Managing a Broody Hen

One of the most fascinating experiences of raising a backyard flock of hens can also be the most frustrating.

Every once in a while, a hen acts strangely. She fluffs her feathers, changes her clucking pitch, stops laying, and spends almost all her time in the nest. Reach in to retrieve eggs from under her and she’ll enthusiastically scold and probably give fingers a good peck.

She’s broody!

Broodiness is a natural bird instinct. Until artificial incubators came along in the late 1800s all baby chicks were brooded by a live hen. Farmers would prepare rows of nests filled with broody hens to ensure plenty of chicks for future chicken dinners and plentiful eggs. Over the years breeders have reduced broodiness in many chicken breeds and hybrids. Today nearly all chicks are hatched in modern incubators.

What Breeds Go Broody

The Hoover’s Hatchery catalog lists breeds that are likely or unlikely to become broody but the important word is “likely”. These are living creatures. There are always exceptions but generally the catalog’s advice is sound. It helps a customer predict the likelihood of broodiness in any breed or hybrid.

Some breeds like, Orpingtons, Cochins, Brahmas and other traditional heavy breed hens often go broody, but sometimes even white egg commercial strain hens choose motherhood. California Whites supposedly rarely go broody, but we’ve had a few be persistently broody and successfully raise babies.

Although broodiness is most common in the spring, sometimes hens opt for motherhood during the wrong season. We’ve had hens go broody in mid winter’s subzero cold.  There’s no way babies can survive intense cold. Spring is the best season to let a broody hen contentedly enter motherhood.

The Downside of Broodiness and How to Discourage It

Here are some reasons why a flock owner might want to discourage a broody hen:

• Hens don’t lay when they are incubating eggs or raising babies. If lots of eggs are needed broody hens are a frustrating problem.
• Hens will go broody even if there’s no rooster in the coop. She will sit contentedly on infertile eggs for weeks and they’ll never hatch.
• It’s the wrong season for baby chicks.

When one of our hens goes broody and we need kitchen eggs but not baby chicks we put her in isolation. We have a large coop separated by a wire mesh wall.  When a hen goes broody, we put her in one side that has no nests or cavities where she might sit. Usually after three or four days the broody tendency fades and we let her back into the flock.  Soon she’ll be laying again. Anyone lacking a second coop could put a broody in a large cage with plenty of food and water but no nest.

The Upside of Broodiness

One of the most fascinating aspects of keeping chickens is watching a hen as she patiently incubates eggs and raises babies. It’s downright fun and is an inexpensive way to get new chicks for the flock. We have a rooster so our hen’s eggs are fertile and will hatch. In past years when we didn’t have a rooster we’d buy or swap eggs with a friend who has a rooster and put them under her. Fertile eggs can be ordered through the Internet.

When one of our hens goes broody and we want chicks we do these things:

• Put her in her own nest separated from other hens.
• Mark all the eggs we hope will hatch with pencilled “X” on their shells.
• Have chick starter feed, feeders and waterers ready for when the chicks hatch.

If all goes well after 21 days those eggs hatch and one proud new mother will introduce them to the world. She does the work keeping the babies warm and showing them food and water. We keep mom and chicks separate from the main flock until the babies are nearly full size.

No fertile eggs? Here’s a trick to enable a broody hen to raise babies.

1.  Separate her from the other hens and put a comfy nest in her new quarters.
2. Put six or eight golf balls or artificial nest eggs in the nest. She’ll settle right down on them and keep them warm.
3. After she’s been sitting for at least two weeks, buy six to ten chicks from a nearby farm store.
4. Using a flashlight enter the coop after dark and remove the golf balls or nest eggs from under the hen. Replace them with the peeping babies.

Almost always Mom will readily adopt the new babies and proudly raise them.

12 Months in a North Iowa Backyard. One Polar Vortex. Here’s How the Hoover’s Coop Held Up.

On a rural property outside Mason City, Iowa, sits a 10-Bird Hoover’s Lean-To Easy Clean Coop and Run. It’s been there for nearly a full year, holding a small flock of backyard chickens through some unpredictable weather conditions. Now, 12 months later, the coop is holding up just as well as we expected. While the inside has been cleaned on a regular schedule (the coop has been home to two Rhode Island Reds and two Light Brahmas this year), the outside underwent no regular maintenance.

Looking at it, you would never know that it wasn’t brand new. And that’s something we think every backyard chicken keeper should know.

What North Iowa Actually Threw at It

When the coop was installed, we knew we were putting it through a real test. This is rural Iowa. Winds are strong and sustained. The sun shines hot and intensely all summer, while the ice and snow pelt it all winter. In the 12 months since the coop went into this backyard, it’s held up against weather that included heavy humidity and temperatures into the 90s, a long autumn, and a winter that started slow and then turned brutal in the second half of January.

That was when the polar vortex split. The 2026 North American cold wave dropped Arctic air across the central United States in January and February, bringing temperatures 20 to 35 degrees below average across the Midwest. In North Iowa, that meant nights well below zero, dangerous wind chills, and the kind of cold that puts wooden coops at real risk of cracking and warping. It was all followed by a fragile Iowa spring featuring multiple freeze-thaw cycles, wind-driven rain, and snowmelt followed by fresh snow.

What the Coop Looks Like Now

In short, the coop looks nearly identical to the day it was installed.

The heavy-duty recycled plastic panels show no fading, no cracking, no warping. The hinges and locking pins move the way they did when the coop was new. The roof is flat and free of damage. The door slides cleanly. The run still stands square against the side.

The inside of this coop has been cleaned regularly, meaning the bedding has been raked out and the nesting boxes refreshed often. Meanwhile, the outside has not been treated the way a wooden coop often needs to be: through sanding, staining, or sealing.

After 12 months facing whatever the weather wanted to do to it, the coop looks roughly the same now as the day it shipped.

Why This Matters

If you have kept backyard chickens, you’re probably familiar with the wooden coop story. The first season is great. Wear begins to appear in season two. Maybe that means rust on a hinge or a softening corner. By the third or fourth winter, you’re most likely repainting and resealing or just shopping for a replacement.

That is the cycle Hoover’s spent 82 years watching our customers go through. We are bringing this coop to market to break that cycle. No rot, no warp, no annual maintenance – and no blowing over when the winter wind gives it its all! The North Iowa coop is proof that we’re accomplishing what we set out to do.

What We Learned This Year

This coop holds its own in the wind.  Today its just as sturdy and tightly constructed as the day we assembled it.

Polar vortex temperatures hit the inside differently than the outside. What the deep cold did to the structure of the coop: nothing visible. Meanwhile, on the inside, the flock came through happy and healthy because the coop is designed to ventilate without leaking heat.

The inside held up to the routine maintenance. After 12 months of raking out bedding and replacing it, the inside shows only the signs of that maintenance rather than an interior that’s been chewed up by 12 months of use.

What’s Next

Stick with Hoover’s Hatchery and FlockJourney to see how our Lean-To Easy Clean Coop holds up in real-world conditions. We’ll bring real photos and videos to show what the real world effects are on this coop that we’re so proud of.

Want to see the coop in person? Visit select Tractor Supply, Murdoch’s, or Country Store locations. To be connected to the nearest location carrying the coop, contact us at www.hoovershatchery.com/coops. To purchase one now, visit these links:

6-Bird Chicken Coop

10-Bird Chicken Coop

• Flockjourney is brought to you by Hoover’s Hatchery, the nationwide leader in backyard poultry. For more than 80 years, Hoover’s has lived its values of Excellence, Tenacity, Servitude, Humility, and Ingenuity while 100% focused on backyard poultry. From chickens, ducks, and pheasants, to turkeys, geese, guineas, quail, bantams, and rare breeds, Hoover’s has the best variety and the highest quality genetics in the industry. Find Hoover’s chicks at your local farm store or shop online at hoovershatchery.com.

Why We Delivered Four Chicks to an Iowa Care Home

This morning, four chicks arrived at the IOOF Home and Community Therapy Center in Mason City. They came with a brooder, a feeder, a waterer, a heat lamp, and a bag of feed.

This isn’t a typical Hoover’s delivery. We’ve been an Iowa hatchery since 1944. Most days, we ship chicks to backyards across all the country. Today, four of them stayed close to home.

The chicks will live at IOOF Home & Community Therapy Center for the next six to eight weeks while they grow their feathers and gain size. Residents will be able to be near them. Staff will care for them. Family members visiting their loved ones will stop by the brooder before they leave. That last part is one of the reasons we are doing this.

“Having that emotional support from an animal does provide some comfort for the residents. Some residents don’t even have family.”

ANTHONY ROMUALDO, IOOF HOME

Chickens are doing this work in care facilities all over the world right now. A program called HenPower has placed chickens in more than 40 UK care homes since 2011. Northumbria University studied the residents and found measurable reductions in loneliness and depression, and participating care homes reduced their use of antipsychotic medication. In 2013, the Life Care Center of Nashoba Valley in Massachusetts introduced chickens as a calming tool for residents with dementia. Programs like this have since spread across the United States.

What chickens can really do for an elderly community

The clinical research speaks for itself. Chickens trigger long-term memories in residents who grew up around farms. They give people a daily reason to engage: feeding, watching, collecting eggs. They calm dementia patients in ways other animals do not. They can be observed from a window, fed from a wheelchair, or held in the lap. Mobility is not a barrier.

What we noticed when we talked to Anthony, though, is that the chickens may quietly do something else. They bring families back in.

“It’s a big draw for our facility and our residents, families, and staff to bring little ones. Anytime we have events like our Easter egg hunt or Halloween, we have kids running around here everywhere and the residents just love it.”

A flock of chickens is exactly that kind of draw. Kids love being around chicks. A grandchild who might not have a strong reason to visit Grandma every weekend now has a reason to come back and check on the new chicks growing up at her care home. They feed them. They hold them. They watch them grow. And the residents get more time with their families because of it.

The four chicks living at IOOF Home

We hand-selected four breeds for IOOF Home, each chosen for personality, visual interest, and what they will look like as adults. Different colors, different patterns, different conversation starters.

Sapphire Gem®. A beautiful slate-blue hybrid layer with a sweet, gentle disposition. A reliable producer of large brown eggs. Easy to handle and friendly.

New Hampshire Red. A heritage American breed dating to 1935. Calm, hardy, and prolific. The kind of chicken your grandparents probably kept.

Production Blue. A blue-feathered hybrid from our Privett line, known for productivity and a friendly nature. A strong layer of large brown eggs.

Blue Breasted Brown Leghorn. Active, alert, and visually striking. An excellent layer of white eggs with a curious, engaging personality.

What happens next

Today’s delivery is Phase One. The chicks will live in a brooder for the next six to eight weeks while they grow their feathers and gain size. The staff will care for them daily, watch them develop, and start to know them as individuals.

When the chicks are ready to move outside, we’ll be back. Phase Two is the installation of a Hoover’s Lean-To Easy Clean Chicken Coop, designed to make the daily routine of caring for adult birds easier for everyone involved. The local media is invited back to cover that, too.

Hoover’s Hatchery is the largest provider of backyard poultry in the United States, offering more than 200 breeds shipped from four hatcheries across Iowa, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Missouri. Learn more about getting started with backyard chickens at hoovershatchery.com.

Testing Chicken Treats: What Backyard Hens Love Most

Sometimes our chickens are just like kids. Put a serving of steamed kale on one side of a child’s dinner plate and balance it with ice cream on the other side. Which disappears first? It’s no mystery.

We wanted to see what treats our hens favored. When they were outside basking in the late winter sunshine we put three bowls on the coop floor. Into one went a handful of dried soldier fly larvae. Another held black oil sunflowers and the third baby marshmallows.

Then we let the chickens in to test which treats they liked the best. No surprise. Within 30 seconds the marshmallows were devoured. Mealworms soon followed and finally the sunflower seeds vanished. Kids have a sweet tooth. Chickens have a sweet beak.

Here’s what the bowls looked like when the chickens arrived and a few minutes later.

Marshmallows won hands down.

That created a dilemma. Chickens may love marshmallows, which are almost entirely sugar and corn syrup. They are about as healthy for chickens as they are for kids. Meaning: NOT! In contrast mealworms (or soldier fly larvae) are about 30% protein with a like amount of fat. Black oil sunflower seeds are loaded with protein, minerals, and healthy fats.

Feeding Treats

Watching chickens scramble for tasty treats is fun, and we use them to supplement commercial feed that has all the nutrients hens need to be healthy and productive.  Treats are the icing on the cake best given sparingly.

Commercial Treats

Farm and pet stores sell pouches of tasty and nutritious chicken treats that the girls enjoy, but beware. They’re expensive! Look carefully at the ingredients. Often these can be purchased as separate components at the same store…..for less money. Making a custom blend is easy.

Kitchen Treats

Most people are omnivores. So are chickens. Kitchen scraps that normally get tossed in the trash can be nutritious treats. Our common scraps that go to our flock include.

• Pieces of lettuce, spinach, chard and just about any other green.
• Leftover rice, spaghetti, or other starchy food.
• Stale bread that we often crumble up before tossing into the run.

We never feed anything that’s moldy or smelly. If we don’t eat it, it won’t go to our hens.  Chickens shun citrus fruit so orange peels and anything else we don’t want them to eat goes into our compost bin.  If we have a new type of kitchen scrap for the hens we only give them a tiny portion to see if they will eat it and make sure it has no adverse impact on their health.  Moderation rules.

Staging a Marshmallow Scramble

We’ll share kitchen scraps with our hens as a first-choice treat. If we don’t have any, we toss a handful of either insect larvae or sunflower seeds into the coop. But every afternoon we treat our hens to a mini marshmallow scramble.

The birds love the sweet treats so much that they’ll rush from the run into the coop when they see us holding a bag of the sweets. We toss a handful into the air and watch the birds justle each other as they snatch them up.

Our flock is on a marshmallow ration. We limited our kids’ access to sweets and do the same with our hens. No more than two baby marshmallows per hen a day! It’s chicken junk food that’s hilariously funny to watch as the hens enthusiastically scramble for the treats. It’s the highlight of their day and makes it easy for us to lure them inside so we can close the pop hole door for the night.

Predator Control Tips for Protecting Backyard Flocks

Few things are as heartbreaking as going out to your coop in the morning and discovering that a predator paid your chickens a midnight visit. Whether it’s raccoons, foxes, hawks, or the neighbor’s dog, backyard flocks are a tempting target. The good news? You can stay one step ahead with smart predator control strategies.

Let’s explore the most effective ways to keep your feathered friends safe.

1. Fortify the Coop and Run

The first line of defense is a coop that predators can’t breach. Think of it as chicken Fort Knox.

• Hardware cloth, not chicken wire: Chicken wire keeps chickens in, but it doesn’t keep predators out. Hardware cloth (½-inch welded wire mesh) is much tougher.
• Bury fencing: Dig a trench at least 12 inches deep and bury the wire to stop diggers like foxes, dogs, and coyotes.
• Secure latches: Raccoons have nimble little hands. Use predator-proof latches (two-step mechanisms like carabiners or spring-loaded locks).
• Roof the run: A net or wire cover keeps hawks and owls from swooping in.

2. Use Lighting and Motion Deterrents

Predators often rely on stealth. Disrupt their comfort zone with deterrents

• Motion-activated lights startle nocturnal predators like raccoons and opossums.
• Flashing predator eyes devices mimic the look of a larger animal and can deter foxes or coyotes.
• Motion-activated sprinklers are great for deterring cats, dogs, and even deer. (Plus, it’s kind of funny to watch.)

3. Employ Guard Animals

Nature has provided some excellent bodyguards for your flock.

• Dogs: A properly trained livestock guardian dog (LGD) is one of the best deterrents. Breeds like Great Pyrenees, Anatolian Shepherds, or Maremmas are popular for serious flock protection.
• Donkeys and llamas: Believe it or not, these animals are surprisingly effective at scaring off coyotes.
• Roosters: While not as reliable as other guardians, a rooster will sound the alarm and sometimes fight off smaller threats.

4. Manage the Environment

Sometimes the easiest way to deter predators is to make your yard less inviting.

• Eliminate hiding spots: Tall grass, brush piles, and wood stacks are perfect cover for predators. Clear them away near your coop.
• Secure food sources: Don’t leave feed, compost, or garbage exposed—these attract raccoons, rats, and other unwanted guests.
• Lock up at night: Most predation happens after dark. Get into the habit of securing your flock in the coop every evening. Automatic coop doors can help if you’re not always home at dusk.

Try Sound and Scent Deterrents

Predators rely heavily on their senses. Trick them into thinking danger is near.

• Radios: Leaving a radio on low near the coop at night can deter some animals (especially if tuned to talk shows).
• Predator urine: Products like coyote or fox urine can make other predators think a larger rival is nearby.
• Dogs in the yard: Even the scent of a family dog can be enough to keep some threats away.

6. Technology to the Rescue

Modern homesteaders have new tools to lean on.

• Trail cameras: These won’t deter predators, but they help you identify what you’re dealing with and exactly when they are checking out your chickens.
• Electric fencing: Portable poultry netting with an energizer is highly effective for deterring four-legged predators.
• Automatic coop doors: Ensure your flock is locked up at dusk, even if you forget.

Predator control isn’t about eliminating every wild animal—it’s about keeping your flock safe while respecting the balance of nature. By combining physical barriers, deterrents, and smart management, you can create a backyard fortress that gives your chickens the freedom to scratch and peck while keeping predators at bay.

Your chickens depend on you for protection. With the right strategies, you’ll sleep better at night—and so will your flock.

Hoover’s Easy Clean Coop: Less Maintenance, Happier Flocks

After more than 80 years of raising chickens, we know exactly what was wrong with every coop on the market.

Since 1944, Hoover’s Hatchery has been a leader in the backyard poultry industry. This multi-generational family business now offers more than 200 breeds, and millions of backyards across America receive our chicks each year. We’re experts in what chicks need, and we know well the problems chicken keepers run into when trying to give their backyard poultry the best care.

The biggest issue? Chicken coop maintenance.

We felt responsible for helping solve this problem. As a longtime partner to backyard chicken keepers, it’s our responsibility to help them succeed. We want to do everything we can to keep people in it after they take the leap.

The Problem Every Chicken Keeper Knows

Chicken keepers know the feeling well. You’ve chosen your breed, you have your chicks in the brooder, and you’re thinking about where they’ll live when they can get out on their own. So you Google “best chicken coop,” and you’re greeted with a wide variety of attractive options. The problem? The vast majority of those options are made of wood. Wood requires regular maintenance to stay in good shape, and even with that maintenance, the likelihood of rot damage or mite infestation remains high.

If you’ve owned a wooden coop, you already know the cycle. Year one: beautiful. Year two: you may notice the paint is peeling a bit and the rain causes some swelling. By year three, you’re fighting rot in the corners and red mites in the cracks and seams.

And then there’s the issue of keeping the coop clean. We love our chickens, but there’s no denying that they can create a mess like any animal. This is what really makes having the wrong coop a disincentive to maintaining a backyard flock. Not the feeding. Not keeping the predators out. The maintenance. It’s a project that never ends, and it creates burnout.

Why Hoover’s?

Why is a hatchery launching a coop? To help chicken keepers avoid burnout. We want to keep this lifestyle growing for generations to come. The rewards of having a backyard flock are greater than the drawbacks, but if we can minimize those drawbacks, more families will stick with their flocks.

How Our Coop is Better

The Hoover’s Lean-To Easy Clean Coop is the result of years of experience raising chickens. It’s made from heavy-duty, 100% recycled plastic. This material lasts for years – even decades – and won’t rot, won’t need painting, and isn’t conducive to mites. But the material isn’t the point. The point is what it gains you.

It cleans in five minutes

This is arguably the greatest feature of the design. The inside of the coop is smooth and non-porous. The trays are removable. There is no textured surface for droppings to stick to or parasites to hide in. All a chicken keeper has to do is lift and remove the back panel, rake out the bedding, hose down the inside… and that’s it. Ease of cleaning is the single biggest upgrade from traditional wooden coops.

It’s built to outlast every wooden coop you’ve ever owned

Our heavy-duty, high quality recycled plastic doesn’t rot. It doesn’t absorb moisture. It doesn’t crack in the cold. While a wooden coop typically needs replacing every 3-5 years, this coop is engineered to last decades.

Your birds are safe

The construction is sturdy and predator resistant. We also offer a six-foot metal 0mesh run that seamlessly attaches to the coop, allowing predator protection from the air (hawks), and ground (raccoons, foxes).  This run features a side skirt to battle burrowing predators, as well.

It looks like it belongs in your backyard

This was important to us. When ease of cleaning and predator protection are the highest priorities, it could be easy to overlook aesthetics. Not for our coop. The Hoover’s coop is meant to look as great in a suburban backyard as it does on a larger farm or homestead property. It is widely available in a natural sage green finish, and we developed an exclusive white woodgrain-style finish for Tractor Supply Co. that gives you the aesthetic of a traditional wooden coop without the headaches.

The Real Reason Behind This Coop

We’re proud of the features and specifications of our new coop, but those are the benefits. What we’re most excited about is what this coop could mean to you:

We want you to spend less time maintaining your coop and more time enjoying your flock.

Backyard chicken keeping is supposed to be enjoyable. Collecting eggs, watching the birds forage or explore, and showing your kids where their food comes from are all integral parts of the backyard poultry experience. We don’t want to be ruined by never-ending maintenance and headache. Doesn’t it sound better to take five minutes to clean and gain a whole weekend with your flock?

Where to Find the Hoover’s Coop

The Hoover’s Lean-To Easy Clean Coop is now available at select retailers nationwide.

• Sage Green finish now available in store at Murdoch’s, Country Store, and for shipping through Tractor Supply Co.
• Exclusive Woodgrain Finish now available at select Tractor Supply Co. locations nationwide.

You can learn more about where to get the Hoover’s coop on our product page here https://hoovershatchery.com/coops

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re looking to upgrade your coop, or if you’re just getting started and are determined to avoid the poultry pitfalls, we’d love for you to take a look. If you have questions, our team is here. We’re the backyard poultry experts, and we want you to have the best chicken keeping experience possible.