Broody Chickens

[Gone]

I have two broody chickens that want to stay in the same nest box to hatch a fake egg. I used to have a problem with my newest chickens wanting to lay eggs on the floor of the chicken coop in the corner and then eat them before I could pick them up. I corrected that by blocking that corner with a cardboard box and making the nest boxes more inviting. That problem is solved and everyone was laying since I put fake eggs in the nest boxes. Well, now I have another problem. Two of them are broody and want to stay in the same nest box about all day and all night, sitting on top of each other and panting since this makes them hotter squashed in the same box. I am worried also because they don't want to come out to eat or drink only if I make them come out in the chicken yard and close the door to the coop. Then I put some food outside and water and make them stay out for a couple of hours at a time. I tried blocking the nest box they use, but they just went to a different one. How should I break them of this. I feel sorry for them because I don't have a rooster and I'm at my limit as far as how many chickens I can have.

 

[nuthatched]

Put them in a dog crate with no bedding, just a roost bar, food and water.
What is their diet?

 

[azygous]

I recommend no roost bar. Any surface at all, nest, ground, perch, can reflect body heat back at the hen, and this perpetuates the hormones that keep a hen broody. The fake eggs have nothing to do with wanting to stay in the nest. It would be just as attractive to these two hens if it was empty.

I found a large wire dog crate at a yard sale, the kind where you can remove the solid floor, leaving just the open mesh bottom. Then I place the crate right in the middle of the busiest part of the run with a fan blowing under it. The only other thing in the cage should be food and water. Leave the hens in this crate day and night, letting them out periodically to dirt bathe and to annoy the other chickens. I watch to see if they run right back to the nest. If they do, they need more time in the cage until they reach a point where they have lost all interest in sitting in a nest. Usually after three days and two nights the broody will be broken.

 

[Gone]

Put them in a dog crate with no bedding, just a roost bar, food and water.
What is their diet?

They have regular grain available all the time with scratch grain and meal worms in the morning and vegetable treats in the afternoon.

 

[Gone]

I recommend no roost bar. Any surface at all, nest, ground, perch, can reflect body heat back at the hen, and this perpetuates the hormones that keep a hen broody. The fake eggs have nothing to do with wanting to stay in the nest. It would be just as attractive to these two hens if it was empty.

I found a large wire dog crate at a yard sale, the kind where you can remove the solid floor, leaving just the open mesh bottom. Then I place the crate right in the middle of the busiest part of the run with a fan blowing under it. The only other thing in the cage should be food and water. Leave the hens in this crate day and night, letting them out periodically to dirt bathe and to annoy the other chickens. I watch to see if they run right back to the nest. If they do, they need more time in the cage until they reach a point where they have lost all interest in sitting in a nest. Usually after three days and two nights the broody will be broken.

Thank you. I'll try it.

 

[Gone]

They have regular grain available all the time with scratch grain and meal worms in the morning and vegetable treats in the afternoon.

Thank you. I'll try it.

 

[nuthatched]

They have regular grain available all the time with scratch grain and meal worms in the morning and vegetable treats in the afternoon.

Do you mean feed when you say normal grain?