Chicken broody in the winter

[Stedman]

I have a Orpington that this is her first winter and she has become broody. This is also my first winter with chickens so any suggestions will be appreciated on how to break this. I have tried removing her and blocking access but I am not gonna be able to do this consistently enough, and I’m sure it’s far to cold and snowy to cool her off in water or frozen water bottles in the nest. Thanks for any suggestions

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It depends on your climate. Where are you located?
I've had broodies successfully raise chicks in very cold weather.
The tried and true method for breaking setting hens is an elevated wire bottom cage to let cold air reach their underside.
This method breaks the hormone cycle and has been used for perhaps thousands of years.
We used to have several cages hanging from the ceiling of the hen house.

 

[aart]

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 with fed and water

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.

Feed and water added after pic was taken.

 

[Stedman]

It depends on your climate. Where are you located?
I've had broodies successfully raise chicks in very cold weather.
The tried and true method for breaking setting hens is an elevated wire bottom cage to let cold air reach their underside.
This method breaks the hormone cycle and has been used for perhaps thousands of years.
We used to have several cages hanging from the ceiling of the hen house.

Massachusetts but no rooster

 

[theoldchick]

She is a bit confused, isn't she? The only problem with wire bottom cages during the winter is you may risk frostbite on the toes. If you can't consistent with blocking the access to the nest box, bring her in the house and make her a house chicken until she decides to be non-broody. Thing is, though, you will then have to reintroduce her to the flock. You can try a dog carrier as suggested and see how that works for you. I let my broody gals go through their 21 day cycle before getting serious about breaking them. But I don't have the winters that you have.

 

[R1V3R20NG]

Roasted Marshmallow went broody about a month after she started laying, which just so happened to be smack dab in the middle of winter. We don't have wire cages so we just put her on the highest indoor coop perch possible at night and kicked her periodically throughout the day. After she was done she went broody a month later, and then a month later after that, the only thing that stopped her from going broody throughout the summer and autumn and right now is that she is a really, really slow molter.