Broody hen is being picked on

[little blue coop]

This is my first time raising chickens. One of our 5 hens is broody. The others are now picking on her, even chasing her away from the food. They pick on her in the coop too. We have an enclosed run attached to the coop. Has anyone else had this problem? Suggestions very much appreciated.
There's no chance of chicks. No rooster, per local ordinance. We just remove the eggs each day.

 

[Sooner Magnolia]

I would either get her some fertile eggs to hatch and a separate location like a plastic dog crate to brood them, or search here about broody breaking techniques. It isn't good for her to be perpetually broody. You can add multiple food and water stations and hiding spots in the run to minimize picking on each other if you have the room.

 

[little blue coop]

I would either get her some fertile eggs to hatch and a separate location like a plastic dog crate to brood them, or search here about broody breaking techniques. It isn't good for her to be perpetually broody. You can add multiple food and water stations and hiding spots in the run to minimize picking on each other if you have the room.

Thanks. I just borrowed a crate from my son and will try to break her from being broody.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Depending on how long she's been broody and how strong her hormones are, it normally takes a minimum of 3 days, and up to a week before broody hormones dissipate. Keep her in broody jail until her insistent clucking and pacing ceases, or you will be back to square one. Also, it sounds like she may be lowest in the flock pecking order. Placing her "in jail" near/within sight of the rest of the flock will allow her to more easily reintegrate after her hormones cease.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Agree that breaking her promptly would be ideal, as you aren't hatching and her broodiness is interrupting the peace in the flock.

Once she's back to "normal," things should settle down as well.

 

[little blue coop]

I really appreciate the suggestions and support. This is all new to me, and the aggressiveness displayed by the other hens is something I was not expecting. So when I placed her in the crate, she just kept eating. The others were keeping her from the feed. And then she fluffed up her feathers when the others came around, as if to say "I'm big, I'm bad" from the safety of the crate. That was pretty funny.

 

[little blue coop]

So as a follow-up to the bullying: I was able to break her broodiness by putting her in a dog crate. But the other hens kept attacking her whenever she was released from the crate. I'm sure they would have killed her if I didn't separate them. A friend gave me a very large dog run (12x12) that my husband and I attached to the original run. I kept putting one other chicken in with the "victim", changing run-mates every day or so. Finally there is peace in the coop again. I cut a hole so that all the chickens can go back and forth between the old run and the new (dog) run. I plan on building a door so that if this ever happens again, I can easily separate a bullied hen and work on restoring peace again.