[heidih]

hi friends..my hen .light sussex is broody..sitting on the other hens eggs and we keep removing her and she straight back on ..
my OH carl fk and me have put her in a caged area in hutch to try make her uncomfortable and cool her down but nope she straught back on.!..wat can we do?...she does grab food and water once we get her off but she would sit on there all day if we let her..pity ..ducks havent laid yet..she cud have hatched out them for us !?.. advice pls..

[Mel]

Hi Heidih,

you shall have to keep her in that caged area,leave her all day with some water and food,and every day until she stops,she shall eventually! x

[Bionic]

Heidih I have read recently that she will need to be in an area with a caged bottom for 3 weeks to break the cycle. Put food and water in with her and don't let her out.
It sounds very harsh but it looks like I am going to have to try it myself with a broody.
Sally

[aaronsundin]

When any of my hens go broody I just leave them to it . Most will come off at least once a day to eat and drink , sometimes the orpingtons have to be lifted out as they seem to sit tight . Yes they do loose condition slightly but I've never in 9 years of chook keeping had one starve to death yet . I remove any eggs daily and eventually they give up on the idea   

[heidih]

well she in the cage and she not happy..very vocal indeed!.haha..i was going to leave her to get on with it but the other hens was not laying cus she was lying in box ..lets hope this helps..poor begger..

[Mrs Snoodles]

Another thought...this has worked for me a few times.  I have let the hen free range somewhere entirely different, in the garden usually.  I sometimes wonder whether hens go broody simply because there isn't much else to take their minds off it.  I have a welbar and a Croad that this has worked for. I have literally shut them out of any shelter, left them out all day and collected them at night.  Just an idea......

[suziequeue]

I agree with aaronsundin - they seem to get bored after a while. I noticed with one of ours recently that when we were just pushing her off the laying box in the main coop, she just fed and went back on but as soon as we put her on her own in an adjoining pen and hutch then she got off her backside and wanted to go back with the others. We left her on her own for a few days and when we let her back in with her mates, she didn't go back and sit.


I retrospect I think I will take her off on her own sooner next time as she did disrupt the others' laying when she was occupying one of the nesting boxes..... especially annoying as our Maran chicks are just coming into lay now.

[JMB]

We have 5 hens- they came from a farm, no pedigree, bit of bantam in them I think, renowned for broodiness.
Ours definitely aren't bored- they're out all day long roaming free, but they do get broody.
The only problem we had was with Stevie hen, who went broody outside under a hedge- twice- (and different ones) and we thought she was missing. Eventually she came back for some food and then we followed her to where she was laying.
Also, if ours are broody inside the hen house, the others don't like going in to lay.
I leave them to it generally. I just lift them out twice a day for food and drink and let them get on with it
But if it goes beyond 2 weeks or so and I'm fed up of it, I chuck her out, block up the henhouse door so she can't get back in and hope she snaps out of it.
Usually works
J xxxx
 
 

[Sylvia]

I would put her in a broody coop and either put pot eggs under her or get some day old chicks to keep her happy. Put her in a wire cage, chuck her off her eggs, spray her with cold water all you like, she still won't come back into lay until her time.

[Greenmoor]

Yes they do loose condition slightly but I've never in 9 years of chook keeping had one starve to death yet .

We had a silkie that did.  You've got to admire that level of devotion!  That's thr type of hen that would, as my husband says, 'sit on a bag of frozen peas'