Broody....for the THIRD time

[PennyL]

Seriously, again?? I have a black mottled Orpington hen that is going broody, again, for the third time. I've broken her brood twice already this season (she's only a little over a year old). I break her brood by isolating her for three days and bringing her inside during the night to a wire cage. Works like a charm but as soon as she recovers enough after a week or so to begin laying again, there she is, growling in the nest box. She's already on the thin side since she's at the bottom of the pecking order. I don't have a rooster so I can't give her any eggs to hatch.

Any solutions folks? And is she doing this to try and up her status in the flock? I'm sure in her chicken brain, if she emerged with some chicks the others would be very impressed with her. Or perhaps she's just figured out if she does this, she gets to come into the airconditioned house at night.

 

[azygous]

Unfortunately, it's genetics not connivance. I had such a serial broody. Three times a season and she was so reliably consistent, I could count the precise day she would begin to want to sit a nest from the day she laid her first egg.

She was a regular occupant of the broody cage when there was no need for her broody services. On the first day of trying to sit the nest, I would deposit her in the broody cage in the center of activity in the run, and she would spend three days and two nights and then her spell was broken. Until the precise number of days passed from the first egg she laid after being broken, then it was back to her home away from home - the broody cage.

 

[aart]

Serial broodies are a PITA!
I had one who I broke 7 times one summer, and that was after I let her hatch in march.
I finally gave her away to someone who wanted a broody, she never went broody again.