I have a hen who is about a year old who went broody last week. She comes out for a bit early in the morning to eat and forage. I also take her out of the nest and put her in the yard each afternoon to see if she'll give it up, but she goes back to the nest in less than ten minutes. So far I haven't really made any formal efforts to break her of it. Do I need to actually start keeping her away from the nest more or is it okay to just let her ride it out?
It does depend a little bit on the hen herself (I've had a few that have broken themselves up without much intervention from me, but that is the exception rather than the rule), but generally once they go broody they're not going to stop until chicks hatch. So you either have to break her up, or give her some eggs to hatch. Me, I try never to waste a broody. I give her eggs to hatch out, even if it's just a few. I have two broodies on eggs right now.
I also use my broodies and treasure them, but if you don't need or want chicks right now, I'd try to break her. Brooding is stressful on their bodies and the sooner you break her the sooner she'll start laying again, which to me is the big point of having chickens.
