Is it summer where you are? Please fill out your profile with location so we don't have to guess.
You are the flock manager. You make the decisions where you wish your hens to lay their eggs. You decide if you wish a hen to remain broody and sit on eggs. Once these decisions are made, you will follow through by encouraging your hens to use the nest boxes by cooping them up for a few days, restricting their movements so they will start laying in a nest box.
If a hen goes broody and you don't want chicks to hatch from the eggs she's sitting on, use an open mesh bottom cage to keep her from going to the nest. Air circulating under the broody will lower her body temp, counter the hormones, and within three days she will no longer be broody. To test for continuing broodiness, let her out and if she heads right for a nest box, you need to keep her in the cage for another day.
You are the flock manager. You make the decisions where you wish your hens to lay their eggs. You decide if you wish a hen to remain broody and sit on eggs. Once these decisions are made, you will follow through by encouraging your hens to use the nest boxes by cooping them up for a few days, restricting their movements so they will start laying in a nest box.
If a hen goes broody and you don't want chicks to hatch from the eggs she's sitting on, use an open mesh bottom cage to keep her from going to the nest. Air circulating under the broody will lower her body temp, counter the hormones, and within three days she will no longer be broody. To test for continuing broodiness, let her out and if she heads right for a nest box, you need to keep her in the cage for another day.
