One of my hens went broody and hatched 3 chicks (21 days, plus 10 days from first hatch to last, since I didn't know to keep her from stealing other hens' eggs at first). She was a great mom to the chicks, and after 4-5 weeks she escaped her coop and went directly to the rooster who was free ranging (ewww). Guess she was done. She lived in the main coop and happily laid eggs for the next five days. Then went broody again. While I was out of town. That led to some confusion from the 13 yr old boy who was feeding/watering/collecting for me. He ended up taking her eggs, but we don't know how long she sat on them (or which ones they were, since he put them with the others!!!) and now she's being stubborn. I took away the golf balls she was sitting on, and she kept sitting on imaginary eggs. Then she stole eggs from the other side of the nest box. I stole them from her. Then she switched nests herself and sat on eggs as soon as they were laid. I took those too. It's been two weeks. Is she ever going to be done? I read about putting her in a hanging cage to break her, but how big is it supposed to be? Just big enough for her or room for her to walk around? I have a milk crate with a hinged lid that I could prop up, but that seems small... Any suggestions? I just hatched 20 chicks in an incubator, then her 3 hatched -- I don't need any more chicks right now!
