Needing answers

[Waddell85]

I have 10 hens. I was getting 8-10 eggs a day and have had a few hens try sitting and simply removed them from the nest a few times and that stopped it. But right now I have one who has been sitting for nearly 3 weeks and removing her has no effect. She is losing her feathers on her breast and I'm worried she isn't eating. The nest is empty but she continues to sit. Also , aince she has been sitting my other hens have not been laying well. I now only get 1-4 eggs a day. Any ideas on what is going on with my other hens and how to get the sitting hen to STOP sitting?? Also, we have 3 nests and they will now only lay in one. Previously they used all 3.

 

[nurse_turtle]

When a hen goes broody, it can change the dynamic of a flock. The other hens can get "confused". By her hogging the nest, the other hens aren't sure what to do since the best spot to lay an egg is taken. I've never had to break a broody before, but some folks say the best thing to do is remove her to a wire floored cage until she changes her mind. If you have any fertile eggs, give her a couple to hatch and when they hatch, she will raise them for several weeks to months before going broody again.

 

[Waddell85]

Going on 4 weeks of sitting now. :/

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I've never intentionally broken a broody, but if I did want to I think I'd use the ice cube method since it would be easy to slip her a nest full of cubes...and I wouldn't have to build anything.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

another thing to check, can the other hens be laying somewhere else? had a similar thing and thought they had quit laying, but they'd made another nest .

 

[Puddin Fluff]

We had one go broody and were getting fertile eggs in a few weeks so we slipped a few to her. Our other girls didn't mind her sitting, and one even would give her a break and sit for her while she ran around the yard a while. She hatched out 1 of the 4 we gave her and after they hit the ground, we did have to move them to a different pen as a couple of the girls did not like the fluffy new addition. At 5 weeks we seperated her and chick as we needed the pen for the other babies, and now she has almost re-established herself in the flock.

She also went into a molt right after the hatch so she is not laying yet. If she goes broody again we will try removing her from the nest and if that doesn't work, the wire cage as we are not planning a hatch for some time.

 

[theoldchick]

My one broody ( I have four) has been setting for 4 1/2 weeks. Now, she's out and about with the other gals. I have one broody who moves from nest to nest every day. I know she's broody because the fluffs at me when I reach under her for eggs. She even set on a digital timer my husband left in a nest box!

I leave broodies alone.

 

[Waddell85]

Thats funny she used to change between nests too but now it's the same. The chickens are pinned up so they can't be laying anywhere else that I haven't already checked. But I have had that happen when we used to let them free range. I should probably start another thread for this but I also have had problems with eggs with no shell. So we bought oyster shell and it's been fine since then but last night there was another egg with no shell in the nest. :/ and yes my sitting hen also fluffs up at us real big and kinda growls when we go in the coop

 

[Puddin Fluff]

I am assuming you already have them on layer feed as well as the oyster shells. Something we do that I read on another thread a long time ago is to bake (to dry out) the egg shells we use in the kitchen. After they are baked and dried, we crumble them up and feed them back to the chickens. They think it is a treat and they are recycling their calcium.