First time with a broodie hen. New to having chickens. We do not have a rooster, so there is no need to incubate any eggs. I have 2 stages of layers. 5 of the hens have been laying for about 4 months now, any I have 4 more that are about to, or have just started laying. Over the past week or so one of the older hens has been sitting on all of the eggs, and seems to kick the newer laying hens out of the coop. This results in a random egg being laid in the run. I have been able to shoo the broodie hen out of the nest boxes the past couple of days (not sure if I should do that or not), but today she would not have it. Now over the last few days an additional sister hen of hers is also sitting in the next box with her. I am generally able to get her out after a couple of tries but not the original hen. I am not sure what to do, but I also do not want the other hens laying eggs in the run where they could get broken and then turn my flock into egg-eaters. I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thank you!!
A side note - we were given a very user-unfriendly coop and are in the process of building a new one where the nest boxes will be better separated from the general coop area. Hopefully that will help.
A side note - we were given a very user-unfriendly coop and are in the process of building a new one where the nest boxes will be better separated from the general coop area. Hopefully that will help.