? Broody

[Mheitor]

I have a hen about 9 months old. And has been sitting on the nest non stop. The other hens have been sitting on top of her to lay ( even though I have more than one nest with fake eggs, they all insist on laying in the same nest). Well we have no roosters so it been a struggle to getvthe eggs out from under her. Is she to young to be broody? And what can I do to help break her. I'm not interested in letting her sit on fertilized eggs. Don't want to have to deal with more chicken than I have. Thanks in advance

 

[BYCforlife]

That is possible she is broody, but of course the eggs would not hatch without a rooster.

I don't think she is too young.

Is she sitting with her head stuffed in a corner? Se could possibly be terrified of the other chickens. is she being pecked?

 

[aart]

Is she staying on nest all night too?

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.

 

[Mheitor]

Thank you. However I don't have a dog cage? But yes she's in there all day and all night. I kicked her out this afternoon she ran around squawking ate a little I went back in the house after about 20 minutes and I didn't see her around about 5 min so I checked and back on the nest. Even though I don't want her to hatch chicks thinking about getting a couple of fertilized eggs for her. But again I don't want to have to do this all the time. And I hear that one broody chicken can lead to other broody chickens

 

[aart]

Thank you. However I don't have a dog cage? But yes she's in there all day and all night. I kicked her out this afternoon she ran around squawking ate a little I went back in the house after about 20 minutes and I didn't see her around about 5 min so I checked and back on the nest. Even though I don't want her to hatch chicks thinking about getting a couple of fertilized eggs for her. But again I don't want to have to do this all the time. And I hear that one broody chicken can lead to other broody chickens

A small fold-able wire dog crate is an invaluable tool for a chicken keeper........might be a good investment.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/foldable-wire-dog-crates-a-good-tool-for-every-chickeneer

 

[susiescott]

Well I am glad Im not the only one who has this problem! I thought it was happening because we have a brooder box on the property and maybe the hen smelled the babies on me etc. She refused to get off the plastic eggs, but she was easy enough to move around to get the eggs out from under her. I would make her get out and drink and eat if not she would never come out. She began getting hostile towards the other hens so I finally removed the plastic eggs because she wasnt allowing the hens to lay anywhere, thinking she would stop acting this way. Nope... I dont have a dog cage but got to where for a few days I would not let her back into the hen house. I was going to post here to ask if this was a normal thing, I read really old posts about the hen getting aggressive when you approach but she just sits there with her butt looking at you. We had to do some work in there, with power tools right next to her and she just watched, I imagined her thinking "I was here first, give it your best shot"

 

[Mheitor]

Well since I didn't have the dog cage. I removed her from the next several times a day and removed the bedding from her favorite nesting box. ( the other girls reluctantly started using the other boxes) I removed the fake eggs as well and after the other girls layer their eggs I keep bags of frozen veggies in the nest. And after 4 days she is out and about again. Not laying yet but no longer broody!!

 

[aart]

Well since I didn't have the dog cage. I removed her from the next several times a day and removed the bedding from her favorite nesting box. ( the other girls reluctantly started using the other boxes) I removed the fake eggs as well and after the other girls layer their eggs I keep bags of frozen veggies in the nest. And after 4 days she is out and about again. Not laying yet but no longer broody!!

Great...that can work!