Is Your Hen Broody? The Key Signs To Know

Are you wondering if one of your hens has gone broody? Broodiness puts additional stress on a hen, so it’s important to understand the signs of broodiness so that you can give your chicken the care and support she needs. In this post, we’ll share the unmistakable signs of a broody hen.

​What Causes A Hen To Go Broody?

When a hen "goes broody", she undergoes physiological changes that prepare her to sit on a clutch of eggs until they hatch. Broodiness is generally triggered by environmental factors.

The main factor that encourages a hen to go broody is day length. The lengthening days of spring and summer signal to your flock that it’s a good time for making babies, which is why you’re most likely to have broody hens that time of year. However, we’ve had hens go broody into the fall.

In addition, exposure to clutches of eggs in the coop can trigger the broody instinct. So if you don’t want a broody hen, make sure to collect eggs often!

​What Are the Signs of Broodiness in Chickens?

​The signs of broodiness are hard to miss, if you know what to look for.

No more eggs for you: A broody hen stops laying and does not begin laying again anywhere from one to several weeks after her broody cycle ends.

She’s glued to the nest: Is your hen in her nesting box every time you visit the coop? Does she growl and/or peck at you when you go to collect eggs? That’s a broody protecting her clutch.

She’s got a broody patch: Is your hen mysteriously missing feathers on her chest? That’s the broody patch, created when your hen instinctively removes her own feathers in order to keep her eggs warmer with direct skin-to-egg contact.

Horrendous poops: Yes, broodies lay notoriously stinky poops! Loose, big, and smelly. This is because when hens go broody, their digestion changes so they can focus on incubation, causing them to only poop once a day or so. And when they do…oh, they do.

​What Should You Do If Your Hen Goes Broody?

​Real talk: If your hen goes broody, the absolute worst thing you can do is…nothing.

That's because broodiness puts your hen under additional stress, so it’s important that you take action to support her health. When hens are in broody mode, they leave the nest only once or twice a day to eat, drink, and poop. Constantly on the nest, they are more vulnerable to lice and mites. 

If your hen is definitely broody, the best course of action is to either break her broodiness, or give her eggs or chicks. ​All three options--hatching, adopting, or breaking--allows your hen to complete the broody cycle and minimizes her overall stress.

Want to add to your flock, with your broody hen raising the chicks herself? You can help your broody hatch a clutch of fertilized eggs, or help her adopt day-old chicks. 

Not interested in adding to your flock at this time? In that case, you should ‘break’ your broody (a term for snapping her out of her broody state) so that she can return to her regularly scheduled programming. 

​Conclusion

It’s important to recognize the signs of broodiness in your hens, so that you can take action to support your hen. Ongoing broodiness can add stress to your hen and even harm her health if it goes on too long.

Whether you choose to break your broody or give her eggs or chicks, decisive action will help your hen complete the broody cycle and stay happy and healthy.

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