Broody pens

Hi
We have been keeping bantams for 3 years now but this year we are having real problems with broodies, it must be the weather! We pop them in a make do broody pen, which we hate doing and we have also tried false eggs under them, to no avail. I know that this a perfectly natural state for them but we really don't like broody pens. has anyone a suggestion on a more humane way of breaking them of broody or anyone who knows where we can buy broody pens.

Ginnifiz

Hi there, I am going to share with you what I normally do. . Some times during breeding season I also have a lot of broody hens that I don't have eggs or place for.. In that time I normally have some chicks I am rearing in some coops.. what works for me is that I normally place the broody hens with the younger chicks for about a week. . But there must be no nesting boxes available. . Almost like "stepmoms" .. After the week I then take her away from the chicks .. she will search for them for a while.. but will quickly return back to normal...

Howdy ginnifiz and Welcome to BYC

There are lots of threads in BYC regarding breaking a broody .. as you have mentioned, the most popular method is a couple of days in a wire crate with good air flow to cool them down, no nest in sight and nowhere comfortable to snuggle down and do the broody thing; another method (which I have not tried and probably wouldn’t do) is frequent baths in cold water, again to cool them down or, you could do what I do (because I am a sucker for a broody) and give her some fertile eggs and hatch some bubs

I do not break my broodies per say. It is suggested that it is not a good idea to wait it out because she will sit on the nest for weeks on end, not eating and drinking much and could lose condition and the longer she is broody the harder it is to break her. Some people also break a broody because they want her to go back to laying as soon as possible.

I leave my gals with the flock (do not put her in broody jail) but ensure that she is blocked off from the nest as much as possible. In the evening, I block off the nest box so that she has no choice but to roost. I have had one determined gal who would brood on the coop floor, but I picked her up of an evening and popped her on the roost. Depending on how determined she is, this method takes a lot longer but having broken a broody in a crate, two weeks later she was broody again. In my experience broodies that I have broken gradually do not return to broodiness quite so soon.
It is definitely more work than just putting them in a crate; continually blocking off nest boxes, watching her every move and having to put up with her trying to break into the nest box, nipping at toes, chasing people across the garden etc; biting you when you remove her from the nest once again, but we get there eventually.
(Again, lots of people may not agree with my method and I respect that).

hi
thanks for that advise , we will try blocking off the nest box at night and see how that goes. We don't have much space for broody cages and as we love our girls don't like using them anyway. We can only have so many chicks per year, again because of space and work commitments , but I will try your method tonight

thank you again
Ginnifiz

Hi Thanks for the advise. We can't always have chicks as we have a limited space, as soon as we have chicks I will try your method.

thank you for your advise