Broody Hen

[fish]

Hello everyone,
I have a Broody hen ( I think) ?
I have three red hens called Isa Browns....
She would be about1.5 years old or a little older.
She is hogging the favourite nest all day and all night, not sure is she is laying the egg I find each day but most likely as the other two can't get in, ( they don't seem to be laying at all) but I think it is the time of the year here in Perth Western Australia.
I take her off the nest as many times as I can a day and some times only once or twice depending on work and day light hours constraints.
I make her walk around and she scratches and eats and drinks heaps then runs back on to the next.
What can I do ??
Robyn Fisher
( Fish)

 

[sourland]

Hello, Fish, can you place her in a cage or separate coop so that she can not get back to the nest? She will break her broodiness quicker if you do that. Of course you could always get her some fertile eggs or chicks.

 

[amynrichie]

I usually have to break my broody by locking her out of the coop in a separate pen during the day, and putting her on the roost each night to keep her out of the nest box. If I catch her early it only takes a day or two. If I'm not paying attention and let her set too long, it takes longer to break her.

 

[DuckGirl77]

My buff orpington goes broody every spring. I don't have a place to put her like a cage, so this spring I took her out of the nestbox every day but eventually just took out that "nestbox" (it's actually a piece of wood leaned against the wall, so it was pretty easy to take it out.) If you can easily do that, you could try it. It took a little while, but it made her stop eventually. A word of caution: if she doesn't come out of the nestbox and walk around enough, her nails may become outrageously long like my hen's nails did. I would check on her every once in a while to make sure that doesn't happen. Also, like amynrichie said. the sooner you can deal with it, the better. I let my hen sit there for a while hoping she would just eventually stop, so when I finally tried to make her stop, it took longer than it should have.