A more humane broody jail that actually works!

[K0k0shka]

When Peanut went broody, I put her in a crate to break her broody and she went insane. She was banging her head aganst the bars and trying to squeeze through and screaming for a solid hour until I just put her back. Eventually she realized that there was nothing to go broody over... she's my lil stupidhead

Aww, poor thing. She's not stupid. Being confined to such a small space is no fun for anybody, animal or human. Some of them are just more obvious about their displeasure.

 

[WhySayWhat]

I have an EE who just won't give up on being broody! She's been sitting since Christmas...I throw her out every day to get food/water when I go to collect eggs and feed them mash (warm water on their regular feed, mostly for my scissor beak, but they all love it). I haven't tried to crate her yet because it's so damned cold here!

I may try zip tying a bit of fencing up to give her "outdoor jail" time though...might work? At this point I'm beginning to worry about her health...even my stubborn Cochin didn't take this long to break when she went broody several months ago!

 

[K0k0shka]

I have an EE who just won't give up on being broody! She's been sitting since Christmas...I throw her out every day to get food/water when I go to collect eggs and feed them mash (warm water on their regular feed, mostly for my scissor beak, but they all love it). I haven't tried to crate her yet because it's so damned cold here!

I may try zip tying a bit of fencing up to give her "outdoor jail" time though...might work? At this point I'm beginning to worry about her health...even my stubborn Cochin didn't take this long to break when she went broody several months ago!

That's exactly what my partition is - a piece of chicken wire, zip tied in place Doesn't have to be fancy, as long as it can keep her contained (and is easy for you to get in and out of).

Since Christmas, wow! That's not good for her... She may need a more concerted effort. Crate or outdoor jail or something, somewhere where she can't sit down in a comfy spot. The weather may play to your advantage, actually. If it's cold/wet/icy on the ground, she won't be able to sit and brood. Sitting on cold ground may speed up her breaking, since temperature is part of the deal (keeping the eggs warm). I've had to use a crate, my in-coop partition, and my run partition for non-broody purposes already this winter, despite the cold, and the chickens were fine. As long as they aren't wet, and have something other than snow/ice to walk on, they'll be fine.

 

[Ascholten]

When mine went broody, Id plop her out of the box, and then put an old pillow in there so she can't get in. She finally decided to give it up after a few days. This worked twice now. The first time with her, I tried outside cages and all sorts of other tactics, and she just kept going back in there, it took over a week just being isolated in her own cage to break it the first time. This way blocking the entire nesting box off with a pillow, she gives up fast. I have to go out first thing in the morning anyways to feed them, clean poop, so take pillow out, let them lay, if she snuck in there, plop her on the ground, pillow in. Problem solved.

Aaron

 

[MotherofOrpies]

mine are so crazy, they just go on brooding wherever they can, be it a dark spot, or on the railing in front of the house

 

[FreedomGalTx]

I wanted to come up with a way to break a broody without losing her trust. She's a DSL Barnevelder and naturally skittish, but I've won her over with lots of socialization since hatch. When sitting, she's super nice to me and lets me take eggs from under her or handle the chicks after they hatch, without any problems. She whoops serious butt if another hen comes close though! So she's selectively nice just to me. It's a hard-earned trust, as she still doesn't want me touching her or picking her up, so I didn't want to ruin all that by stuffing her in a cage. She's broody again though and I don't want any more chicks, so I came up with a modified, more luxurious type of broody jail, and tried that as an experiment. And wow, it actually worked! And only took one day!!!!

What I did was I sectioned off part of the run for her. I gave her her own food, water, grit, fresh branches to graze on, things to perch on, and shade, but nothing soft and comfortable to sit in. Then I hosed down the ground so it was wet everywhere (to prevent her from making a nest in the run bedding, which is wood chips, dry leaves, mowed grass and other yard waste). I left her in her "fancy jail", without access to the coop, but within sight of the flock. Sprinkled some scratch around to give her something to do. She would occasionally pace back and forth along the chicken wire divider, but then she also scratched around and ate fresh greens from the branches, and climbed the logs, and had stuff to do, unlike the prisoners in Real Broody Jail. With the ground wet, I didn't see her sit anywhere (I checked on her periodically from my desk at home via my run cam). That evening, I waited until it was dark and carried her to the coop myself, and placed her on the roost. I wanted to make sure it was too dark for her to see and get down. I'd blocked the nests just in case. On the following morning, I let her come out with the flock and decided not to separate her, to see how she'd do. I unblocked the nests. She did not go into the coop at all! For two days, she acted normal except that she still had the broody cluck. So I let her stay with the flock, with full access to everything. After two days of broody-clucking but otherwise acting normal, on the third day her voice broke, and she was fully back to normal! Wohoo! So all it took was one single day in Fancy Humane Broody Jail. This will be my go to broody breaking method from now on. Of course, I have to add the usual disclaimer - "your experience may vary" (and mine may, too, next time, as every chicken and situation is different). So I'm not saying that this is a guaranteed method. But I wanted to share that it worked wonderfully for me (this time), and is a nice thing to try before you pull out the dreaded crate! It basically achieves the same goal as the crate - to isolate the hen and take away any comfy surface she could sit on - but it does it in a way that's a lot less stressful to her.

View attachment 2731505
The little structure on the left is their covered dust bath, which I blocked with a large planter dish to prevent the broody from trying to nest in it. And the black thing that looks like an umbrella handle above the broody is indeed that - an umbrella handle I opened a large umbrella in that corner and zip-tied it to the fence, to give the broody some more shade.

View attachment 2731510
She didn't seem too traumatized by her jail day, and we are still friends!

How big was that area? My run is dirt. I have a 5ft round dog pen with a top. Would this work? I'm at my wits end with mine. Although she doesn't attack she just hisses. This us her 4th broody in 14months.

 

[K0k0shka]

How big was that area? My run is dirt. I have a 5ft round dog pen with a top. Would this work? I'm at my wits end with mine. Although she doesn't attack she just hisses. This us her 4th broody in 14months.

I'd say my area is maybe 5x8? It's my general isolation area for any chickens who can't be with the flock, but need to be seen by the flock - integrating new chicks, separating injured chickens, etc. so I made it big enough for them to be comfortable. And since I have that space, I use it to break broodies, too. The size isn't all that important - after all, the crate is much smaller than that, and is the preferred broody breaking method. So anything you give her that's bigger than a crate, will be a bonus. But even just a crate will be fine. The dog pen sounds good. If you put it on the ground over the dirt, make sure to wet the dirt first, nice and soaked, so she can't dig herself a hole down to dry dirt and sit in it like a nest. I've had some do that.

 

[FreedomGalTx]

I'd say my area is maybe 5x8? It's my general isolation area for any chickens who can't be with the flock, but need to be seen by the flock - integrating new chicks, separating injured chickens, etc. so I made it big enough for them to be comfortable. And since I have that space, I use it to break broodies, too. The size isn't all that important - after all, the crate is much smaller than that, and is the preferred broody breaking method. So anything you give her that's bigger than a crate, will be a bonus. But even just a crate will be fine. The dog pen sounds good. If you put it on the ground over the dirt, make sure to wet the dirt first, nice and soaked, so she can't dig herself a hole down to dry dirt and sit in it like a nest. I've had some do that.

Thank you! I'm going to do it!

 

[K0k0shka]

Thank you! I'm going to do it!

Good luck!