Brooding hen

[LissyZ]

My 1yr old hen has decided to suddenly become broody. We do not have any roosters, so there are no fertilized eggs to sit upon. How can/should I stop her from sitting on the nest? I don't know if this will be a health issue or if I should let her be, she freaks out every time I take her off the nest and put her outside. She will be out for around 10min, and then desperately try to get on the nest again. Thoughts, is it safe to let her brood?

 

[sourland]

Brooding for excessive periods of time can be debilitating. If she were mine, I would break her broodiness by caging her away from the nest site.

 

[All4Eggz]

Let her brood if you want chicks. Buy some fertilized eggs.
Usually craislist is a great place to buy fertile eggs.

To break her broodiness,
keep taking her off the nest. Take away all the eggs, a couple times a day.
Make sure she's eating and drinking.
Put her in a "broody" wire cage so she can ventilate all over. Make sure she has food/water

 

[rosemarythyme]

Broodies lose weight and overall body condition, plus are a little more likely to pick up parasites, so if you don't plan to give her chicks it's best to break her.

Broody jail: Put her in an isolation cage with some food and water, in sight of the others (in the coop if it's not too hot or in/near the run is ideal). A wire cage elevated to air flow under her would be the best option, however I've used everything from a brooder to a dog exercise pen.

Keep her in the cage around the clock for about 2 days. At that time, if she's shows fewer signs of broodiness (puffing up, flattening down and growling, tik tik tik noise) you can let her out to test her. If she runs back to the nest at any point (usually they don't do it immediately, but maybe after 15 minutes, maybe an hour) then she's not yet sufficiently broken and needs to go back to the cage for another 24 hours. Then let her out and test her again. Repeat until she's no longer going to the nest box.

IF the isolation cage is not safe for overnight stay (i.e. sits outside the run) then put her on the roost at night, and retrieve her from the nest box the next morning and put her back in the cage. It may take a little longer this way but better than letting a predator get to her.