Broody in my garage!

[lkamano]

Need advice! I have a 1 1/2 yr old barrded rock hen that I have had for 3 months. She has been pretty sweet, until a few days ago. Our flock before she came was just two male guineas and one ameraucana rooster, all 3 years old. (Not the plan to have all boys, but last year we had a fox wipe out all our female guineas).
The hen, after her 2 1/2 weeks of living in a dog crate in the coop, has been free ranging with the boys and doing great. 6 eggs a week bird.....and though she has a very nice nesting box in the coop, she has preferred to come into our garage to lay her eggs...on my husband's tool bench. Not a problem until a few days ago when she started being a broody hen! As soon as the flock is let out in the morning, she runs up to the garage and sits on the tool bench, puffing up and screeching at anyone who gets too close. She has not laid an egg for 3 days either. She doesn't even get up to eat or drink or go back to the coop at night. We have to pick her up (which she allows) and carry her back. Then she puffs up and yells at the rooster, who just a few days ago she got along with.
We did just aquire a new rir hen a couple weeks ago from a family member who owns a rental property where the bird was left when the tenant moved out
But we JUST let her out of the "introduction crate" two days ago, the day after our barred rock decided to live a broody garage life.
How to a break a hen from laying on NO eggs, acting broody in my garage, to going back to being her normal free range during the day, sleep in the coop at night, happy self???

 

[ShellyBear]

Don't let her get in the garage and maybe move the bench where her nest is. Collect eggs before she can get to them.

 

[aart]

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience went like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop and I would feed her some crumble a couple times a day.

I let her out a couple times a day(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two.
Water nipple bottle added after pic was taken.

 

[lkamano]

Ok, back to the crate for her then! Thanks