[chonty]

Well I'm very new to hens being about 3 months in just hens no cockerels. One of the light sussex girls was conspicuous in her absence today so went hunting and found her stuck fast in a nesting bucket (in coop). After giving her the benefit of the doubt I attempted removal. Vicious. Pure evil. So tipped bucket  up. Nope still in there however a pair of fencing gauntlets later and its one nil to me

So Ive moved her right outside and taken the egg. Is this something she is likely to keep doing? When they gi broody is it for a long while or can it be quite swiftly nipped in the bud?

[shep53]

Varies, most if you keep taking the eggs away settle but have one sitting tight on nothing for 3wks now and very aggressive

[mentalmilly]

I have been lucky with no nasty broodies but find it hard to stop them.  My last broody l put in with some 8 week olds and that seems to have stopped her.  Will put her in with the hens in a few days and see what happens.  Otherwise they will sit for weeks on fresh air.

[in the hills]

It  depends on the hen.  Some will only sit for a day or two while others (like my pekins) will sit for weeks. If I don't need a broody I pop mine in a 'broody cage'. You can use a wire dog cage or similar. Stand on bricks. This is to enable air to circulate under the cage and cool the hens tummy .... this deters her from sitting. Cover the cage for protection from sun and rain and feed and water as usual. Make sure she is safe from predators etc. We pop the cage in the shed at night.

It only takes a few days to break even my very insistent pekins.

I find that they lose condition if they sit for weeks and it just seems pointless.

HTH

[chonty]

Blast so it may not be as simple as all that. I have plenty of dog cages so i can try that tip. Might need to keep the gauntlets handy then

[Eve]

If those hens behave like this only when they're broody they're not vicious or nasty, they're just being protective - which is a good thing, really 


Like HTH says, it depends on the hen. I've had the odd short term or not-very-commited broody (wanders off a lot) which I don't mind as I get plenty of eggs anyway. Those that stayed broody for long enough were given hatching eggs or day olds as I don't mind a few extra chicks either 

[Stereo]

I've got a Skyline who is EVIL when she's broody and worse once they hatch. Excellent mum though and is sitting on her second clutch of 2014 right now. But she'll jump right out of the coop at you if you lift the lid at the wrong moment. At the end of the day I would rather that sort of behavior as I can imagine what she would do to a rat or similar trying to grab a chick.

My next plan is to separate roosting and laying. So, one house will be a simple roosting station where they go at night or in poor weather. The other will be a nesting station which I plan on making out of one of those garden trolley things. That will mean I can move it around the pen to clean grass as I find the area around the house turns to mud in winter and this leads to mucky eggs. It will also discourage hens from sleeping in the nest boxes as they will want to be in the main house and I also think that if we do get a broody who we don't want to have eggs, she can be taken out of the nest box at bedtime and put on the roosts. That will mean a walk through the dark to get back to her nest which I think should break most of them.

[chonty]

@ eve I know it's only natural for them to be protective so as long as shes only evil when brooding and she allowed me into the coop so not nearly as bad as stereos!

Thankfully she is out and about with the rest today so praps shes really not a very good broody. Which is good for me. At least at the moment!

Thanks all btw