Broody won't let others lay

[LittleMissCountry]

One of my buff orps goes broody a lot. Usually it is a quick fix by removing eggs often and taking her off the nesting box multiple times a day.

This time she has gotten mean towards the other chickens. I have 3 nesting boxes and four chickens. She is pecking at them when they even come in the coop. She won't let anyone else lay eggs. She is not laying eggs since she went broody, but even with no eggs under her, she refuses to give up the nest or let others lay.
I took her out and put her in a crate, and she has been there two days. She is still broody. She even sat on her food dish like it was a nest. I am not sure what to do at this point. Any suggestions?
(We can't hatch chicks, as we don't have room, so I can't put fertile eggs under her)

 

[Chickassan]

When they're that broody I put some packs of frozen veggies underneath the hen or ice packs.
If the weather permits i'll bathe her belly in cool water.

 

[Acre4Me]

If you put her in a crate, then she can't get to the other chickens, right? Or is the door to the cage open?

You can wait her out, or put her in an elevated cage that allows airflow underneath her. You could see if she would adopt 1 or 2 chicks but then you would have extra chickens, which I don't think you want.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

When they're that broody I put some packs of frozen veggies underneath the hen or ice packs.
If the weather permits i'll bathe her belly in cool water.

I will try this! It is 80 here today, so perfect for cool water bath.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

If you put her in a crate, then she can't get to the other chickens, right? Or is the door to the cage open?

You can wait her out, or put her in an elevated cage that allows airflow underneath her. You could see if she would adopt 1 or 2 chicks but then you would have extra chickens, which I don't think you want.

She is separated from the others. The cage is closed, but inside the run, so she stays in the flock.

I would love to get more chicks, but with our current coop and run, it would be too small to add more chickens.

 

[aart]

Does crate have a wire bottom and is it raised off the ground?
Do you leave her in there all night too?

I use bird feed cups and nipple waterers in broody crate
Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

Does crate have a wire bottom and is it raised off the ground?
Do you leave her in there all night too?

I use bird feed cups and nipple waterers in broody crate
Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.
View attachment 1762066

Yes, it was elevated and wire bottom. I did use a nipple waterer that sits on top, but I just put a food dish in. I had her in the crate from 2 pm yesterday until 4 pm today.

The cool bath seemed to do the trick, though. I put her out in the yard with the other chickens afterwards. When I put them up, she stayed down below in the run. Checked on her three times over the next few hours and she hasn't gone in the nest, plus the other three all laid eggs!

 

[aart]

Sometimes it can take days to break the stubborn ones!
I had one last summer that I broke 7 times after she hatched in March.
She'd break, lay a few eggs, then go broody again....every two weeks or so she was in the crate for 2-3-4 days, I finally gave her away and just heard she hasn't gone broody again.

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 with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

Sometimes it can take days to break the stubborn ones!
I had one last summer that I broke 7 times after she hatched in March.
She'd break, lay a few eggs, then go broody again....every two weeks or so she was in the crate for 2-3-4 days, I finally gave her away and just heard she hasn't gone broody again.

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 with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

The cool bath did the trick, for sure. She hasn't gone back to the nest since then. She is happily running around with the other chickens. She may end up getting given away as well, because last summer, as soon as she started laying, she went broody within 3 weeks, and did like yours, going broody every other week. She stopped once it got cold, but if she does that all spring and summer, I don't want to deal with that, especially if she keeps the other chickens out of the nesting area.

 

[Chickassan]

That is great! Keep it in mind because sometimes you'll have to do a combo of crating and belly baths to break a super serious broody.
Big guns, you freeze bags of water wrap them in an old towel and keep them under the crate. Just have to cool that belly.

The cool bath did the trick, for sure. She hasn't gone back to the nest since then. She is happily running around with the other chickens. She may end up getting given away as well, because last summer, as soon as she started laying, she went broody within 3 weeks, and did like yours, going broody every other week. She stopped once it got cold, but if she does that all spring and summer, I don't want to deal with that, especially if she keeps the other chickens out of the nesting area.