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.
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.
She didn't seem too traumatized by her jail day, and we are still friends!
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.
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.She didn't seem too traumatized by her jail day, and we are still friends!
Last edited:
I can’t stand watching the poor things clucking and running around either, so I put them in an extra run, sometimes 5 at a time ( did I mention my hens love to go broody 
) but it doesn’t work out as well, so wetting the ground is perfekt 
thank you
