Broody

What broody means

A broody hen has switched from laying eggs to wanting to hatch them. It's a normal hormonal shift, not an illness, but it stops her laying and can be a nuisance if you keep hens just for eggs.

You'll usually spot it at the nest box. A broody hen sits tight all day and won't budge, flattens herself over the eggs (or an empty nest), and puffs up her feathers to look twice her size. She may growl, peck or shriek when you reach under her, and she'll often pluck feathers from her own breast to warm the eggs. She comes off the nest only briefly — once a day or so — to eat, drink and produce one large, smelly dropping. And her point-of-lay routine stops: no more eggs while she's broody.

Which hens go broody

It's largely down to breed. Decades of selective breeding have stripped most modern hybrids — the brown commercial layers that fill UK garden flocks — of the broody instinct, because it gets in the way of egg production. So if you keep hybrids, you may rarely see it.

Pure and traditional breeds are a different story. Silkies are famously, almost permanently broody and are often kept as natural incubators. Many other pure breeds — Orpingtons, Cochins, Pekins and various bantams — go broody readily too. If you want hens that will hatch their own chicks, choose a breed known for it.

Using a broody hen to hatch

A broody hen is a free, fully automatic incubator. To hatch chicks you need fertile eggs, which means a cockerel running with your hens (your own eggs won't hatch without one), or fertile eggs bought in and slipped under her.

Move her somewhere quiet and predator-safe, give her a manageable clutch she can fully cover, and mark the eggs so you can spot any extras the other hens sneak in. She'll do the rest — sitting roughly 21 days, turning the eggs and keeping them at the right temperature far better than most beginners manage with a machine. Make sure she still gets daily food and water nearby.

Breaking a broody hen

If you don't want chicks, broodiness is worth ending sooner rather than later — a hen can sit for weeks, losing condition and laying nothing.

Start by lifting her off the nest several times a day and blocking access to the favourite nest box. If she persists, the classic fix is a "broody coop": a few days in a cool, well-lit, wire-floored cage or crate with food and water but no bedding to nestle into. The cooler air on her underside resets the hormones. Keep checking her for red mite, as a hen sitting still for long stretches is an easy target. Most hens snap out of it within a week and return to laying.