Broody Hen Question

[dct10]

First break her from being broody. Get her back to normal. Then you can work on where she lays.

When I built my nests I made a couple of them so I can lock a chicken in them if I want to. That has come in handy in several different ways, This is one.

When I have a hen that is laying where I don't want her to I wait until she is on the nest laying an egg and lock her in the nest I want her to use until she lays that egg. Usually that takes a half hour but I've had one take 3 hours. Most of the time after that she lays in the right nest, I only have to do that once. Once I had a hen that I had to do that to the following day before she got the message, two consecutive days. It takes a lot of checking to find out when she is on that nest laying. I'm retired so I can do that.

Occasionally I can just pick the hen up when she is laying but usually not. I practically always have to use a fish net to catch her. If you can do that while she is still on the nest it's a lot easier than when I have to chase her down to catch her. I'm retired, I don't chase as well as I used to. But I can eventually lock her in the coop and corner her. It doesn't seem to make any difference if I have to run her down versus just catching her on the nest. I'm OK with her thinking that nest might not be as safe a place to lay an egg as she thought.

That's the only way that has worked for me. I've tried blocking her nesting spot in hopes she will move. Mine just lay next to what I put in there. I think it is a good idea to mess that area up so it doesn't look so much like a nest but that's never worked for me either. When people have a hen that free ranges and is laying out somewhere, locking them all in the coop/run for a week or so can retrain them.

Yours is laying in the run though, not out free ranging. To retrain her to lay in the coop you'd need to lock them all in the coop for a week so you don't train the others to lay somewhere else. Could you perhaps build a pen around a nest so you could lock her in that pen until she is retrained to that nest, then remove the pen? Retraining them where to lay isn't always easy.

I actually have a second small 2'x3' wooden crate I built to act as a second coop for times when a chicken needs to be isolated. There is a small run (4'x4') attached with another door to the big run. I can keep that closed. This smaller coop is also able to be locked at night to protect against predators. I have a few 2 month old chicks who were hatched in that smaller coop. They still return to it to roost at night because they get harassed inside the large coop. I had hoped to let them get bigger but now I guess I'm gonna need to force them to sleep in the big coop now. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[dct10]

If you don't want her to hatch it doesn't really matter where she is setting.

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(1x2) on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

After 48 hours I let her out of crate very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate for another 48 hours.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken, gives the feet a break from the wire floor and encourages roosting.
View attachment 2692184

The coop isn't large enough to put a crate inside and I'm not crazy about leaving her in the run overnight even in a crate but it's looking like this may be necessary. I've had to physically pick her up and put her into the coop at night hoping she would be over it in the mornings, but she keeps going right back to her spot in the run and laying there all day. Still eating and drinking first so that's not a worry. She's a chochin so they rarely will use a roost and prefer to stay on the ground/floor of the coop.

 

[aart]

The coop isn't large enough to put a crate inside and I'm not crazy about leaving her in the run overnight even in a crate but it's looking like this may be necessary.

You can put the crate somewhere safe at night....doesn't have to be in the coop.