I think I should have told this hen NO. advice please

[HeatherLynn]

ok so I have had one hen acting broody since I got her. I was warned that she had been acting that way with the old owner but I figured she would get over this eventually. Well heck she hasn't. I kept taking the eggs away and she just kept trying. Went to the point of building a nest under stuff in the yard and hiding her little eggs. So I found the eggs when I watched her carefully. She went regular to turn them or to lay. Anywho I set her up in a nestbox with her eggs and figured they probably won't hatch in this much heat but maybe she will chill out and stop attacking if she is busy in her nest. She is now up to 17 eggs. She is still turning them. She is still attacking. She has taken to hissing like a mommy goose. She attacks the rooster and anything else that gets near but she is not sitting on the eggs now. Just guarding them. What is going on. She sat like a little mad woman for over a month and now that she has eggs she turns and guards but does not sit. My fear is if I take these away babies might already be forming. Its bloody mid 90's out there with wicked high humidity so who knows how much the index is. What is this chicken doing and how do I make her stop and what do i do with all these eggs. Btw I think all the hens are laying in her nest now and she is tending the eggs. I am getting no eggs from the other hens for the last week since I moved her nest. Ideas?

Next time I will jsut be mean and take all her eggs.

 

[Chicky Mama]

Hey there, I've got some hens doing the same thing,chickens are just confusing at times.lol I've got a Silkie thats been sitting since March on something or nothing and others that have nothing and do what yours is. one will start them and then let them go cold towards the end that's frustrating to get them that far and have it die. Just collect asap so they dont start growing and give her some plastics, so u don't worry about started eggs dying and candle them first. I've moved my candaler to the shed for daily embryo checks when I collect & mark the one that are growing. I think alot of it is just the season and some birds are just super broody and then change their minds.lol I'll find bunches of extras eggs that my other girls gladly give to the broodies.

 

[silkiechick236]

When mine started to go broody, I set up a big wire dog kennel in the coop and isolated her. I gave her 2 eggs to sit and she hatched them out last night!

 

[sixinva]

what if you dont want chicks...take the eggs, and throw her in the kennel till she chills out?

 

[beachchickie]

Hold her in some cold water until she is wet on the underside and then put her in a wire cage. Do it in the afternoon and let her stay in the cage until the next afternoon. Repeat for 3 days and see what happens. It worked for me.Mine acted pretty much the same. She was so stubborn when I could not pick her for getting pecked I tried to push her off the nest with a flat stick. She just rolled, she would not stand up. Crazy chicken. She is all better now.