She's got that dreamy, in-her-own world look that marks a broody hen. Have fun!
As several other folks have observed, you can't block her off, but DO NOT try to leave her in the coop with the other hens, unless you want to stand watch 24 hours a day. What happens is that when she gets off the nest for a few minutes each day, there is a good chance that one of the other hens will go sit on her clutch. Then the broody hen gets disoriented and goes and sits somewhere else. Then when the other hen leaves the clutch, the eggs will get too cool and die. That exact scenario occurred with me the very first time I had a
broody hen. The eggs were developing beautifully, but one day I came home and found her in the wrong nest box. The day had been chilly and about a week's worth of her time went up in smoke. Luckily I was able to move her with a new set of eggs and she made it through. But it can be hard on a hen to sit for 28 or 29 days and some will give up before that time.
I can tell you of a very simple separate nesting arrangement which has worked well for me. Buy a card-table type table (the kind with folding legs) -- I bought mine at
WalMart. Set it up inverted with the table part on the bottom. Use Cardboard to completely make a "box" around the legs, using sturdy Ductape or packing tape. You can place a nest box within that. That will give her privacy and enough room to get out and drink and eat and pass waste each day. With my bantams, they've been perfectly content in about that size box for even several weeks after the chicks hatch. It might get a little claustrophobic for a big hen with a big clutch, but can still work until the chicks hatch and you have something more permanent arranged,
Good luck!
