Field Guide · The flock · 8 min read

Broody Hens: Break the Spell or Hatch the Eggs

A hen flattened in the nest box, growling at you, has decided to hatch eggs. You have two good options and one bad one.

Written on the farm by Nathan Story · Story Thyme Farms, Missouri · Updated

Story Thyme Farms · Bench cardSpring–summer

Broody hens, break or hatch

How to tell she is broody, and what to do about it

DifficultyA decision, then a method
Hatch takes21 days
Breaking takes2–4 days, crated
BantamsChampion mothers
1Telling for certainIs she broody, or just laying less?
2Option one: break itBreak it with a cool crate that has no bedding
3Option two: let her hatchOr give her a proper clutch of eggs
4Raising the chicksLet the hen do the work of a brooder
Materials needed · Wire dog crate · Chick starter feed · Chick waterer · Fertile hatching eggs
Written on the farm · Missouristorythymefarms.com/guides/broody-hen-guide

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The long version

Watercolor plate of a broody bantam hen flattened over eggs in a nest box
How to tell she is broody, and what to do about it · field plate

A broody hen stops laying, flattens herself over the nest, growls and puffs up when you come near, and leaves once a day to eat, drink and produce one enormous dropping. She will sit whether or not the eggs are fertile, and whether or not there are any eggs at all. Doing nothing costs you her eggs and runs her down, so you need to choose: break her out of it, or give her eggs to hatch.

  1. Step 1 · Telling for certain

    Is she broody, or just laying less?

    Watercolour plate of a broody hen flattened low in a nest box with fluffed feathers and a plucked bare breast, staying on the nest at night

    The signs are that she stays on the nest at night instead of roosting, plucks her own breast bare so her skin touches the eggs, growls and pecks when you check under her, and shrieks when you lift her off. Two days of that means she is properly broody and her hormones have taken over.

  2. Step 2 · Option one: break it

    Break it with a cool crate that has no bedding

    Watercolour plate of a wire-bottomed dog crate raised on blocks with food and water and no bedding, a hen inside cooling off

    To stop her, you need to cool her underside, which is what keeps the behavior going. Put her in a wire dog crate with food and water but no bedding, raised up on blocks so air moves underneath, and keep it where she can still see the flock, for two to four days. Let her out each morning and watch. If she goes back to scratching around, she is done. If she heads straight for the nest box, she needs another day. The sooner you start, the faster it works.

  3. Step 3 · Option two: let her hatch

    Or give her a proper clutch of eggs

    Watercolour plate of a broody hen settled on a clutch of eggs in a private pen with her own feeder and waterer

    To let her hatch, move her at night into a private pen with her own food and water, away from other hens wanting to use the nest, and put six to ten fertile eggs under her all at once, marking each one with a pencil. She will manage the temperature, humidity and turning better than any incubator, for exactly 21 days. Check under her weekly and take out any unmarked eggs other hens have added.

  4. Step 4 · Raising the chicks

    Let the hen do the work of a brooder

    Watercolour plate of a mother hen with newly hatched chicks tucked under her wing, no heat lamp anywhere, the flock beyond

    Chicks raised by a hen need no heat lamp and no brooder box, and they learn how to behave in a flock from the first day. She keeps them warm, shows them how to eat, and works them into the pecking order herself. Provide chick starter feed and shallow waterers, and otherwise leave them alone. She will wean them at about six weeks and rejoin the laying flock.

Materials needed
Wire dog crateChick starter feedChick watererFertile hatching eggs

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Questions we actually get

Why not just let her sit with no eggs until she quits?
A committed broody will sit five, eight, ten weeks, eating almost nothing, losing weight, hosting mites, and blocking a nest box the whole time. Weeks of that wrecks her condition. Break her or set eggs, kindness is a decision either way.
No rooster. Can she still raise chicks?
Yes, two ways: buy fertile hatching eggs and slip them under her, or graft day-old chicks under her at night in place of eggs, most deep broodies accept them by morning. Grafting works best when she has already sat a couple of weeks.
Which breeds go broody, and which never do?
Silkies, Cochins, Orpingtons, and most bantams brood at the drop of a hat, ours are bantam-led for exactly this reason. Production Leghorns and most hatchery hybrids had the instinct bred out and may never sit once in their lives.