My Girls are Overly Broody!!

[Guest]

Ok, how do I break the broody?  I have several hens still on the nest.  My best black is setting on Goose eggs.  At one point, I had 18 broody Ameraucanas.  What can I do to solve this problem?  A few broody birds is alright, but all of them?  Is that normal?  I\'ve never had this problem before.  HELP!!

[bantamhill]

Do you have any crates you can modify so the bottom is slats spaced about 2-3 inches apart? When I need to discourage a broody hen I put them in the \"special\" crate where they stand or roost. I give them water, but withhold food for a day. With that many broody hens have you tried putting them in new pens together? At this point I might give them all an egg to hatch and get it over!

Did you let the eggs accumilate this summer? If you did, I would suspect that is why everyone is broody . . . could be your good luck also!

Michael Muenks

[Guest]

Oh yeah, I took advantage of the situation.  They have been hatching geese all summer, but it\'s time to stop!  I\'ve tried the old \"light\" trick, but that didn\'t work.  I have two that insist on sitting in an expty nest.    
  I\'ll give your suggestion a try.

[John]

I find the buffs, both bantams and LF, are the broodiest or best setters.  Since I use incubators, it is not a good attribute.

[Mike Gilbert]

Angela,
 
Take away the nests.   Put the broodies in pens where there is very little bedding/litter.   Slat bottoms are good, wire bottoms OK too.   Leave them there a week to 10 days.   They will quit.    Since they have been sitting, this is a good time to treat them for mites and worms.    Any extra stress like that will help break up the broodiness in my experience.

Mike G.

[Guest]

I can\'t take away the nests because it\'s a Kuhl 10 holer screwed to the wall, but I can cage the culprits.  I have a cuckoo maran sitting on two goose eggs, but everyone else are just sitting to be sitting.
  John, they\'re blues and blacks.  18 of them this year.  Two black girls are terminally sitting.  Would you believe that my leghorns have been sitting also?  Even one of my fayoumis.  I was using incubators also, but decided to let the girls hatch my eggs this year.
  I have about 30 culls to take to the swap meet this month....LOL
  Hey Mike....what\'s causing the tails to be higher every year?  I have two really nice black pullets, but I think their tails are too high.  Any ideas?