Short answer: A broody hen stops laying and sits on the nest for weeks, so every day she stays there costs you eggs. Catch it early: collect eggs at least twice a day and lift her off the nest each time she goes back. If she keeps returning, a wire-floored pen with food, water and shade for three to five days breaks most hens.
Key takeaways
- Catch broodiness on the first or second day, when she only sits part of the time.
- Collect eggs at least twice a day so there is never an egg waiting under her.
- Lift her off, and make sure she eats and drinks before she goes back to the flock.
- A wire-floored pen with shade and water is the method that works most often for us.
- A hen that goes broody every season is telling you something about her strain or her nest.
- Breaking a hen is not hatching. If you want chicks, read our guide on natural incubation.
The hen who will not get off the nest
Every morning at the count, one hen in the corner refuses to move. You slide a hand under her and she growls, flattens her feathers and pecks at your wrist. Her comb has gone pale and smaller than the others. When she finally stands, there is a bare patch on her breast where she has been pulling out feathers so the warmth reaches the eggs.
She is not sick. She is doing exactly what her body tells her to do. A change in the hormone prolactin switches on the urge to sit, and she eats and drinks less for as long as she stays on the nest. Left alone, she will sit for three weeks or more, with or without eggs under her.
In a layer house that is money walking out of the door. Everything below is what we tell farmers who ring us about a sitting hen: how to be sure she is broody, what it costs, how to break her early, and the pen that sorts out most hens within a week.
Broody or just laying? Read the signs before you act
Plenty of hens spend a long while in a nest to lay, then get up and walk off. A hen that is only laying looks different from one that has decided to sit. Use this table before you pick her up.
| Sign | Laying hen | Broody hen |
|---|---|---|
| Time on the nest | Ten to twenty minutes, then she leaves | Hours at a time, often from the morning count to dusk |
| When you lift her | She squawks and runs off | She puffs up, growls and may peck at your hand |
| Comb and wattles | Bright red | Pale and smaller than the rest of the flock |
| Breast | Full feathering | Bare patch from plucking, and the skin feels warm |
| Feed and water | Normal | Eats and drinks less every day |
| Leaving the nest | Leaves to feed and go round the flock | Rarely leaves, and comes off stiffly when she does |
The clearest test is the count, which our daily routine guide walks through. Look at the nests at the morning count and again at dusk. A hen still sitting at both times, on eggs or on nothing, is broody. Mark her with a dab of paint or a ring on the leg so you know who she is when the flock is busy.
What three weeks on the nest costs a layer
Take a hen that lays six days out of seven, which is a fair rate for a good layer in her prime. Over 21 days of sitting she would have laid about 18 eggs. At our starting price of GH₵50 for a crate of 30 table eggs, eighteen eggs is worth roughly GH₵30 at the shop.
That is the easy part of the sum. She still eats, so the feed bill keeps running while the eggs stop. She also comes off the nest thinner, and a hen that is down in condition takes longer to climb back to her normal lay after she is released. A single hen does not break a farm, but a hot spell can set off several broodies in one house within a fortnight, and then the lost eggs stack up fast.
Put a number on it before you decide the problem is small. Count the broody hens at each count for a week, multiply by roughly six eggs a week for each one, and you have the eggs you are losing right now. That figure is the cost of waiting one more week to act.
Which hens go broody, and which hardly ever do
Breed matters more than most farmers expect. The feathered heritage breeds, Silkies and Cochins above all, go broody so reliably that many keepers use them as the mothers for other people's eggs. Brahmas and Orpingtons often go broody too. Many of the village and local chickens in Ghana sit on eggs readily, which is why a local hen is the one you find under a bush in the rains.
The commercial brown and white layer strains are another story. Most farms buy the Hy-Line Brown, Bovans Brown or Lohmann Brown, and those strains were selected over many generations to put eggs out rather than sit on them. They still go broody now and then. In a flock of them, though, a hen that sits for three weeks is the exception, and when a whole house starts sitting, the cause is usually the house rather than the genetics.
If your hens are going broody in numbers, look at the things you control. Are there enough nests for the flock? Are the nests dark and quiet with a warm bed of straw piled deep? Is the house very hot, so the birds seek shelter in the nest? Are your oldest hens the ones sitting? Fix the nests first, then talk to us about your flock. If you are choosing a strain for a new house, our best layer breeds guide compares the options side by side. You can see our breed options and our layer day-old chicks page before you decide whether replacing a stubborn strain is the right move.
The first two days are the easy window
On day one, a broody hen might sit only in the afternoon. By day three she is on the nest from first light, and getting her off is a fight every time. So the early days are the cheap days, and they are the ones most farmers waste.
When you see a hen sitting after the morning collection, lift her straight away. Put her on the floor a metre or so from the feeder, and watch what she does. A hen that is only resting will walk off and peck at the litter. A broody hen will sit down again on the floor, or walk straight back to the nest. That second response is your signal to act the same day, not at the next count.
- Lift her at the first sign, not after she has settled for the afternoon.
- Put her near food and water, and give her ten minutes in view of you.
- Note her number in the book, with the date, so you can see whether she returns.
- Check her again at dusk before the house is shut for the night.
If you want her to sit and hatch chicks instead, that is a different job, and our guide to hatching with a broody hen covers it.
Make the nest a poor place to sit
A good nest box is dark, private and softly bedded. Those are the things a broody hen wants, so a nest that suits egg laying also suits sitting. You do not need to tear the house apart. A few changes to the nests make sitting less comfortable and speed up the break.
Start with the bedding. A deep pile of loose straw holds the warmth a sitting hen needs, and a hollow in the straw is where she settles in. Take the straw out of the nests that have a broody in them. Replace it with a thin layer of clean shavings or rice husk, or use a wire or slatted base so that no warm hollow can form. Hens still lay on a flat, clean base, but they dislike sitting on something that moves under them.
- Remove the deep bedding from any nest with a broody hen in it.
- Keep only a thin layer of clean material over a firm base.
- Collect eggs at least twice a day, and never leave one overnight.
- Take away any dummy eggs or stones you use to make the nest look full, because a full nest invites sitting.
- Put one nest for every four or five hens, so the nests are not crowded and the hens are not pushed into the one comfortable corner.
Collecting eggs is the cheapest tool you have. A hen that comes back to find an egg waiting for her will sit on it. A hen that finds the nest empty loses interest faster.
Lifting her off the nest without a fight
Lift her calmly. Slide one hand under her chest and the other under her tail, keep her wings tucked in, and bring her out of the nest in one smooth movement. If you grab her by a wing or a leg, you will break feathers and frighten the whole row. Hold her for a few seconds, then set her down on the floor facing the feed.
Most broody hens will stand, shake out their feathers and sulk. Some will walk to the feeder and eat straight away, which is what you want. Others will walk back to the nest within the hour. Do not argue with her, and do not leave her on the floor where the other hens will peck at her. Lift her again in the afternoon, and again at dusk if she is still in the nest.
If she goes back three or four times a day, stop lifting her in the open flock. Move her to the pen described in the next section. Repeated lifting does not break her; it just wears you out and keeps her wound up. Her body needs to be out of the nest environment for a few days before the change sticks.
The wire-floor pen that breaks most hens in three to five days
The method that works most often for us is a small pen with a wire floor, raised off the ground so air moves under the hen. It can be a wire crate, a cage made from welded mesh, or a box with a mesh base. The key features are simple: no bedding, shade, a feed trough and a water drinker within easy reach, and a floor she cannot make into a nest.
The wire floor is the point of the exercise. A hen on bare wire cannot settle into a warm hollow, and she cannot sit tight for long without feeling the cold and the hardness. Within a day or two most hens stop fluffing, begin to eat and drink, and walk about. Here is what you should expect over a typical break.
| Day in the pen | What you usually see | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Fluffed up, growls, eats very little | Check feed and water morning and evening, and keep her in shade |
| Day 2 | Starts pecking at feed and drinks more | Change the water, and check the droppings are normal |
| Days 3 and 4 | Stands and walks about, feathers lying flat | Look at her comb, which should begin to redden |
| Day 5 | Eating and drinking normally, calm in the pen | Release her to the flock at the afternoon count and watch her nest |
Set the pen up before you need it, so you are not building it on the day a hen goes broody. Here is what we check in every pen.
- Wire floor raised off the ground, with no bedding of any kind.
- Shade over at least half of the pen, and a place out of the wind.
- Feed in a trough she can reach without climbing, and clean water in a drinker.
- Check on her morning and evening, and record the date she goes in and comes out.
- Release her once she is eating, drinking and calm, not on a fixed day.
If she is not eating after two days, or she is losing weight in front of you, call your vet rather than waiting for her to come round. A broody hen can also be a sick hen, and it is better to find out early.
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Heat and harmattan: keeping a broody hen safe
Ghana's weather makes the pen a different job in each season. In the hot months before the rains, a wire pen left in full sun heats up quickly, and a broody hen who has stopped drinking can get into trouble faster than you expect. Put the pen under a roof or in the shade of the house, make sure the water stays fresh and cool, and look at her beak and wings during the hottest hours. Wings held away from the body and panting are signs she is struggling with the heat. Our piece on cooling the house in hot weather covers the same principles for the whole flock.
The harmattan brings the opposite problem. Cold nights and fine dust mean a pen outside can chill a hen and fill her airways with dust. Move the pen into a sheltered corner of the house at night, cover the sides lightly if the wind is strong, and keep the water from freezing in the early hours of the morning, which is rare but does happen in the north. The full harmattan routine is in our harmattan care guide.
In the rains, keep the pen dry. Wet wire and damp air are a poor mix for a hen who is already off her feed, and a pen standing in a puddle will make her worse rather than better. Move it under cover, and do not let the hen sit in a wet corner while you wait for her to change her mind.
Mistakes that bring her back, or hurt her
Most broody hens are not broken by one hard day. They are broken by the same routine, done properly, for a few days. The mistakes below are the ones we hear about most often, and every one of them either brings her back to the nest or puts her at risk.
- Dunking her in cold water. Some farmers swear by it, but a shock like that stresses the hen and does nothing that the pen does not do better.
- Shutting her in a dark box. A dark box is a nest. She will settle in it and sit harder.
- Leaving eggs in the nest, even one or two. A single egg is enough to keep some hens sitting.
- Putting her back in the flock at dusk. She goes straight back to the nest in the dark when nobody can see her do it.
- Pulling her off roughly. Broken feathers and a frightened hen cost you more than the time you saved.
- Leaving the nest straw in place for weeks. The bedding is what makes the nest comfortable, so take it out.
- Ignoring a hen who has stopped eating. Her condition drops quickly once she stops feeding, and that is the point at which a vet is worth calling.
The last point matters more than the rest. Broodiness is a natural state, but a hen who is sitting, not eating and getting thin is in trouble, and the cure is a check by someone who can look at her properly.
When she keeps coming back: strain, nest or age
Some hens go broody once and never again. Others sit every season, and each time the sitting takes weeks. A repeat broody is usually telling you one of three things: her strain, her nest, or her age.
Strain is the simplest. A heritage hen in a commercial layer house is going to cause trouble, and a commercial layer hen that keeps sitting may simply be the odd one in the flock. Nest is the next thing to check: a nest that stays warm and dark, or one that is always occupied by the same two hens, will keep a hen sitting. Age is the last. Older hens go broody more often, and they lay less when they are not sitting, so an old hen who keeps sitting is costing you twice.
Here is the decision we suggest. If a hen has sat more than twice in a season, goes thin each time, and lays little between sittings, she is no longer paying her way. Our piece on when to cull layers and replace the flock sets out the numbers. The alternative is a fresh hen from a good strain, which you can order as layer chicks and raise alongside the flock.
- Note every broody episode in the record book, with the hen's number and the date.
- Change the nest bedding and check the number of nests against the number of hens.
- Look at her strain and her age before you blame the weather.
- Decide on a cull or a rest after the second episode, not the fifth.
The broody hen checklist for the record book
Pin this list above the nests during the rains, when broodiness tends to spread through a flock. Work through it for each hen the moment you find her sitting.
- Mark the hen and write her number and the date in the record book.
- Lift her off the nest, and check that she eats and drinks in front of you.
- Remove the bedding from the nest she sat in and leave a thin layer on a firm base.
- Collect eggs at least twice a day, and never leave one in a nest overnight.
- If she returns three or four times a day, move her to the wire pen with shade and fresh water.
- Check her morning and evening, and note her weight, comb colour and feed intake.
- Release her when she eats, drinks and walks about calmly, at the afternoon count.
- If she is not eating after two days, call your vet.
A hen who breaks in the first week is the best outcome. The farm that keeps the record of every episode is the one that learns which hens to keep, and which to sell.
Replacing an old or stubborn flock? Message us on WhatsApp at +233 24 915 1503, or place your order through the order form. Current starting prices are on our prices page, and we confirm the price in writing before you pay. We deliver to all 16 regions, so check the delivery page for how chicks reach you. Still unsure about a problem hen? Our frequently asked questions may already answer it.
Questions farmers ask
How long does it take to break a broody hen?
Most hens break within three to five days in a wire-floored pen with shade and fresh water. Some hens need a little longer, and a few come round after one lift and a dark day in the house. If she has not changed her behaviour after a week, or she is losing weight, stop trying to break her and call your vet.
Can a broody hen hatch eggs in a layer house?
Yes, if she is left on fertile eggs for three weeks. In a commercial layer house that is rarely what you want, and the chicks that do hatch come from a hen who has sat for a long time with little feed. If you do want chicks from a broody, read our guide on natural incubation with a hen, which covers that job from start to finish.
Does dunking a broody hen in cold water work?
Some farmers use it, but we do not recommend it. A cold shock stresses the hen, can chill her, and does not improve on what the wire pen does without the risk. A pen with shade and fresh water works better and is kinder to the bird.
Will my hen start laying as soon as I release her?
Not always straight away. A hen who has sat for a long time often takes several days to a week to return to a steady lay, because she is down in condition and her body needs time to restart. Keep her fed well, and give her the same layer ration as the flock while she recovers.
Are some breeds more likely to go broody than others?
Yes. Silkies, Cochins, Brahmas and Orpingtons are well known for it, and many local Ghanaian chickens sit readily. The commercial brown and white layer strains were selected to lay rather than sit, so a broody hen in a commercial flock is less common. Strain is a good place to start when you are trying to understand a repeat problem.
Is it bad for a hen to stay broody for weeks?
Yes, it is. A hen who sits for weeks eats less, loses condition and stops laying, and in the worst cases she becomes weak or sick. Breaking the broodiness early protects her health as well as your egg count.
Should I cull a hen who keeps going broody?
If she goes broody more than twice in a season, loses condition each time and lays little between sittings, a cull or replacement usually pays. Keep records so the decision is based on numbers, not on how annoying she is in the morning count.
