The Broody Hen

This is new for me. Not the broody hen subject but posting my blog on a device rather than on a computer!  I'm not quite sure if I can add pics but I'll try!

We troubleshoot all sorts of ailments during the rental season one of which is a broody hen. When a hen is broody, she is determined to hatch chicks even if: there's no rooster for chicks and  eggs are removed from her regularly! If she is left to her own devices, she will slow up in eating and drinking, spend countless hours in the roost area, pull feathers from her underside to create skin to egg contact increasing the temp, and fluff her feathers out.  PLUS, if you try to move her, she will give her opinion of you VERY loudly! Haha!I had to apply some of my own advice recently as we had a Broody Hen at the Homestead.

We have a big coop that holds about 25-30 hens or so on each side with separate everything: run, roost area, and nesting boxes. We only had hens on one side a few weeks ago but we integrated more of the same hatch of the same breeds on one side.  We brought home younger Red Stars and wanted to keep them  separate on the other side.

A black Australorp went broody. Always on the eggs (10-12?!) every night when i would collect eggs. I'd move her to a roost as well as others who were sleeping outside to train them where to sleep.

The other night, I was done with her shenanigans! I moved her from the nesting box to the red star side and put her on the roost! She's the ONLY non-red star on that side! The next night I peeked in on the red star side... She was on the front roost lined up with all of the other red stars! It's been a few days. She is back to eating and drinking and goes to bed on the roost. It makes me giggle every time I see her out with her new friends! I flex my brain muscles at her and take pride in the fact that I won the fight!