Breaking a broody hen

[junkman56]

Hello everyone,
I have a question , what is the best way to break a broody hen? I have a hen that went broody for the second time in a month and a half, I don't have fertile eggs for her to hatch.
I put her in a small cage setting on 4x4's for a couple days. When I let her out of the cage she ran out of the coop, then came right back in to the nesting boxes,
What is the best way to break her?

 

[CapricornFarm]

The cage is a good idea, but you need to suspend it so her belly is not kept warm, ie no bedding. That will usually do it.

 

[aart]

I put her in a small cage setting on 4x4's for a couple days. When I let her out of the cage she ran out of the coop, then came right back in to the nesting boxes,

That's when you put them right back in the breaker crate.
It can take anywhere from a couple days to a week.
Am going to assume it's a wire crate with no bedding.

 

[junkman56]

That's when you put them right back in the breaker crate.
It can take anywhere from a couple days to a week.
Am going to assume it's a wire crate with no bedding.

Yes wire crate without beding

 

[Bckpkrs]

As new chicken owners, we just dealt with our first hen going broody and breaking her. We used the cage during the day, but let her sleep in the coop at night. It took about a week of letting her out when we'd throw scratch, and we'd see how fast she'd run back to the nesting box. Most of the time it was within a few minutes, but after a number of days she might stay out for an hour or two before running back to the nest. It took about seven days of that, at which point we'd still have to move her out of the nest in the morning, but after a few hours she'd be back in the box, but by this time I'd let her spend an hour on the nest in case she was laying. If no egg, she was removed from the nest to the run. If she didn't bolt back to the nest, I'd let her stay out. About day 9 or 10 she finally left the coop of her own accord with our other two chickens in the morning. From start to finish it was about 17 days from first being broody, to breaking, then5 more days until laying her first egg again. (I have it all on a spreadsheet.) Again, I think letting her sleep in the coop probably extended the amount of time she was broody by 3-5 days, but we weren't comfortable letting her sleep outside on her own in a small dog cage with local raccoons, cats, etc.