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Title : How and why to break a broody hen (this really works!)
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How and why to break a broody hen (this really works!)

I've had Silkies for as long as I've had chickens. I had heard they were great at raising chicks but I really didn't have a clue how determined they could get. When a Silkie goes broody she just doesn't give up! She will decide to hatch some babies and turn into an egg stealing, cranky butt! (yes, cranky butt is a technical term!)

My other chickens can usually be talked out of being broody pretty easily. A few days in a wire bottom cage and they throw in the towel. The Silkies just look at me like "is that all you got?" The last one was broody for almost 3 months. I thought I knew how to break a broody, but I sure learned a lot from these little fluffballs.

First things first, a broody doesn't just get that way by a quirk. It's a hormonal change. As much as I know that's true there's also something viral about it because when one catches it, they all do! My coop can go from zero to six broodys in one week. 

Ok, so maybe that's just a coincidence or maybe one hens hormones are triggered by seeing another one trying to hatch chicks.

Whatever it is, the best way to prevent hens from going broody is to take away their eggs daily. The hen accumulates a clutch of eggs in order to hatch them and by taking them away each day they never accumulate a clutch. This doesn't always work to keep them from going broody but it seems to help, at least in my experience. 

I've also heard that if you want to encourage a hen to go broody, leave the eggs in the nest box and hopefully that clutch of eggs will trigger her hormonal change to get her started setting. I've had eggs sit in the coop without a broody for weeks and I've had hens go broody on nothing at all, so your results may vary. 

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