Worthless broodies

[trainman]

I have raised chickens for a long time and had very good success with broody hens hatching and raising chicks (and ducks)!

I have usually had a mixture of breeds including Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps, New Hampshires and some others. Unfortunately they were devoured by raccoons and fox while my wife was in the hospital and I couldn't attend to them very well.

I replaced them with only Plymouth Rocks and while beautiful and great layers of very large eggs they seem to be less than acceptable in all other areas. They scatter in all directions when let out in the morning and don't hang with the roosters like all my others did for protection. They don't want to come inside the coop at night and I have to chase them down and often net them.

My biggest issue is I have 3 that continually want to be broody. I'm fine with that but they don't seem to understand they need to return to the same nest to finish the job. They all set in the same nest boxes they all use to lay in which has never been an issue with the others I've had. I put them back on their nests and the next day they are on a different nest day after day.

I have separated them into another fenced part of the coop and then they pace along the fence wanting to get back over to the other side. They don't want to set on their eggs in the other side in those nest boxes.

I don't know how to get them straightened out or even break them from setting. I don't need hens that don't hatch chicks or produce eggs for me. Feed is too expensive to waste on hens that produce nothing in return. I've tried some of the things I read here on how to make them not broody but none have worked.

Has anyone experienced this situation and what did you do about it? HELP!

 

[yakitori]

I have separated them into another fenced part of the coop and then they pace along the fence wanting to get back over to the other side. They don't want to set on their eggs in the other side in those nest boxes.

This seems like a great way to break them actually

 

[Mtnboomer]

I have raised chickens for a long time and had very good success with broody hens hatching and raising chicks (and ducks)!

I have usually had a mixture of breeds including Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps, New Hampshires and some others. Unfortunately they were devoured by raccoons and fox while my wife was in the hospital and I couldn't attend to them very well.

I replaced them with only Plymouth Rocks and while beautiful and great layers of very large eggs they seem to be less than acceptable in all other areas. They scatter in all directions when let out in the morning and don't hang with the roosters like all my others did for protection. They don't want to come inside the coop at night and I have to chase them down and often net them.

My biggest issue is I have 3 that continually want to be broody. I'm fine with that but they don't seem to understand they need to return to the same nest to finish the job. They all set in the same nest boxes they all use to lay in which has never been an issue with the others I've had. I put them back on their nests and the next day they are on a different nest day after day.

I have separated them into another fenced part of the coop and then they pace along the fence wanting to get back over to the other side. They don't want to set on their eggs in the other side in those nest boxes.

I don't know how to get them straightened out or even break them from setting. I don't need hens that don't hatch chicks or produce eggs for me. Feed is too expensive to waste on hens that produce nothing in return. I've tried some of the things I read here on how to make them not broody but none have worked.

Has anyone experienced this situation and what did you do about it? HELP!

I have the exact same sentiment towards broody hens. When they finish the job its awesome. When they don't, its just an expense.
My broody brahmas almost always completely abandon the eggs by day 10 and switch to a new box and try to start all over again. To Prevent this, i move them and the eggs to a 3x5 brooder with a single best box or i will remove the divider btw the box she is in and the adjacent one. Then i use that divider to block the entrances so she is locked in with the eggs. This is the less desirable of the two but both are effective and I've had success with both.

To break them i use an air compressor. I set my air compressor to a low psi (10-20psi max) and if i catch them in a box i give the a puff under their butts. A day or 2 of this is all it takes to end it.