Is this what broody looks like?

[ChickenHawk12]

I was already having problems.....chickens have never roosted, just found out that my coop doesn't have enough light and need a better roosting spot, but have been waiting for over a month for my father or husband to bust out the power tools and try and remedy it. Then, one of the hens stopped laying in the next boxes and started laying in the coop. Then, she started rolling the eggs that were already in the next boxes OUT of the next boxes and into her "nest" in the coop, resulting in multiple cracked eggs each day. Since yesterday, she has spent the entire day sitting on the eggs (AND golfballs that I put in there to try and get her to lay in the next again), and now today I've got a second hen in the nest box all day. In hindsight, I should have seen this coming, but she's gone broody, hasn't she? They both have, right?

So, what now? I can't even imagine how I would set up a separate area for her. It's still freezing here (in the 30's) and since yesterday we've had 40-60 mph winds with scattered power outages. I'm afraid to touch her because she looks like she would eat my children if I tried to mess with her. Do I go out there 20 times a day and take her out of the coop? Do I let her be and wait for her to snap out of it? Remove the golf balls? Put a frozen water bottle under her?

They are Buff Orpingtons, by the way.

 

[TimCline]

If you don't want her broody collect eggs more frequently. Once or twice a day. Take all eggs and remove golf balls. Run her off the nest when you do so. And buffs generally are not a good choice if you don't want broodys.

 

[mortie]

I suggest you stop waiting for someone else to bust out the power tools, and bust them out yourself! Girl power! No reason you can't handle tools I built my entire coop without help from my husband. No sweat!

That won't fix your broody situation, though.

When mine go broody, I just remove their access to the nest. I have a little pen I put them in for a few days. Usually takes mine about 3 days. It's cold here, I would probably still do it if it was getting down into the 30's, I have never had any problems with that. For me just keeping them out of the nest box for a few days is all it has ever taken. Good luck!

 

[Spartan22]

Agree w/ @mortie am no girl

, but also never used power tools (city boy). I design and built my coop/run without my wife's help

, you can do it with help of YouTube.
Re: your broody, you can kick her out of nest access and within 3-5 days she'll snap out of it. Agree w/ @TimCline regarding Orpingtons, they are frequent broodies.

 

[ChickenHawk12]

Agree w/ @mortie am no girl

, but also never used power tools (city boy). I design and built my coop/run without my wife's help

, you can do it with help of YouTube.
Re: your broody, you can kick her out of nest access and within 3-5 days she'll snap out of it. Agree w/ @TimCline regarding Orpingtons, they are frequent broodies.

LOL I usually will eventually YouTube something and do it myself, but I have terrible spatial skills and I think this one is out of my league

My big problem is that she isn't "brooding" in the nest box, she's doing it in the coop on the floor outside the nest box. She's been laying eggs there for a few weeks, and now I think that's why. I don't have a cage or pen or anything, so the only thing I could come up with was to pick them up out of the coop, put them in the run with the others, and shut the coop door so they couldn't get back in. Do you think that's sufficient? Might it work?

 

[ChickenHawk12]

I did know that BOs could get broody, but everywhere I looked, they were recommended for first-time chicken owners with children because they are fairly well-tempered, cold hardy for the northeast, and decent egg layers. It's just been a frustrating year and I haven't fixed the other problem and now we have this. I just feel like I don't "get" chickens. Thought I was gonna be better at this

 

[ChicKat]

Or get a couple of cardboard boxes and put them inside the coop and let her hatch eggs (if the eggs are fertile).....

If you have an old closet pole for hanging clothes on -- they are pretty easy to install as a roost. There are cups that hold both ends -- and you could
1. Measure the height you want on two walls
2. screw in the cups to secure the ends of the closet rod
3. saw closet rod pole to desired length

pretty easy roost - doesn't take a lot of skill IMO. Materials can be bought at Lowes..etc. We used too long screws that we had laying around and too thin walls...so put a wooden medallion on the outside to absorb the point of the screw and make it a bit sturdier. (The screw in the cup is to keep roost pole from rolling around)

Challenge the men to do a better one than this example....

PM me if you end up doing it and you want step-by-step and materials list.

 

[mortie]

I have done that, too. Where I take the broody and EXCLUDE her from the coop while leaving the others with access. That has worked for me in the past as well, little slower than sticking them in the little pen.

For background, I live in the city. I know a lot of folks on here live in the sticks and they have lots of room for pens and extra coops and space...I just don't. I built the little pen out of scrap wood and chicken wire. It's 2x6 and 2 feet tall. I just built that frame and stapled chicken wire to it. I have a couple chickensthat love to go broody so I use it a lot. Works great.

 

[ChickenHawk12]

I have done that, too. Where I take the broody and EXCLUDE her from the coop while leaving the others with access. That has worked for me in the past as well, little slower than sticking them in the little pen.

For background, I live in the city. I know a lot of folks on here live in the sticks and they have lots of room for pens and extra coops and space...I just don't. I built the little pen out of scrap wood and chicken wire. It's 2x6 and 2 feet tall. I just built that frame and stapled chicken wire to it. I have a couple chickensthat love to go broody so I use it a lot. Works great.

Thank you for the idea. I will look tomorrow in the shed and see if I have enough scrap wood. I know I have extra chicken wire and staples. Thanks!

 

[ChickenHawk12]

Or get a couple of cardboard boxes and put them inside the coop and let her hatch eggs (if the eggs are fertile).....

If you have an old closet pole for hanging clothes on -- they are pretty easy to install as a roost. There are cups that hold both ends -- and you could
1. Measure the height you want on two walls
2. screw in the cups to secure the ends of the closet rod
3. saw closet rod pole to desired length

pretty easy roost - doesn't take a lot of skill IMO. Materials can be bought at Lowes..etc. We used too long screws that we had laying around and too thin walls...so put a wooden medallion on the outside to absorb the point of the screw and make it a bit sturdier. (The screw in the cup is to keep roost pole from rolling around)

Challenge the men to do a better one than this example....

PM me if you end up doing it and you want step-by-step and materials list.

Thank you for the idea! One of the reasons I haven't jumped in and done this myself is that because of the design of my coop, I don't really have 2 opposing walls. We were holding back on getting chickens because we didn't have the extra $$ to buy materials to build a coop, and my father I think wanted us to take the plunge because he wanted the eggs. So he volunteered to fund and build the coop, but is stubborn and was not open to any input on the design. He found a free design online and just built it. There are some good things about it, but others are really causing us a problem. It is 3 feet up off the ground on posts, and rectangular. On the two long sides, one is the coop door, which is small, but the entire length of the other long wall is a drop down door and the only coop access for cleaning out, etc. The only thing I can hang a roost on is the 2x2 support post that runs vertically in the middle of the long side. Of the 2 short sides, one is a free wall adjacent to the coop door, but the other is the nesting boxes, which are bumped out from the rest of the coop and separated with a small wooden lip.

There are support beams higher up towards the a-frame roof, which we initially thought they could use as roosts, but it seems they are too close to the roof for them to be comfortable up there. I tried putting them on those 2x4s, but they always jump right off. I think that support post in the back cleanout doorway is my only option.

See? Spatial skills.....seriously lacking in that department.

Thank you so much for the idea though......it gives me something to work with and maybe I can figure it out!