Broody Hen, Help

[HenTea]

So I have my 1st Broody hen, I came home from a 10 day trip to a broody hen, my 1st one. I am thinking she may have started to show signs before we left. I am thinking she has been broody for at lest the hole 10 days..... So what I have been reading I need to put her in Hen Jail. So I blocked off the area under the nesting boxes and put food and water in there. I am worried she wont get a lot of sun light, I am also worried about how long she will have to be locked up for. My rooster is young ( The pullets I got with him are almost ready to start laying. ) I dont think any of my eggs are fertilized yet.. Would it be better at this point to just find her an egg to sit on?

Thanks

 

[Battlepants]

If she's been broody for 10+ days and the eggs she has aren't going to hatch, I would probably try to break her or give her chicks. Being broody is HARD on a hens body and tacking on another 21 broody days to her already 10+ day run may not be a good idea. This also assumes that she will be willing to stick around for a total of 30+ days waiting for eggs to hatch while her biology says they should take about 21.

If you choose to break her, the goal is to keep her belly cold. There are a few approaches to this:
-Grabbing her at night and placing her on the roostbar. Sometimes this is enough to break them, but she might make her way back to the nestbox.
-Setting her up in an elevated dog crate with a roostbar, food and water. Prevents her from keeping her belly pushed against a floor/nest. Some people also add a fan to help cool her.
-Dunking her belly in water - this is typically not a first choice as it is a bit mean, but can be effective on the stubborn ones that don't want to break.

 

[HenTea]

If she's been broody for 10+ days and the eggs she has aren't going to hatch, I would probably try to break her or give her chicks. Being broody is HARD on a hens body and tacking on another 21 broody days to her already 10+ day run may not be a good idea. This also assumes that she will be willing to stick around for a total of 30+ days waiting for eggs to hatch while her biology says they should take about 21.

If you choose to break her, the goal is to keep her belly cold. There are a few approaches to this:
-Grabbing her at night and placing her on the roostbar. Sometimes this is enough to break them, but she might make her way back to the nestbox.
-Setting her up in an elevated dog crate with a roostbar, food and water. Prevents her from keeping her belly pushed against a floor/nest. Some people also add a fan to help cool her.
-Dunking her belly in water - this is typically not a first choice as it is a bit mean, but can be effective on the stubborn ones that don't want to break.

Saturday when we got home I put her on the roost with the other hens, it was dark already. Sunday morning she was still on the roost. All day Sunday I keep going out to the coop with treats and pulling her out of the box. I had to work today, She was in the box all day. I will see what I can do to add a roost to the corner of the coop I blocked her in. When I put her in it she just laid on the floor. Its cool and raining here, calling for 10C over night. ( 50F I think)