Broody hens sit on each other

[BabyGirlChix]

I've had one broody hen (Dottie Delaware) for a couple of weeks, and now Juney Java is broody as well and they sit on each other in one of the nesting boxes (Juney is HUGE and Dottie is not small). They don't much like it when I force them out but we've no rooster and we sell the eggs so was hoping they'd give up if I annoyed them enough. Egg production is down - was getting 6-8/day from 8 hens all winter (they are just now 1.5 years old) and now 2-4 eggs/day - I've only got the two nesting boxes and don't know if they chase the other hens out. They free range + crumble and sratch mix.

Putting fertile eggs under them is not an option - any other ideas? Will they ever stop this behavior?

 

[Pinky]

Broody hens are hard to break. Some people put them in wire bottom cages to get the hens to stop. I have to keep making them get up off their nest and hope they get the point and take a break for a while. I still ended up with over 25 chicks so far, all hatched by broody hens

 

[donrae]

Even if they don't let the other hens in the nest box, that wouldn't be preventing the other hens from laying. They'd just lay somewhere else, like in a corner. Or maybe the middle of the run, that seems popular here

Sometimes it takes some drastic measures to break a broody. They'll usually come out of it themselves if no babies hatch, but it can take six weeks or more. Look around on here to see what else folks have done to break a broody--wire bottom cage, ice packs in the nest box, etc.

 

[galanie]

I have one that I can break simply by taking up the nest box for a few days. They then lay in a different spot but it's not comfortable I guess cause in 3 days she'll be broke. Then I have two more that have to be put in a wire bottom cage for 3-4 days to break. I hate to do that to them but it's not really cruel, just makes it so they can't free range a few days.

Another way is a cold bath on the belly for 5 min every few hours, then the ice pack mentioned... whole idea being to keep their undersides cool till they get over it.