5 Humane Ways to Stop a Broody Hen

Have you noticed your chicken acting particularly moody, refusing to eat, and staying cooped up all day?

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This usually happens when the weather starts to warm up and your chicken's motherly instincts kick in, resulting in broodiness. But unless your chicken has fertile eggs to hatch, you don't want her to stay broody for weeks on end.

These simple and humane tricks will "break," or stop a broody hen and help get her off those eggs and out of the coop.

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Remove your broody hen from the nest. Repeatedly.

01. I like to carry my chicken around for 10 or 15 minutes while I make my rounds in the garden to “air her out,” so to speak. Learn more

Give your broody hen a distraction.

02. I recently started to integrate our new chickens with the existing flock and as soon as the pullets were let out of their temporary coop, my broody Wyandotte hopped off her nest to see what the fuss was about. Learn more

Give your broody hen a (gentle!) cold water bath.

03. The theory here is that you’re helping cool down her chest and her vent, thereby lowering her broody body temperature. Learn more

Lock your broody hen out of the coop.

04. Whenever possible, I’ll lure her with treats from the garden so she has to get up and move about. Learn more

Chicken jail.

05. The goal of chicken jail is to make your broody as bored and uncomfortable as possible — no nesting areas, no warm dark cozy corner to hide in. Learn more