unwelcom Broodyness

[Chuky cupcake]

Hello all, love the forum and it's comforting to know I'm not the only one with a broody I don't know what to do to stop it because she is hogging the nesty box (we have an egloo cube), we think she is putting the others off lay as we've had nothing for ages
Can anyone tell me what's best to do? Do I need to seperate her for a while? I don't quite know where or how so all suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks gang X

[digthatchick]

I have tried most things but to no avail. I have even given her cold baths morning and evening but still she sits.

Like your she hogs the nest box and has put the others off laying, I put a rabbit hutch in the run a week ago and now the others are starting to lay in there.

Best of luck with her - remember though, it's not her "fault" frustrating though it is.

[Chuky cupcake]

Thanks for the advise, the farm where i got her from said make an anti broody cage but I'm thinking of making her a seperate little cosy coup underneath the egloo cube so she can come out of it naturally. I know it's nature and it's not her fault but buying eggs in the season when I have 4 hens is ludicrous.

[RichmondHens]

Yes, best thing is to remove the broody to separate coop so the others can return to using the nestbox. It's really difficult to stop them laying round the garden if that's the only place they can use if broody is hogging the nestbox.

[Chuky cupcake]

Thanks Guys, so sin-binning is no good, just give her somewhere else to brood and let the others get on. Should I remove her completely?, out of sight, out of mind, sort of thing!.
I'm so grateful to you all, Much Beloved is a little tired of it all and a few words exchanged tonight. oooooops! Think I'll sin-bin him

[RichmondHens]

If you can put her totally separate it will be best, but if that's not an option for you, a box and a cordoned off area in the main run will suffice. Just make sure it's weather-proof. She will get bored in 3 or 4 weeks, or maybe less, with nothing to sit on and you'll know when she's ready to return to the others.

[Chuky cupcake]

Thanks Richmondhens, I really don't know what I'd do without you all I will buy a rabbit hutch and see how we go. Hang the expense, live for today, no pockets in a shroud my Catholic friend says I hope I don't offend but she really does say that and lives like it XX bless all of you and your broods.

[Bramble-Poultry]

be careful removing her totally from the others as when you come to reintroduce her there will more than likely be fights as they restablish the pecking order.

If you can house her inside the coop but stop her getting to the nest box, all the better, having said that if you put her in a broody coop next to the others so she can see them and "talk" to them then they should remember her and get along ok afterwards.

i am not a keen fan of dunking in water or similar to stop broodiness, as to me thats like Guantanamo and waterboarding!

However, the trick to difusing broodiness is to offer everything opposite to what she wants. She wants a nice warm, dark secluded space to rear her eggs, something that offers security whilst she sits, so you are best to offer a house with a slatted floor so the air gets up underneath her to stop her keeping warm, and make the front of the box fully meshed and a clear roof of corrugated plastic or similar so it stays very very light in there. Being so light she will feel slightly on show, which is not what she wants.

You can even paint the insides white to reflect more light. Offer her food and water only and she should snap out of it fairly quickly.

Reintroduce her to the main run and watch for her old habits, if she starts again, back into the anti-broody she goes.

Hope that helps - and not confuses you more. The problem i find with chickens is taht as they are so individual, what works for you might not work for me and vice versa. Ask a simple question and get twenty simple answers!

[frias]

I have an ex-batt that keeps going broody. I tried the sin bin last year and it didn't work, also constantly taking her off the nest and once the others had finished laying shutting the nest box. That sort of worked but she did try to nest in the garden. Earlier this year I sin-binned her again and thought I had won but after 2 weeks of laying she just went broody again. I think some are just determined. I gave in before she did and got her some fertile eggs to sit on. Mainly because she was being a real cow to the new ex-batts I had just got and so I was happy for her to be away from them. Anyway she now sits in her own coop, very smug 'cos she's won. She's still a cow though to the new girls when lifted off the eggs twice a day. Gets on fine with her 2 old mates. I just wonder what she will be like if she manages to hatch some chicks.
(The broody coop in inside the run and when I sin binned I put this inside the run too so that she was always within sight of the others.)

[RichmondHens]

I've got a broody just sitting on plastic eggs. I'm not going to bother sin binning as I'm get plenty of eggs from the others but as I don't want (need!!!) any more chicks I'm just leaving her be and taking any eggs laid alongside her away. Her hormones will return to normal when she realises her "eggs" aren't going to hatch. I am keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't lose condition but at the moment she is still off the nest every day for a good feed.