally officially broke a few days ago. Whew!
Wow! That was a long time!
You might like to make sure she has a good diet, especially if her comb looks pale and she's skinny.
We were throwing her out 2 to three times a day and closing the door so she ate and drank. The last time picking her up at roost time and putting her on the perch. She was diligent but we were worse. 😁
Thanks
Hey there loving your videos and learning a lot! I have a question. I'm trying to understand more about breeding and genes of chickens. I have a americana Hen that lays a greenish colored egg and My rooster is from a easter egger Hen and a black copper Maran rooster and he has fertilized my greenish eggs. What happens if I hatch her eggs? Will the chick be a mix of all of them or can it be 1 of any kind of them? Will the new chick if it's female lay a green egg? Hope that makes sense. I just bought an incubator and am gonna hatch some this spring. Thanks for any feedback!
Well I have lots of videos that might help.
First make sure you understand what makes green eggs (basically brown pigment over a blue egg)
ua-cam.com/video/doDPvhYgBTY/v-deo.html
And it might be useful to understand some basic genetics. I have a series about genetics which was mainly to understand colour and patterns but the first one covers the very basics
ua-cam.com/video/NVcUWX8jPXI/v-deo.html
With the blue eggshell colour, it tends to be either blue or not blue, inherited as an autosomal dominant gene, so your chicks have a good chance of laying green eggs (50:50 if your hen is a heterozygous crossbreed).
We don't have Copper Marans here in New Zealand but I think they lay very dark brown eggs, don't they? If so and if your chicks inherited the blue shell gene, the eggs would come out green - probably something like a dark khaki. But the intensity of the brown pigment does vary between hens and over time so you would probably get a range of shades.
@@chickensinmygarden Awesome! Thanks so much! yes i have a copper maran hen as well and her eggs are a lot darker than the rest. Thanks so much looking forward to incubating some!
Thanks for a sweet one. Say do you know if there is a reason a barred rock 9 month old hen would stop laying? It has been a year now and no eggs the whole time. She did lay Three enormous eggs. 3 1/2” long and 4 ounces each. She also laid normal size eggs. Then about 3 months into laying (around 9 months) she just stopped. I tease her about being a freeloader. She pretends every day that she lays an egg by sitting on her sisters egg. They are so adorable.
There are several reasons why a hen might stop laying. After a year of no eggs it sounds like this is permanent. My guess is that it might have been caused by some sort of infection that damaged her reproductive tract. There are a few infections that will do that and she might not have even seemed very sick at the time.
This is the method I use, much simpler. One of my hen is so stubborn that it could last for more than a week and repeat within the same month. Basically, she was broody on and off all summer. Growing tired of the behavior and having nothing to lose, one day I decided to bring her back in the coop way after sunset, it was really dark. She was frenetically walking around the entrance looking everywhere. This was 6 months ago, she has never been broody again.
Good one! 🙂 Definitely making her upset will disturb those hormones 🙂
Lovely : )
Thanks
Oh yes this is the only way it has worked for me
I keep going out and picking my silkie up from the nest and putting her back in the run. After 4 days she gave up and is back to normal
Excellent! 🙂
I've never had silkies but I've heard they can be determined broodies
Hi Sheryl, I am a subscriber and love your videos. is it possible for you do a video on purebreds versus hybrids. It’s really difficult to get a mix of pure-bred pullets here in England versus hybrids which are easily obtainable. Should I have this uneasy feeling about them? Sorry not to contact you on Facebook 🙏🏻. Claudia
Hi Claudia, it's nice to meet you. I'm not sure when I will get around to doing such a video although it's been on my To Do list for a couple of years, so here's a few thoughts.
The hybrids are, as you say, easily obtainable. They will all be reliably female. They will be fully vaccinated when you get them. They come into lay young - about 20 weeks old. They lay pretty much an egg a day for a year or so (then might take a break and come back on the lay). They don't eat much. They tolerate confined conditions (which I guess you might have to keep them in right at the moment because of the bird flu risk - all chickens have to be kept away from wild birds, is that right?) They are friendly towards people (I think it's cupboard love).
On the other hand, they are a bit subject to medical problems later in life and their life tends to be short - maybe 3-5 years. They all look similar and lay similar-looking eggs.
The pure-breds are generally more expensive to buy. Depending on the breed and age you could end up with a rooster, or several. Depending on the breed and time of year hatched they could take up to 11 months to come into lay. Depending on the breed they might lay 5-6 eggs a week or only 2-3 eggs a week. They are more likely to go broody and so stop laying. They are more likely to go off the lay if it's too hot, or they get stressed. They are likely to go off the lay for months over winter while moulting. They are not as "feed efficient" (eat more feed per egg laid, mostly you still have to feed them when they're not laying) but they are often better at foraging. Some are very friendly to people and some are not. Some breeds definitely do not like being locked up and will fly onto the roof and down on the other side of the fence.
On the other hand they are often very beautiful and look decorative in your chicken run. It's easier to tell them apart and get to know their individual personalities. They can lay different looking eggs, which makes it easier to identify who is laying and who is not, and each day you get a delightful and colourful surprise in the nest box. They are more likely to go broody and raise baby chicks for you. They are more likely to have natural immunity to some infectious diseases. They live longer - maybe 6 to 10 years. By buying purebred, you are helping the breeders keep that breed going and maintain the genetic diversity of chickens.
It's a personal choice, depending on why you want chickens. As you can probably tell from my videos, I've had a few commercial hybrid chickens over the years but many more purebreds. I have only purebreds now.
If you want purebreds, try looking up your local poultry club or go to a regional poultry show. You might need to investigate pet transport or go on holiday to pick them up.
Best wishes for whatever you choose.
Have a great day 🙂
Thank you SO much for your considered reply. I will take your tip about going to poultry shows because contacting people by email is hopeless! Looking at all the information you have given me I think just a few pure breeds would be ideal. Might try to incubate a few eggs but there’s the problem of male chicks. In the UK they’re starting to “think about” in-ova sexing following the lead of France and Germany but it’ll take an age to get the idea accepted.
Good morning 🙂 (It's Sunday morning here).
Fertile eggs really are an easy way to transport poultry around the country but they do bring other complications, like incubating and raising chicks and of course as you say the males. Even when in ovo sexing becomes mainstream it will still require hugely expensive equipment and not likely be an option for backyard flock owners.
Maybe you would find a market for the males if you chose a chunky meaty breed.
Or you could maybe consider some of the breeds that are easy to sex when young - either the sex-linked crosses where the chick down tells the sex or where the adult plumage is different (for example Salmon Faverolles) so you know by the time they are a few weeks old. Somehow I find it easier to cull a young male chick than to cull an adult.
Lots to think about while you're looking around and getting ready. 🙂
PS yes we have to keep chickens under cover
It's ironic - we currently have a shortage of commercial eggs in NZ because caged eggs are no longer legal and it's taking a while for growers to get set up in colonies or free range. What a topsy-turvy world!