Broody Hen?

[beth1004]

Currently my rooster is barred rock. I have buff Orpingtons, Ameracaunas and a mystery hen. I have teens that haven’t begun to lay— barred rocks, black sex link, Easter Eggers

 

[Col1948]

I watched a few videos on YouTube about broody hens in a dog crate.
What I wasn't doing was leaving a space underneath for air to circulate plus I left the base board in.
So I changed all that and raised the crate on two wooden blocks and took out the base which I placed on the roof with a brick on it to stop it blowing off plus if any chickens went up there they couldn't poop on the broody.
I have food and water in there plus the others can see her and she can see them, they keep coming to have a look at here, probably wondering why she is in there and not free ranging like them lol.
According to one of the video posters they said it only took about 3 days for it to work, so I'll see and keep you posted lol.

 

[Col1948]

This is day 2 of the dog crate, I feel awful for her but I know we both have to go through it.
She can see the others free ranging in the garden, every now and again they come to visit her but go off again, I can see she wants to go with them.
Sometimes she is cackling away, I can tell she is not happy, that's what I don't like, she is locked in there when really she has done nothing wrong.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

We have one who seems to have gone broody. She was in there all day yesterday. We don't want any chicks. So I just toss her out of the coop when I find her in there. She starts wandering around normally once I do that, so far....

I'll let y'all know how this method works.

 

[Col1948]

I did that with one of my others who went broody, trouble was I had to wait till the rest had laid their eggs before I could lock the coop up.
She made a racket when I moved though, if anyone had heard her they would think I was torturing her lol.

 

[Susan Dye]

I have a BO who has gone broody. She went broody about this same time last year, but I wasn't prepared to properly deal with it then. Tried just taking her off the nest every time I caught her on it, but that did not work out so well. I would call to her as I approached the nest box, "Miss Betty, Miss Betty, I'm coming for you, Miss Betty". I knew she was finally over the broodiness on the morning she went flying out of the coop when she heard me call to her. This year, I have a dog crate set up in a safe area where she is protected from the weather and has water and food. I take her treats when the others get treats. Once the other hens have laid their eggs, I partition off the nest boxes and let her out. She goes in and out of the coop a few times to make sure there is no way for her to get back on the nest, then she joins the rest of the flock and roosts at night. So far, this is day 3, after letting everyone out in the morning, she's still returning to the nest. So, it's back to the crate. I'm hoping my method is going to work, sooner rather than later, because I, like Col1948, feel like I'm punishing her for something that's purely natural by keeping her locked up. And she is sooo mad at me.

 

[Aunt Angus]

The punishment sucks, but so does watching your pullet waste away. My BO got so thin, and her nails grew so long! She's back to normal now.

 

[D-Bar-B]

Is it necessary to really do anything except shoo her away from her favorite nesting box if there are no roosters in our flock to worry about fertilized eggs? Babz really puffed up gave me a piece of her mind today when I went in the coop to shoo her out. BUT...she still enjoyed the banana with the rest of the flock.

 

[Col1948]

What I read also was if you have a broody and leave her be, it can be kind of catching and others might also go in a brood, so if you don't want her to hatch any eggs the she needs to be broken, I hate that phrase.
When my other one went broody she hogged the nest and I witnessed others either waiting to go in because she was in their favourite spot and in some cases I watched one hen go under a bush to lay but fortunately it wasn't suitable and she came back to the coop nest.
I've watched them squeeze in and almost climb on top of her to lay but would she move, no chance.
Again if left it can be weeks before they decide to come out of it, thus not eating properly and their health can deteriorate too.

 

[Susan Dye]

What I read also was if you have a broody and leave her be, it can be kind of catching and others might also go in a brood, so if you don't want her to hatch any eggs the she needs to be broken, I hate that phrase.
When my other one went broody she hogged the nest and I witnessed others either waiting to go in because she was in their favourite spot and in some cases I watched one hen go under a bush to lay but fortunately it wasn't suitable and she came back to the coop nest.
I've watched them squeeze in and almost climb on top of her to lay but would she move, no chance.
Again if left it can be weeks before they decide to come out of it, thus not eating properly and their health can deteriorate too.

Last year I did have another hen who went broody with Betty, but fortunately she wasn't as dedicated as Betty and gave it up after about a week. It does suck to have more than one broody at a time since they don't lay when they are broody. When you only have 6 hens and 2 aren't laying during prime laying season, and they are hogging 2 out the 3 nests, and they are scaring the crap out of any other hens that try to come in to lay, well, it gets to be difficult. Betty does seem to be coming out of it. She spent an hour off the nest this morning, then stayed off the nest for 3 hours this afternoon. I did have to close off the nesting boxes this evening. At least it will force her to roost with the others again tonight. She doesn't seem to be as mad at me either. Maybe tomorrow will be the end of it.