how do I stop a hen from being broody?

jkraiderfan

In the Brooder
12 Years
May 12, 2007
43
0
32
sebastopol
I've got a hen that has been broody for about 6 or 7 weeks. She was a wild chicken my brother found on his delivery route around 3 am one morning in the middle of the road during winter. So I took her in. She didn't lay an egg until late march.The best I can tell she is a bantam and about 12-18 months old. I've had chickens for 6 years now this the first time I've had one go broody. So I gave her some fertile eggs. She hatched them but the weather has been so weird and cold and foggy I decided to put them in the brooder to grow instead of leaving the peeps with her, not mention the box she has been sitting in is about 18 inches off the floor I didn't know how safe that was for the peeps. What if one fell out? Anyway she has been sitting in the same box now for two weeks after they hatched. She comes out to eat and drink once a day. So the last two days I've been taking her out and letting her free range but after about 20-30 minutes she finds her way back to the box. I even took her today and put her in an outdoor pen that is usually reserved for the roo but she jumped the fence and made her way back to the box. So should I keep trying to put her out everyday until she gets it? Or clip her wing so she can't fly out of the pen? The main coop doesn't have any fertile eggs and I collect them every night. The roo and his hens free range, my layers are in their own pen. She doesn't seem to like being with the layers (she flies out of their pen also the fence is ten feet high!) The problem with letting her free range is the barn cats, she is so small the cats stalk her I can't be here 24/7 to make sure they don't get her. Any thoughts are welcome thank you.
 
Hi jkraiderfan,

I woudl put a piece of wood or something to block the nestbox so she can't get in it. After about a day or 2, maybe 3 she should be back to normal. I had to close my hen house in order to get my broody back to her old self. I had 2 broody hens this year which is a first. That was it...... anyway, the eggs that I placed under her didn't hatch. She was a fiesty bird but blocking her from the box worked. Maybe it will work for you.
 
Good idea thank-you.actually the box has a wood plank that folds up they use it as a perch but it big enough to block the nesting box.......duh! I always wondered why it was built that way. that should work.
 
Ice pack(s) underneath her, or a wire bottom cage...a couple of ideas that worked for me
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