Broody hen dominating the nesting box

WandererOne

Hatching
Sep 20, 2017
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0
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Hi all
I have a broody hen that is dominating the nesting box to the point she is chasing the other girls out when they want to lay.
She also the eldest so top of the pecking order.
We are constantly chucking her out of the box but she just goes back in.
Sometimes she will be sitting on someones egg, sometimes on an empty nest.
Any suggestions please?
Cheers
WandererOne
 
There are many ways to break a broody. A search here on byc will lead you to various posts of the methods folks use and you can pick the one that you want to use.
I prefer the "broody buster cage"...a wire bottom cage that is set up on blocks to maximise air flow underneath. Hen, food and water go in the cage but no bedding. After 3 or so days let her out.... if she goes back to the flock she's broken of the broodinrss, if she goes back to the best out her back in the cage
 
Welcome to BYC!

You'll need to decide if you want her to hatch out some chicks, and how you will 'manage' it.
Do you have, or can you get, some fertile eggs?
Do you have the space needed? She may need to be separated by wire from the rest of the flock.
Do you have a plan on what to do with the inevitable males? Rehome, butcher, keep in separate 'bachelor pad'?
If you decide to let her hatch out some fertile eggs, this is a great thread for reference and to ask questions.
It a long one but just start reading the first few pages, then browse thru some more at random.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/496101/broody-hen-thread

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience went like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop and I would feed her some crumble a couple times a day.

I let her out a couple times a day(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two.

Water nipple bottle added after pic was taken.
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Hi aart and thank you.
Definitely don't want chickens!
I'll have to sort out some sort of cage I guess though other hens I've had just seem to get over the broodiness.
 

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