Broody: what to do?

[ChucktheChick]

My dark Cornish hen, Hawk, is broody! I am already incubating eggs, so I don't want her to be broody. She is in the nest boxes ALLLLLLLL THE TIME!!!!!! Eggs or not! I tried moving her in her own pen, but then she snapped out of the broodiness! So I put her back in with the others and guess what?!?! BACK TO BROODY!!! Arg! What's her problem! I tried putting her into a chicken tractor with some eggs in the regular coop (which is a horse stall with chicken wire at the top) so she could see the other chickens, but that doesn't work! She freaks out! I have shut the lights off in my barn, put her on the roost, shut the door and ran outside hoping she would be knocked out of the broodiness but the next morning, KABAM! Back on eggs. What can I do to snap her out of being broody? Thanks everyone, she's giving me a scare, that naughty Hawk!

 

[ChucktheChick]

Anybody!?

 

[Elke Beck]

A determined broody can be hard to fix. What about giving her some golfballs to set on until the eggs in your incubator are ready to hatch, then move a couple of the eggs under her to finish hatching.

 

[ChucktheChick]

Yes, that may work but the other chickens sit on too of her to lay their eggs, and I don't have another coop for her. If she's in another coop, though, she snaps out of her broodiness. Is this normal?

 

[Elke Beck]

Sounds pretty normal to me. I have my broody in a dog crate with a covered kitty litterbox for her to set in. I usually put her in a couple of days before I want to put eggs under her, and she may fuss a bit, but she gets right back to being broody when there is nothing else to do and a nest full of golf balls just begging to be sat on. Your hen may be different, tho.