I have had chickens for about 4 years and never had one go broody until now. I have 9 hens ranging from 9 months to 4 years. No roosters. About a week ago, one of the youngest (Sussex) wanted to sleep in a nest box. I’ve had chickens try this before and my way of breaking the habit is to block the entrance to the nest boxes late in the afternoon and open them again the next morning – this is what I did. The next day I noticed that the same chicken spent a long time in the nest box, sitting on an egg that she laid that day (she is the only one who lays that color egg) and a plastic egg. Since then, she and my Welsummer (also one of the youngest) have been sitting in the nest box whenever they can. Neither has laid an egg since that second day. My strategy is to (1) remove them from the nest boxes whenever I can, (2) collect eggs as often as possible, and (3) block the nest boxes at the end of the day and during the night. Any other suggestions for stopping broodiness? I don’t want to put them in a cage if I don’t have to. Even if I had access to fertile eggs, I don’t really want to hatch eggs at this time. Thanks in advance.