First broody hen

[genesis1981]

Hi all. I have my first broody hen and I’ve read all the advice as of this morning but I’m still not clear on something.
The temps are getting super high in MD this week and I don’t want her sitting in the egg box heating up all day and not hydrating. I have only one other hen who lays but I’m concerned about closing off my coop or even just the nesting box for fear of when the not broody needs to lay. But I feel closing the coop is best since it’s so dang hot.
My question is : if I close off the coop during the day will my other hen find a place to lay in the run? Is there danger of her keeping the egg in/ getting egg bound if I take this action to break the broody?
Many thanks for your advice.

 

[Painted Calls]

Instead of closing the entire coop, can you just put the broody into a wire cage?

 

[genesis1981]

I don’t have one sadly

 

[Painted Calls]

Check your local CL or make one with a couple 2x4s and some fence.

I just picked up two more dog crates for $40. I see them a lot for $20/$25.

She needs to be up off the ground so air can flow beneath her to cool her down.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Really good idea to have some sort of isolation unit, whether a wire crate, a rabbit hutch, etc. - something that's big and sturdy enough to comfortably keep a chicken in.

Closing off the coop/nests is never a good idea, you really don't want them to get in the habit of not laying in nest boxes, and the coop should always feel like a safe space for them to use.

 

[genesis1981]

Ok. The only thing I have is the GIANT dog crate we use as a chicken hospital. She hates being in there it really stresses her out. It doesn’t fit in or next to the run area. I’ll try to construct something as you guys suggest.
I mostly needed to know about cutting off the coop. Many articles suggest it but it didn’t quite make sense to me while the other hen hasn’t gone broody (thankfully).