Sooner or later many keepers find a hen who simply refuses to leave the nest box, and this is what is going on.
What broodiness is
A broody hen is not ill and nothing has gone wrong. Broodiness is a natural, hormone-driven state in which a hen's instinct to hatch eggs takes over. Her body tells her to stop laying and instead sit tight on a clutch, keeping it warm until it hatches. It is the same instinct that has let chickens raise their own young for thousands of years — it can just be inconvenient if you were only after eggs.
How to spot a broody hen
A broody hen is usually easy to recognise once you know the signs:
- She stays in the nest box almost constantly, day and night.
- She puffs up her feathers and growls or pecks when you approach or reach under her.
- She stops laying her own eggs.
- She may pluck feathers from her own breast, warming the eggs against her bare skin.
- She flattens herself wide and low over the clutch when settled.
Some breeds go broody, others rarely do
Broodiness runs strongly in certain breeds and has been bred almost out of others. Silkies, Orpingtons and Cochins are famously keen sitters and will happily brood again and again. Leghorns and most modern hybrid layers, by contrast, rarely go broody at all, which is part of why they are such steady egg producers. If reliable broodiness or its absence matters to you, the beginner breeds guide is worth a look.
What to do with a broody hen
You have two sensible choices. If you would like chicks and have fertile eggs — which means keeping a rooster — you can let her sit; incubation takes about 21 days, after which she raises the chicks herself. If you do not want chicks, it is kinder to gently break the broodiness rather than let her waste away on an empty nest. Repeatedly lift her off, block the nest box, and cool her underside, for example by placing her in a well-ventilated wire-bottomed broody cage for a few days. For hatching and rearing, see how to raise baby chicks.
Letting a broody hen raise chicks
If you would like chicks, a broody hen is nature's own incubator and does most of the work for you. Slip fertile eggs under her — she cannot tell whose they are and will happily accept them — and keep her somewhere safe, away from the rest of the flock who might disturb the nest or lay extra eggs in it.
She will sit for about 21 days and then raise the chicks herself, which is far less effort than running a brooder. It helps to mark the eggs you set with a pencil, so you can lift out any fresh ones other hens sneak in. Bear in mind that not every broody hen sees the job through, so it is wise to have a backup plan ready. For rearing once they hatch, see how to raise baby chicks.