Broody Hens keeps leaving the eggs and going to another nest??

[mertzee]

So I have too many roosters to hens so I am trying to limit my risks of more roosters. Then I have a broody hen on my hands. I give in and let her have two eggs. Again I already have too many roosters to hen ratio. She does very well with them for about a week and a half then suddenly she starts moving to empty nests and leaving the eggs behind??? I candled and couldn’t see any veining at day 13 so I figured the egg was bad so I got rid of it. Then I remember seeing where you can do the float test to see if they are still viable. The remaining egg passed the test. So I put it back under her. Next day she has abandoned the egg again and I’m suddenly finding myself with another broody hen. I figure if that egg has a snowball’s chance in hell I should put it under the other hen. What do I do now? Do I try another egg or what do I do to break her from being broody??

 

[aart]

Then I remember seeing where you can do the float test to see if they are still viable.

That has nothing to do with fertility, only the amount of air in the egg due to the age of the egg.

what do I do to break her from being broody??

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire(1x2) on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

After 48 hours I let her out of crate very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate for another 48 hours.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor, gives the feet a break from the wire floor and encourages roosting.

 

[SueT]

Your hen isn’t a reliable broody. Use the method outlined above to break her out of it…..
Why not sell/rehome some of the roosters, if you aren’t up to eating them?