broody hens won't give up

[Mini Coop]

I have 3 hens who have turned extremely broody and have been setting forever. The other hens keep laying more eggs there so nothing is hatching.

What should I do the convince them to give up? The initial eggs might not have been fertile because I had just gotten a new rooster who hadn't established himself yet.

 

[Barnyard]

First off, you need to mark the eggs that they are sitting on now, and remove the ones that are not marked everyday. Not sure how tame your chickens are but you may want to mark them at night. I have 2 broody hens and the other hens love to lay in the same nest boxes as the broody's. That is why I mark them with a crayon.
As far as breaking a broody, well it has been done before but it is difficult. You need to put her in a cage by her slef with just food and water nothing else and leave her there for a couple of day's. Try not to take her away from the flock though. If you have a wire dog crate or something to that effact will do well. GOODLUCK!!

 

[Mini Coop]

We did that at first (mark the eggs), but things have gotten away from us, then we went away for a week and now there are tons of eggs there. They've been setting for over two months now, taking occasional breaks.

I'm thinking of taking all the eggs away, definately nothing will hatch.

 

[Barnyard]

Have you tried to candle any of them?

 

[Mini Coop]

No. I've never candled any eggs. Usually I don't have broody chickens over the years, but now I have 3! One of them is a banty, so I'm not surprised, but the others are a road island red and a bufforffington

 

[15chickens]

Hey, something my mom told me that her mom did was to get some new chicks and at night, while the your hens are sleeping, replace the eggs with the new chicks. They will start laying again and they will have some chicks to raise.

 

[Mini Coop]

Quote:
Interesting! I hadnt heard that one.

 

[Barnyard]

You could do the chick thing. Weither it works or not is a different story. I have done that 2 times with my broodies. 1 time it worked, 1 time it didn't. I have a RIR hen that adopted 2 little cochin chicks and I tried to give the other hen 2 cochin chicks and she wouldn't take them, so I just gave them to the hen with the 2 chicks and she took them. So she raised all 4.
I do have to tell you that the RIR hens I have are the ones who are broody now and have been broody for the last 3 months, lol.

I would try and candle the eggs if possible, if you want chicks that is. Candling is not hard. It is better to do it a night or take them to a dark room.