Broody Hen with EMO problems

[Trish1974]

Ugh, my first broody hen... one of my 1 yr old black australorps. Every day I have to toss her out of the coop and lock her out so she won't go back in and set. However, when she is out of the coop she is one ticked off hen!! Absolutely just p*ssed off at the world! She walks around with her neck feathers raised up, constantly making noises (like a rooster makes he finds food for his hens, how odd is that?!) and will puff up like a tom turkey at the other hens. I have found plenty of info on keeping them off the nest, but none for the emotional part of broodiness. Is there anything I can do for her, or will this hormone rush eventually go away on its own?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

That crazy behavior can possibly get on the other chicken's nerves and they attack her.
The hormones are just raging, so you never know what she will do. Mine actually flew into a rage and jumped on my rooster, thankfully he just walked away.

This is what I did with my broody girl. I placed her in a wire dog kennel during the day, this allow the other girls access to the coop. I blocked off the nesting boxes about an hour before roosting time each night, then let her out, to tromp around, etc.

Blocking the boxes forced her to roost (I suppose if she was really stubborn she would have slept on the floor). Every morning I would repeat the process.

We did have cooler temperatures, but it took several days for her to become "unbroody"
One of my biggest worries was her not eating/drinking enough. Being caged she did eat/drink. I also provided some leafy green veggies for a treat, along with some cooked egg and poultry vitamins for a few days.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Trish1974]

Thank you! I will try that!

 

[andreanar]

Best way Ive found to break a broody
I raise a small dog crate a few feet off the ground, and keep the broody in it with no nesting materials, just wire floor.
I put frozen water bottles under the crate to cool off her underside.
I keep the crate inside the coop so she is still part of the flock
I let her out a few times a day to stretch and stand there watching to see if she tries to get back to the nest. If she does, she goes back in the crate.
It usually takes me 4-7 days of this before she quits.