Broody Hen Not Stopping

[quone]

I have a broody hen that has been sitting for over a month. It is a school pet that I am taking care of, and I can only go every 2-3 days, so I take eggs and clean but the other hens keep laying for her to sit on! There are 4 hens all together, and this one is the only broody one, and she'll sit whether there are eggs or not. There is a section of the coop that is separate from the rest that I could put her in. How long can I keep her separate before there are reintegration issues? And how long might it take til she figures out that there are no eggs to sit on?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Do you have a doggy crate you can elevate off the ground with cinder blocks for a broody jail?

 

[Marans-copper-and-cuckoo]

or you could let her hatch some eggs

 

[aart]

And how long might it take til she figures out that there are no eggs to sit on?

She won't.
Broody is a hormonal condition, doesn't matter if there are eggs or not.
It's too bad you can't tend to her, and the other birds, daily.


If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, IMO it's best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(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. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[quone]

Thank you! I do have a crate, so I'll put some hardware cloth on the bottom and try it out. I would look into getting some hatching eggs, but my boss doesn't want me to keep adding more (I already went from 2 to 4).

Now another broody question--two days ago one of my Silkies that I have at home went broody. I take her out of the nest at around 8-8:30 after the other one has laid and close up the coop until 7 or so. They're in the run until about 4, then I let them out in the yard. Ms. Broody joins the others, but still goes back to see if she can get to the nest and grumbles a lot. She laid an egg yesterday, but not today. From what I read above, I may need to get more drastic and jail her, too?

 

[aart]

From what I read above, I may need to get more drastic and jail her, too?

Maybe, maybe not.
I've broken a few just by tossing them out of the nest repeatedly,
denying her a nest might do the same.

 

[WallyG74]

The first time I went out after dark, took broody off the nest and put her on the roost. She resisted a little but I held her there until she settled in. Second time I ran her off the nest twice and she went on and roosted with the others at bedtime.

 

[quone]

I put the Silkie in jail and after 2 days she wasn’t pacing in front of the closed coop anymore. Then the other one went broody, so now they’re both in jail (to keep the second one company-she gets loud!) Today she wasn’t as agitated, so maybe just one more night.

After the Silkies are done, I’ll try it on my offsite Maran. I saw her today and she came out of the coop on her own, so maybe she’s getting ready anyway. I hope so! I used to average 3 eggs a day from the 4 regular chickens, but the past 2 weeks averaged just over 1 a day...

 

[Stonechick]

I'm glad I'm not the only one having problems! I currently have one in jail whose been in for 4 days now (the others only take max 48 hours and are cured) with another 3 that are also broody, but have nowhere to put them so I have blocked their nest boxes. Therefore they are sitting on the floor of the coop instead. We have 6 chickens altogether and have gone from 5 eggs a day to zero!

 

[quone]

The Maren was “reset” after just 2 days in jail! Silkies started laying again after just a week, now waiting for the Maren...