Broody breaks and is right back at it -- help!

[SnootyHen]

I have 2 broody pullets --both went broody about 15 minutes after laying their first egg. I break them and within a few days they're right back at it. And they convince each other to be broody together which is super annoying because I only have 3 nesting boxes and one broody jail. They are currently sharing the cell which is not good because it's not THAT big but I couldn't keep them both out any other way and the other ladies are getting anxious. It's making me (and the other girls) crazy because they're in there screeching and scaring everyone else away. I'm finding eggs all over the coop and run which never happens but the poor other girls just can't get in there. Both are just shy of 9 months and really good layers when they can stop trying to be mommies for a hot minute. Is this just how they're going to be forever? Can I expect the same next spring from them? They are lovely little ladies most of the time and lay really pretty eggs (one is an Ameraucana and the other an Olive Egger). But this nonsense has to end. I've tried broody jail, ice packs under them, bringing them in the house to keep them away from the boxes. Help!!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I'm having a similar issue with the hen (Maisy) in my profile picture. She's broody and is hogging the only nesting box that's currently in the coop. I spent good lot of the morning preparing a new nesting box so my girls can have a place to lay.

Is it possible that you can get some chicks and just sneak them under? I'm hoping to either get some chicks or fertile eggs to put under Maisy. Chicks would probably be the quickest thing to get Maisy back to laying. Maisy has the best tasting eggs of all my hens, so I kinda want her to get back to laying, but if she ends up being my opportunity to get more chicks, I might take that.

Something I accidentally discovered is basically "wrecking" the hen. I had a good broody bantam hen (Lucille). She hatched out three standard roosters and nothing else. When it came time to re-home all that years extra roosters, Lucille's went with them. She wasn't ready to let them go yet and cried for days afterwards. She never went broody again. I felt so guilty about what had happened with Lucille, but apparently it worked even though I wasn't trying to break and broodiness, just re-homing the extra roosters.

 

[SnootyHen]

I'm having a similar issue with the hen (Maisy) in my profile picture. She's broody and is hogging the only nesting box that's currently in the coop. I spent good lot of the morning preparing a new nesting box so my girls can have a place to lay.

Is it possible that you can get some chicks and just sneak them under? I'm hoping to either get some chicks or fertile eggs to put under Maisy. Chicks would probably be the quickest thing to get Maisy back to laying. Maisy has the best tasting eggs of all my hens, so I kinda want her to get back to laying, but if she ends up being my opportunity to get more chicks, I might take that.

Something I accidentally discovered is basically "wrecking" the hen. I had a good broody bantam hen (Lucille). She hatched out three standard roosters and nothing else. When it came time to re-home all that years extra roosters, Lucille's went with them. She wasn't ready to let them go yet and cried for days afterwards. She never went broody again. I felt so guilty about what had happened with Lucille, but apparently it worked even though I wasn't trying to break and broodiness, just re-homing the extra roosters.

Poor Lucille! I But at least she's done with that nonsense.

I really can't add any more to the flock right now because we're full up for space. Though giving them away could work, I hate to risk not being able to find homes for them and then I have an over-crowding issue. I have 12 and initially planned on 4. LOL! My original 7 have never gone broody but these 2 that were part of a 5 chick addition are broody all the time. Maybe it's the breed which is a shame because they are super sweet when they aren't puffing and screeching.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Poor Lucille! I But at least she's done with that nonsense.

I really can't add any more to the flock right now because we're full up for space. Though giving them away could work, I hate to risk not being able to find homes for them and then I have an over-crowding issue. I have 12 and initially planned on 4. LOL! My original 7 have never gone broody but these 2 that were part of a 5 chick addition are broody all the time. Maybe it's the breed which is a shame because they are super sweet when they aren't puffing and screeching.

You could always try Craigslist. Here's an article that I wrote to help people with posting on there: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-post-on-craigslist.76257/
What breeds are they? I've had quite a few birds that were just plain known to go broody. My Maisy on the other hand.... She is the hen that I had expected to go broody the least.

 

[SnootyHen]

Millie is an Olive Egger and the worst of the 2 by far. Betsy is an Ameraucana and seems to be going along with Millie who's the clear instigator. Sometimes, the others will puff up and shriek too but I feel like they are just "trying it on" and not really broody, just defending their nest time.

 

[BDutch]

I have 2 broody pullets --both went broody about 15 minutes after laying their first egg. I break them and within a few days they're right back at it. And they convince each other to be broody together which is super annoying because I only have 3 nesting boxes and one broody jail. They are currently sharing the cell which is not good because it's not THAT big but I couldn't keep them both out any other way and the other ladies are getting anxious. It's making me (and the other girls) crazy because they're in there screeching and scaring everyone else away. I'm finding eggs all over the coop and run which never happens but the poor other girls just can't get in there. Both are just shy of 9 months and really good layers when they can stop trying to be mommies for a hot minute. Is this just how they're going to be forever? Can I expect the same next spring from them? They are lovely little ladies most of the time and lay really pretty eggs (one is an Ameraucana and the other an Olive Egger). But this nonsense has to end. I've tried broody jail, ice packs under them, bringing them in the house to keep them away from the boxes. Help!!

If you have a temporary shortage of nest boxes, you can add a cardboard box of some kind of groceries. I used wine box on the side with some sand and hay. Works great.

I you let a broody sit on non fertilised eggs and want to swap them for chicks you have to wait about 2 weeks, the chicks need to be very young , best directly from an incubator. And change eggs for chicks in the night. Otherwise she might refuse them as her own and might peck the chicks to death in a worst case scenario.

As long as she cares for the chicks sad he is not laying. This might tske 8 werks or more. So its not a quick way to go for fresh eggs.

 

[SnootyHen]

If you have a temporary shortage of nest boxes, you can add a cardboard box of some kind of groceries. I used wine box on the side with some sand and hay. Works great.

I you let a broody sit on non fertilised eggs and want to swap them for chicks you have to wait about 2 weeks, the chicks need to be very young , best directly from an incubator. And change eggs for chicks in the night. Otherwise she might refuse them as her own and might peck the chicks to death in a worst case scenario.

As long as she cares for the chicks sad he is not laying. This might tske 8 werks or more. So its not a quick way to go for fresh eggs.

Unfortunately, I can't add to the flock right now (unless I want to build another coop and possible irritate neighbors).

 

[Padorna23]

Recently my barred rock who is 10 months old went broody.The only thing that helped was keeping her in a small dog cage with food and water raised off the ground in the coop so air could flow under her for about 2.5 days. I let her out and she was back to her normal self but took about two weeks to start laying again.

 

[aart]

I've tried broody jail,

Show us your broody jail setup.
How long did you leave them in the jail?
...and how long before they went back to being broody?

I'm sure " 15 minutes after laying their first egg." and "a hot minute' were exaggerations?

 

[SnootyHen]

Show us your broody jail setup.
How long did you leave them in the jail?
...and how long before they went back to being broody?

I'm sure " 15 minutes after laying their first egg." and "a hot minute' were exaggerations?

It's just a wire dog crate with nothing in it except a piece of wood across the wire bottom that she can roost on. During the day I put it in the run next to the waterer so she can reach the water from inside and at night it goes in the coop. Nothing fancy. During the day in the run I put food in there for her, too. I just throw a few handfuls of feed on the ground under it so she can "forage" for it. I try to let her free range a little in the evenings after everyone else has laid and I can close off the coop -- mostly just to see if she'll behave normally or go searching frantically for the nesting boxes.

It's been several times now. If I catch her early enough, the ice pack under her tummy may do it but if I don't, it can take 2-3 days in jail before she stops.

Millie (OE) is the worst and she just started laying March 15th and less than a month later she started this. There were 2 really long periods of no laying (11 days and 16 days) but she wasn't puffy and screeching the whole time. She'd knock it off for a few days and then start up again and just not get back to laying in between. Today is day 2 for her in jail and she seems like she's calming some but I am not confident it's going to last because she just comes in and out.

Betsy (Am) seems to jump on the bandwagon whenever Millie starts up. She started laying March 26th and while she does the puffy, screechy, nesting box hogging, she mostly continues to lay. She usually only takes a day in jail to break but I think she's really just copying off Millie and not truly committed the way Millie is. But it's difficult because when they both go at the same time, I only have one small crate so I have to get creative. None of my others have ever gone broody so I never needed any. I have a large dog crate I've used to separate them but it's too big for broody jail.