Four months and chicken will not stop brooding!!

[brumby90]

I know there are similar threads to this but none of the answers work in my case.

Have a hen who has been sitting on nest for nearly four months now.

There are no chics etc and she has never had eggs under her. She is not laying.
She (with 12 others) have a very large coop that they can go in and out of 12 hours a day.
I take her out of the coop and lock her out for at least 7-8 hrs a day. She just circles the coop all that time trying to get back him. The moment I walk out or go to the door she races to me and straight into the coop and back to nest if she gets the chance.
Soon as I re-open the coop near dark she rushes straight back in to nest.

How the hell do I get her to stop..lol

 

[justin24]

Just give her some babies

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Broody buster....wire bottom cage, elevated off floor, no bedding....bird, food, water go in....wait these days, let her out, if she goes back to nest she goes back in cage for three more days.

 

[ChickenyChickeny]

if she has been brooding reliably for FOUR MONTHS... wow. i mean, i get that you don't want her too, but maybe just get her like 1 chick or 1 fertilized egg? then, she would probably stop... she would be a great hen momma if she has been trying to brood for four months!!

 

[21hens-incharge]

It is not normal or healthy for a bird to brood that long.
She needs to go in a broody breaker as ol Grey Mare said.

For her sake get a broody breaker set up.

 

[DiscoverwithDave]

I think the longer they are broody the harder to break, I have been some what lucky in that I have caught this behavior early and by just keeping her out for day, along with some coop modifications has worked. But it has returned 2 months later, but i took her out of nesting box quick when I saw her make the growl sound and kept her outside. You can watch my videos to see my initial inexperience. At first I had no clue what the behavior was or even how to pronounce the word. I feel I will be an expert on this behavior soon. I also agree that if nothing works then the only thing that may work is given her what she wants, some chicks.

Breaking Broody I

Broody for the Holidays, Breaking Broody II

Chickens are harder to raise than I thought. Good Luck!!!!!

 

[aart]

I think the longer they are broody the harder to break

Yes, it will probably take longer the longer they have been allowed to sit.

Broody buster....wire bottom cage, elevated off floor, no bedding....bird, food, water go in....wait these days, let her out, if she goes back to nest she goes back in cage for three more days.

Rinse and repeat until she stops.

Here's how I do it:
If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience goes about 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 or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(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. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.
Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[Redhead Rae]

As the others say, break her. She isn't eating or drinking properly while she is brooding and if she has been doing this for 4 months, she is bound to be close to starving. Some hens will brood themselves to death if they aren't given chicks or broken.

At this point, I probably wouldn't even give her chicks. Her body condition probably isn't good enough to keep the chicks warm.

 

[chickens really]

My Pal made a crate with a Roost only option for extra determined Hens. He let her out once a day to eat and drink. It worked in about 5 days.