Hens Laying on Broody Hen, How Do I Stop Them?

[joeyschicks]

I have a hen who decided to brood her clutch of eggs for the first time, only problem is that the other layers keep laying eggs in her nest so we are no longer getting fresh eggs.
How do I stop the other hens from laying in her nest on top of her, we have other nesting boxes available but they want to lay with her. She has been incubating for about a week now, and keeps getting new eggs in there from the other hens.

 

[okiehen]

Move the broody hen to a place of her own.
I move all my broody to a dog pet taxi as the nest with a wire dog crate for food water poop and to stretch her legs.

 

[new-roo]

Put up something to keep the others out, if she is broody you only need to let her off the nest couple times a day, take down the fence/divider and she will get off nest if she wants, if she doesnt put it back up and try again later.

OR seperate her so rest of flock can not get to her, put her in a dogcrate/ another section of coop.

 

[AnconaDuck]

We move our broodys to a separate house with her own nest and fence!

 

[vfem]

I just mark the eggs I KNOW she's supposed to be sitting on. When the others lay around her... or she gets off to steal an egg from them laying somewhere else (they do that too) I take out all the ones in the nest with no "x" marked on them. I collect everyday so I know what I take away from her is fresh.

 

[Mrs.Puff]

yeah, You gotta move that broody. Do it at night, it's way easier when she can't see. I had a broody in the coop and another hen tried to get in with her, and they busted an egg. Total mess, needless to say.

 

[peaceful]

you can try marking the eggs she is on so that you only remove the fresh eggs but then it may mess up her hatch in terms of her turning the eggs. Also my hen got kicked off her eggs by other hens who were excited about her eggs etc. I definitely recommend moving her to her own place. Or protecting that nesting box so no one else can get in. (although once the chicks come you will need a separate place anyway because the other hens will attack and kill young chicks.)
I used a wire dog kennel with fabric draped over it to give her a sense of shelter and moved her in there at night. Worked great.

 

[Shared Acres]

Either move her or mark all the eggs she's keeping so you'll know which ones are fresh.