If you aren't going to let her hatch eggs, you will need to break her. She could sit there indefinitely. Its not good for her, she will get skinny and lose muscle tone. Just taking her eggs is not going to break her.
Is my hen broody?????
- Thread starter corky569
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Welcome to BYC!
If she's laying, she's probably not broody.
Have you tried pulling her off the nest...what does she do?
Is she staying on the nest all night as well as most the day?
If she is in fact broody, you'll have to decide how to deal with it.
You'll need to decide if you want her to hatch out some chicks, and how you will 'manage' it.
Do you have, or can you get, some fertile eggs?
Do you have the space needed? She may need to be separated by wire from the rest of the flock.
Do you have a plan on what to do with the inevitable males? Rehome, butcher, keep in separate 'bachelor pad'?
If you decide to let her hatch out some fertile eggs, this is a great thread for reference and to ask questions.
It a long one but just start reading the first few pages, then browse thru some more at random.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/496101/broody-hen-thread
If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My first experience went 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 and I would feed her some crumble a couple times a day.
I let her out a couple times a day(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.
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Then you have to decide to either give her eggs or chicks or break her. Wire bottom crate, like a dog crate, NO bedding in it and leave it in the coop if you can so you don't have to reintroduce her to the flock after. Up off the floor so that air can get to her underside. Gotta cool down her underside. Put some food and water in there and leave her be for a few days. After a few days, let her out, if she runs back to the nest then she needs to go back in the cage for a few more days. If she doesn't try to get back in the nest, she may be over it, but watch her.
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Only problem with that is she may try to run off and make a nest somewhere, She may lay in the nest instead of roosting at night, and the other girls may start picking on her because she is acting weird.
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We've locked her out of the coop in the daytime, she's been sitting in the nest all night. Tonight I blocked access to the nesting boxes, and the last straw was when she attacked everyone that tried to go to bed tonight. She's in the dog kennel now, off the ground, one roost. I hope this works. SHE IS PISSED!
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