Stubborn and broody......?

[Buffygirl]

I have a buff orpington who is obsessively broody!
I want her to stop.

I have tried everything. I left her alone for a month to see if she would get the idea when no eggs hatched, put her in a beddingless nest, put her on an ice pack, picked her out of the nesting box and put her outside 3 times a day..... EVERYTHING!!!! Its been almost 5 months now and she still goes back to that nest.

Does anybody know what I could do?
The only things I can't do are 1. take her completely away from the flock(my birds are mean! But I can put her in a pen inside the run.) and 2. put her in a pen with no box at all(she goes in the corner and makes a comfy spot with leaves).
I sure hope I don't need to live with a broody buff forever!

Thanks in advance​

 

[Happy Chooks]

You can do the following:

Get an all wire crate and put her in it WITHOUT any bedding. Give her food/water and put it up on cinder blocks to allow air flow underneath her. Several days to a week should do it.

OR..............................

get a couple day old chicks for her and slip them under her at night.

 

[Buffygirl]

I guess I should have said this before.......

4 months ago we got some day old chicks. When we tried to slip them under her she sat up and tried to kill them.

That didn't go too well.......
Is my chicken brain-dead?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Are you sure she wasn't trying to peck you instead of the chicks? Some hens go into defense mode more than others. I have had issues slipping chicks under a broody hen in the daytime, but I removed them and put them back under in the dark and all went well.

Your hen sure is a strange broody.

 

[Buffygirl]

I was standing way back when she realized there was something living under her. That's when she turned into a cobra and went for the chicks.

I guess if the wire bottom box doesn't work then she is just permanently broody? I thought she would stop when she molted but she's been molting for 3 weeks now!

 

[Happy Chooks]

How long was she broody for when you gave her the chicks? Any chance you could get fertile eggs for her to hatch?

 

[Buffygirl]

When I gave her the chicks she had been broody for about a month. We were roosterless for a while but by next spring our rooster will be big enough that we will be getting some fertile eggs! Since Her Royal Highness will most likely be broody still by then I might be able to let her have a chick...

 

[Happy Chooks]

She's a difficult broody for sure. Sounds like it's time to try breaking her via the wire crate.

 

[NCgirl21]

Did you ever break the stubborn broody? What did you do? I'm going through the same thing, not yet at two months yet, but my RIR is being very stubborn even while in the wire crate.

 

[Buffygirl]

I never did break the habit. I have pretty much just given up. She goes broody for an abnormally long time every spring and fall. But this year, she decided to try committing suicide by cooking herself when she brooded the whole summer, including through a heat wave where temperatures went over 110. As much as she tried to cook herself, I kept her alive by coming out in the hottest part of the day to poke her out of the box and dunk her in cold water. She was so obsessive, she would go right back in the box soaking wet! At that point I just threw my hands up in the air and said "A broody hen will be a broody hen, and there's nothing I can do about it!" Much to everybody's surprise, she did not cook herself, and was not broody for a whopping TWO WEEKS before she decided to go back to being a broody brat.

Sometimes I tell myself that if I oven baked that hen, she would still find a way to go back to that nest.:cd