Blocking in a broody

[charmedbychickens]

I'm having problems with a broody polish.

I have tried to seperate her to another area several times but she is not interested in sitting anywhere except in the nesting boxes. I've tried moving her at night, only to find her pacing back in forth in the pen in the morning. I've had a broody in the nesting boxes before, but other ladies would come and kick the broody off her eggs and the broody would find another box and not come back to the original one. I've read where other people block off a nest for a broody.

My question is what do you use to block off a nest? How do you attach it so that you can remove it to let her out? My boxes are wooden.

Any suggestions?

 

[txmel]

i wish i could help you. i'm kind of in the same situation as you only my other hens are leaving my broody alone in the nest box she has chosen (the other prefer another one) but i'm concerned for when the eggs hatch and the babies falling from the box and getting hurt. i'll be watching this thread and hope someone comes by who can help you.

 

[chicks4kids]

My broody who is sitting now is absolutely insistant that she brood in our wooden nest boxes....After trying to move her several times (with no success) I just got a box that is the same size as the nest box (so she is confined) put her and the eggs in it at night. I precut a door before hand and tape it up with scotch tape. Then I leave it closed up from that night until the next...literally, so she cannot get up and go anywhere except on those eggs...there's no room to pace at all. I left it like that the next day...closed up (of course there is air ventilation). Then the next night, I removed the tape and the removeable door and had a successful move.

 

[charmedbychickens]

My two wyandottes that went broody this year were so easy. I put them in the hutch I set up for them and it was so funny watching them make a bee line for the eggs when I put them in the new nest. They settled down immediatly. I was trying to put the polish in a large unused dog house that I put a door on. I'll have to see if I can find an appropriate size box that would fit in there and maybe try once again. It really is easier to remove them from the other hens.

txmel-are you planning on having your hen raise your chicks? You could remove the chicks from the hen when she hatches them and put them in a brooder or remove all of them, mama and babies, to another area. I've only had one hen raise chicks (the other one is still sitting on eggs) but I found the chicks did not go far from under mama the first day.

 

[Jeeper1540]

so i'm reading this right, correct? You have a chicken going broody that you dont want broody?

if so, i have one of those. goes broody about once a month lol. i just move her in the old rabbit hutch/cage for about 3 nights, with a bowl of water and a bowl of food. after 2-3 nights, i put her back in the coop and she is usually cured, but if the symptoms persist, a few more days in the "broody cage" lol. some people think its too much trouble doing that all the time, but i dont mind... except when she pecks me! lol

 

[charmedbychickens]

I want a broody- you can never have too many chicks! I just don't want her in with the other bossy hens. They really make a mess of things pushing each other around in the nesting boxes. I have eight nesting boxes and they all want to lay in the one that already has an egg. The favorite box changes every day. She's already proven she doesn't mind sitting in a box that has no eggs in it. I need to keep the other hens from pushing in and kicking her off her incubating eggs .

 

[iluvsedward]

u can put cloth over the box two nails at the top none at the bottom so she can get out for food

 

[charmedbychickens]

That will keep the other ones out? Will she go back in?

 

[Mrs. K]

After moving a broody last year, and 3 days later, after it seemed that she had taken to it, she left the nest and I lost the clutch of eggs.

So this year I just left them, I had one go broody the day after the first. They have always stayed on their nests, and I only saw one of them off one times for a short period of time. They are hatching tonight!

I put fresh fluffy straw down under the nest, about 18-24 inches above the ground. When I got home this afternoon, two had tumbled out of the nest, but I just scooped them back up and the went under her again.

The problem is other hens laying in the nest, I only had 3 laying hens, and they just picked a different box, and layed there everyday, so I knew they were not adding to the broodies clutch. Last year, after the 21 days, I gave my broody hen live day old chicks, in the nest, and she had them down on the floor the next morning and had made a nest on the floor. She was a tough hen, and NO other hen bothered her or the chicks, which made for a seamless integration to the flock, which is what I want.

Hoping for that success tomorrow, tonight, I have the broodies in the coop, and the layers are in the run, but locked out of the coop. They can live one night or two outside. Hope this goes according to the plan

 

[christytrav]

I had my first hen go broody a week ago. She is low on the pecking order! I have a seperate room and run I use for a brooder and no chicks in it right now so I made her a nest and moved her into the room. When I first moved her and the eggs she left them and paced the yard trying to get back into the other yard with her friends. So I got her back inside and shut the run door. She settled right in and the next day I was able to open the door back up so she can go out to the bathroom. I have not seen her off the eggs yet but I am pretty sure she has gone out 'cause there are some huge poops out in the run. I also know several people who have used dog crates(or Kennels) for broodies. I like having mine seperate so I know she is not getting bullied and I can monitor her food and water everyday. She doesn't even have to get up to eat and drink! And she can go out in the yard and see her friends and still be part of the flock. GOOD LUCK!