Broody hen question.

[CHELLYB0E]

Okay so I’ve been doing a lot of research and I just feel like a complete putz!

Plan A:
Removing the nesting box - FAIL

Feisty decided she’s not leaving her nesting box, so I took that away... she now decided that she’s going to use this plastic planting box instead..

Plan B:
The wire cage method..

Now are my questionsand confusions....
If she’s supposed to be in it for 3 days does she sleep in there as well?

Do I keep her someplace separate from her sister?

Will this make her egg bound if she has no where to lay?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Broody hens don't lay. It is the hormonal phase after a hen lays a clutch worth of eggs.

The hen should stay penned, 3-7 days for most hens. Feed, and water in the pen. Put it where she still can be seen if possible.

Release after 3 days. If they return to the nest it's back to the pen for another couple of days.

The sooner you break them the quicker it goes.

 

[CHELLYB0E]

Broody hens don't lay. It is the hormonal phase after a hen lays a clutch worth of eggs.

The hen should stay penned, 3-7 days for most hens. Feed, and water in the pen. Put it where she still can be seen if possible.

Release after 3 days. If they return to the nest it's back to the pen for another couple of days.

The sooner you break them the quicker it goes.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate your help. Getting on it as I type.

 

[rosemarythyme]

While broodies don't lay if you try to break them very early on they may still have an egg in the chute, so to speak. If that happens she'll just lay it on the floor of the cage.

And yes they stay in the cage for 3 days and nights. You can add a roosting bar if there's room for one but honestly they're fine with just squatting on the floor for a few nights.

 

[CHELLYB0E]

While broodies don't lay if you try to break them very early on they may still have an egg in the chute, so to speak. If that happens she'll just lay it on the floor of the cage.

And yes they stay in the cage for 3 days and nights. You can add a roosting bar if there's room for one but honestly they're fine with just squatting on the floor for a few nights.

Thank you!

 

[lissalischicks]

Good luck!!!! I went on vacation and found 2 of my hens went broody while I was gone. (One was broody for about 8 days and the other 5 days) I did the wire cage method. They just slept on the floor at night. They broke within 2 days. (Thank goodness.) So it can be done!!

 

[aart]

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 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.

Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.