Broody hen

[Chickygrammy6]

I have a Moran hen that is less than two years old. She has gone broody. I read an article on google and have been shooing her off the next as often as I can. sometimes she is sitting on another hens egg, sometimes there is no egg under her. Any suggestions as to how I can break her of this? She hasn't laid an egg for over two weeks.

 

[nuthatched]

Put you Maran in cage that has a wire bitting so air can get to her belly, give her frozen golf balls to set on , or ( old method) give her a dip in cold water.
You need to cool her off to stop the hormones that cause broodiness.

 

[turkey girl 0964]

Put you Maran in cage that has a wire bitting so air can get to her belly, give her frozen golf balls to set on , or ( old method) give her a dip in cold water.
You need to cool her off to stop the hormones that cause broodiness.

X2 shooing her off the nest is most likely not going to work. She will keep coming back to it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Broody jail: Put her in an isolation cage with some food and water, in sight of the others (in the coop if it's not too hot or in/near the run is ideal). A wire cage elevated to air flow under her would be the best option, however I've used everything from a brooder to a dog exercise pen.

Keep her in the cage around the clock for about 2 days. At that time, if she's shows fewer signs of broodiness (puffing up, flattening down and growling, tik tik tik noise) you can let her out to test her. If she runs back to the nest at any point (usually they don't do it immediately, but maybe after 15 minutes, maybe an hour) then she's not yet sufficiently broken and needs to go back to the cage for another 24 hours. Then let her out and test her again. Repeat until she's no longer going to the nest box.

IF the isolation cage is not safe for overnight stay (i.e. sits outside the run) then put her on the roost at night, and retrieve her from the nest box the next morning and put her back in the cage. It may take a little longer this way but better than letting a predator get to her.

 

[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 (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.