Half of my flock is dangerously broody

[MyaGoodness]

Half of my flock is dangerously broody!
I have 23 layers with 2 roos free ranging. About half of the girls sit in 5 nest boxes on top of each other, side-by-side, or wait just outside the box just in case the other decides to go drink or something. Some of these girls have bloody combs from fights. The fights can be as bad as the roosters fighting. Some of these girls’ combs are very pale, almost grey because they haven’t eaten for a long time. I’ve moved them to dog crates, and to another coop but there are too many to be able to break this broodiness. A few chicks have hatched during this time but they are killed as soon as they hatch. I have a hard time getting enough eggs to fill my customers’ orders. I’m going crazy and so frustrated that I’m about to quit the whole thing! In the past, three hens have successfully hatched and raised chicks. One hid herself and eggs somewhere and produced 4; 2 drowned in the drinking water. Another had 6 but abandoned them at 2 weeks. They survived and treat me like mom. My first hen mama had 3 females that are now part of the layers. Those situations were mostly satisfying but now is no where close to satisfactory! Any suggestions?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Keep at breaking them. It can take 3-7 days to do so. The sooner you start the sooner they break and return to laying. Don't hatch chicks unless you can separate out a single hen, and keep her separated until the chicks are at least 2 weeks.

Hens will stay broody until they are depleted. It will take much longer to return to laying, and some may have troubles recovering.

If you are wanting hens that lay better you might want to switch to some of the hybrid layer breeds that don't go broody.

 

[LaFleche]

This year almost all of my 28 hens have gone broody several times and a few still are while other three are taking care of their respective chicks.

I have an aviary with a converted dog house inside that I use to break the broodiness. During the day they all run loose acting crazy in the aviary, but at night I open up the dog house to keep them safe. In the morning I herd them out of the dog house and so on for several days/nights.
If it is getting too tight (more than 8 at the same time), I just let them forage freely in our garden til dusk. The important thing is to keep them away from the nest boxes and busy, so they cannot hunker down somewhere else to keep on brooding the bare ground.

Another thing is to move the nest boxes around or even mount them on the wall if they are used to them sitting on the floor or vice versa, change the bedding to something they are not used to and let as much light into the coop as possible.