5 Ways to Stop a Broody Chicken from Sitting All Day

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

This usually happens when the weather starts to warm up and your chicken’s motherly instincts kick in, resulting in broodiness.

These simple and humane tricks will “break,” or stop a broody hen and help get her out of the coop.

Method #1: Remove your broody hen from the nest. Repeatedly.

A disgruntled chicken may hop back into the egg box once you put her down, so if she does, simply remove her from the nest and carry her around again.

Method #2: Give your broody hen a distraction.

I’ve found that even the most stubborn broodies (like my Wyandotte this summer, who actually forced her way into the coop when we tried to block it) will get off the nest if there are new flock members around.

Method #3: Give your broody hen a (gentle!) cold water bath.

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

Method #4: Lock your broody hen out of the coop.

For good measure after doing Methods #1 or #2 above, I also lock my broody out of the coop; I do this when I know my other chickens have already laid an egg for the day.

Method #5: Chicken jail.

A chicken jail can be a wire dog kennel, a rabbit hutch, or an enclosed pen (which some flock owners keep as “hospital pens” for quarantining sick hens or isolation pens for introducing new flock members).

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