what do I do with this broody?

[MyBlackHen]

Hi there, this is my first year with chickens and I need some advice! My black Australorp appears to be broody - note: we don't have any roosters! She has been sitting in one nesting box for at least one whole day, maybe more. At first I thought that maybe she was sick or hurt ... however, I think she is okay. She is certainly feisty enough! She was nipping at me as I was trying to get a better look at her, and practically growling at me to leave her alone. I didn't pick her up but from what I can see, she looks okay. Our nesting boxes open from the back so I looked from the back side to see if she is sitting on eggs. I saw at least one. I brought her a handful of food but she wouldn't eat anything.

So, since we don't have any roosters, this egg is not going to turn into a baby chick! What do I do with this broody hen?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Miss Lydia]

alot of people on here say to put her on wire like a coop with wire on the bottom for a few days, since I don't have anything like that ,I just lock them out of their coop for a couple of days, but it's cold now so wouldn't want to have to do that. Take all the eggs away from her, and keep getting her out of the nest box.

 

[Cleebee]

Our black Austrolorpe went broody last spring. We ended up putting six eggs under her. One of them hatched - we didn't move it fast enough to a safe space, though, and one of the other hens killed it. But that did end the broodiness. If it happens again I will do the same but be ready to move "mama" and her baby when it hatches. The woman who gave us the eggs agreed to take back any roo's that might hatch, or if we had all of them hatch since we can only keep a few. I wasn't attached to any particular outcome, I just did it for the fun and so my daughter could watch the hatching and such. He was a cute little chick.

 

[swimmer]

I've got one that's been sitting on the golf balls all day. She hasn't started laying yet. Think she's about ready.

 

[Miss Lydia]

sounds like she's practicing

 

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

I have a broody BO now. She's been on the nest for a week. I don't have a cage to put her in so I've been taking her off her nest, then I blocked her nesting spot. Now she has been sitting on top of the garbage can, hissing, puffing up and acting silly with no eggs and no nesting material. I'm hoping a night or two sleeping on hard, cold plastic might break her. She's not getting any eggs until we have more room for birds so I'm hoping she gives up at some point!

 

[Lifesong Farm]

I sure hope I can get some broodies out of the eggs I am getting. I would love to have one right now.

 

[MyBlackHen]

So basically, I am supposed to just force her out of the nesting box? I will try that this morning. We have 12 boxes though so if I block this one, she'll probably just go into another box. I have 8 other chickens and all 9 are laying so I don't want to block off all of the boxes. Well, I will attempt to get her out and just see what happens! Boy, she sure was nasty last night! I had never heard a chicken growl before!

 

[abhaya]

I would order some eggs from someone and hatch some chicks!!!!

 

[MyBlackHen]

Ha ha ha - very funny stuff ... I picked her up and lo and behold - she is sitting on 2 green eggs! We have two Easter-eggers and apparently Daisy (the black Australorp) decided to take over two of their eggs! These chickens really crack me up

. She ran out of the coop and was acting pretty normal (for a chicken) so I will check later to see how she's doing.

Abhaya - I wish I knew where to get some eggs from around here ... but this is probably not a great time of year to hatch some chicks anyway. I'm in upstate NY and we're just getting into our cold Northeast winter weather (freezing rain this morning - what fun!). Maybe in the spring though, if she goes broody again I'm sure I can get eggs from somewhere ...

Thanks for the help everyone!