What do with SIX broody hens

[sunnie7]

So one hen has been broody for 4 weeks now and I thought she’d give up by now, I’ve been removing all eggs daily. I’m starting to worry about her health. Then a couple weeks later I had 2 more go broody and now....all 5 of my nesting boxes are full and one double...what the heck girls. I only have 14 laying hens. I don’t want any more chicks this year but I do have guinea eggs I could let a couple hatch (but not raise!) Should I get out the dog kennels and start breaking the ones that have been broody longest? I only have 2 XL wire kennels can I put 2 in together? I’m normally not a fan of breaking a broody hen but I think it’s to that point.

 

[CrazyCochin]

Wow!
We have three currently, a BW and a couple of Bantam Cochins!
Can you separate them? We like to use 4' foot green garden fencing, it is great for a temporary pen, and if you have something large for shelter, it is better than letting them take over the nest boxes!

 

[CrazyCochin]

I tried putting the banty Cochins in a large dog kennel, but one of them was able to fit through the bars....

 

[HawaiiCoyote]

So one hen has been broody for 4 weeks now and I thought she’d give up by now, I’ve been removing all eggs daily. I’m starting to worry about her health. Then a couple weeks later I had 2 more go broody and now....all 5 of my nesting boxes are full and one double...what the heck girls. I only have 14 laying hens. I don’t want any more chicks this year but I do have guinea eggs I could let a couple hatch (but not raise!) Should I get out the dog kennels and start breaking the ones that have been broody longest? I only have 2 XL wire kennels can I put 2 in together? I’m normally not a fan of breaking a broody hen but I think it’s to that point.
View attachment 2700984

I would definitely get out the dog crate, and start breaking them one by one. it should take about four days maximum per hen to break.

 

[DobieLover]

You're 3.5 weeks past when you should have started the first hen in the crate. YES! You need to break out the crates!!!!
You need to buy more crates.
Some people have had success putting 2 in one crate. Looks like you could with the pair sharing a nest box. I tried it once and found one hen that was beat to snot and shell shocked and the other hen all kinds of irritated at having that second hen in such close quarters to her all night. The only good that came of that was they broke over night. The beat up one hung out in the coop for two days afterwards recovering from the ordeal.
Just removing eggs from a true blue broody doesn't work. Broodiness is contagious, as you've discovered.

 

[Cindy in PA]

I feel for you. I have 3 broody, had 4 & just broke 3 others. My Blue Wyandottes have always been broody. Hoped my Columbians would not be, as I had a flock 10 years ago with a rooster & no one ever went broody, but so far 2/7 have gone broody. One was in a cage 30 days & finally broke last week. I only have room for one cage, so I set up a 4 by 4 area in the run to put 2-3 more during the day & then I put them on the roost after dark when they are let loose & run for the nest boxes. I give them food & water & a roost to get off the ground. Really not having fun. Went 24 years without a broody & for the last 4 years have had tons. Egg count down from 10-14 to 6-8 out of 16. Good luck!

 

[3KillerBs]

If you don't have enough space in the coop for all the breaker cages you could do what I did:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/outdoor-broody-breaker.76592/

 

[sunnie7]

If you don't have enough space in the coop for all the breaker cages you could do what I did:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/outdoor-broody-breaker.76592/

Thank you for the idea!!! Got 2 in this crate and 1 in one of my empty rabbit hutches. Starting with the ones that have been broody the longest.

 

[Blue Raptor]

@sourland