Broody for the Holidays, Breaking Broody II

[DiscoverwithDave]

Hi Guys and Gals,
Its good to be back, I was offline during the busy holidays and need time to catch up and re-cooperate. Anyway, a couple months ago my 6 month old chicken went Broody. I took all the great advice and was able to break her of Broody in a day (Breaking Broody I). I thought she was cured. I even made a video of the one day process. Well, I was out lady for Christmas and did not check on them till late afternoon the next day. I then realized I could not find one of my chickens and after searching I found her in the neighbors yard. I got her back and closed off any open spots in the fence. Later that night I noticed my Red cross chicken missing. She is my favorite and the one that was Broody a couple months back. Any way we searched everywhere and could not find her. It got very late and we decide to resume the search party the next morning. In the morning I briefly saw he in the run of the coop which I could not understand because she was not there that night and the coop was closed. Anyway, I finally realized she was heading in the coop behind the water drinker and was laying her eggs there instead of nesting box and she was broody. Broody for the Holidays.

So this was about a week and a half ago and guess what? Red started it up again today... so I got her out of coop quick. Hope it lasts longer than a week.

 

[ChickNanny13]

 

[aart]

That was painful to watch.
You could have just put a bucket where she was setting.
Use those boards to make a hinged cover for nests, including the angled ones under the nest entrances....they are all just taking up floor space.
Get a broody crate ready for the next time, you can put it in the run and let her roost at night(after closing off the nests).

 

[lilmillefleur]

I agree--a quick way to break a broody hen is to put her in an elevated cage for a few days: the airflow under her butt will discourage her from setting.

 

[ChickNanny13]

She is determined & pretty girl. It amazes me at the determination of some broodies, had a few and agree "broody breaker" cage works the best.

 

[DiscoverwithDave]

Great ideas, thank you all for the input. I will keep my eyes open for a deal on a Broody cage. Although it has been a mild winter, I can't wait to get through it.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Check out Amazon, in the dog section ... Couple years ago I got a wire cage (23x25x36) at a reasonable price, can't recall the price but if it was pricey I would not have purchased