Bunch of broody girls!!

[Chickiepoo87]

I have never seen so many broody hens and I’m at a loss on what to do? Literally more than half my flock in both coops have been sitting. They act paralyzed when I take them out of the coop. I know how I handled this in the past, I always took them out and put them somewhere they can’t lay on eggs or nest, however, I have approximately 20 or more girls acting crazy right now. I wish I could just give them all babies lol I actually admire their dedication. Any advice? Is it normal for all these hens to do this at once? I’ve had chickens for 2 years and this is the most extreme I’ve seen thus far

 

[chickenlittle21]

I would by 1 chick for each broody

 

[50-45-1]

i used to have a chicken tractor that i would put broodys in untill they broke.
It was open to the ground of course with no dark cozy spots. Only roosts and one roofed section for optional rain or overnight roosting. It worked great.
i remember getting fed up with so many broodys once, i pulled about 6 out one day and put them in there. Well they were not happy, and commenced to grouch at each other and loudly voiced there displeasure....for about 2 days. 3rd day i let them out and they were over it and went about regular chicken buisiness.
I recomend it.
My homemade tractor is since rotted away and the materials repourposed, but it was about 4 ft by 10 ft. It was 4 ft tall with an open bottomed enclosed section with roosts.
I hope you can break them.
Just out of curiosity, what breeds are your broodys?

 

[rosemarythyme]

I would by 1 chick for each broody

Oh my goodness that could be a nightmare... a bunch of cranky moms not wanting their precious little child to play with the next door neighbor's kid, some chicks possibly getting passed around to 2 moms, etc. x 20.

 

[chickenlittle21]

Oh my goodness that could be a nightmare... a bunch of cranky moms not wanting their precious little child to play with the next door neighbor's kid, some chicks possibly getting passed around to 2 moms, etc. x 20.

I think it would be a fun thing to do. Or maybe @Chickiepoo87 could break 3/4 of the hens and give a few chicks to the rest of the broodies.

 

[starri33]

I don't feel so bad now, out of a flock of 45, I have 7 currently sitting and a 8th who's hatched one.. I've got another who hissed at me today and she was sitting on someone elses eggs, I think she goes to broody prison, if she's there when I go back out tonight.. I've got 31 eggs between all of the ones I have at the moment. My prison is a medium wire dog crate with hardware cloth on the bottom sitting on 2 x 4's keeps it 2 inches off the ground for circulation.. my egg collection has gone from 30 +/- a day to 18 this morning..lol, I keep looking for stashes.

 

[Galeann]

I don't allow broody hens to stop me from collecting eggs. The nests in my coop are plastic stackable cubes. They are not stacked. They are placed beside each other in the nest box area. I always wear insulated work gloves when I take care of my chickens and collect eggs so I can collect eggs safely without a broody hen hurting me with her peck. If a hen is very stubborn, I go outside , lift the door over the nesting area and dump the hen(s) out of the nest. After a few days of being dumped out of their nests, they are broken from being broody.

 

[starri33]

I don't allow broody hens to stop me from collecting eggs. The nests in my coop are plastic stackable cubes. They are not stacked. They are placed beside each other in the nest box area. I always wear insulated work gloves when I take care of my chickens and collect eggs so I can collect eggs safely without a broody hen hurting me with her peck. If a hen is very stubborn, I go outside , lift the door over the nesting area and dump the hen(s) out of the nest. After a few days of being dumped out of their nests, they are broken from being broody.

mine will hiss at me and make a fake attempt to peck me, but beyond fussing their not to big of a issue, taking them and putting them in broody prison has worked, keeps them out of the nest box, I will leave them in there a couple of hours, let them loose, if they head back for the nest, back in the prison they go.. last one I had only took about 6 hours to convince she was done.