There are a lot of crazy sounding "remedies" out there for this problem. But I think your "broody box" is ingenious! It is kind but effective. Thanks for the idea!
Thank you! I have my first experience with a broody hen. I thought maybe she might stop because there are no eggs in her nesting bed. But this is day 3 I got very nervous because she is not eating or drinking much. And she seems like she goes into some kind of trance in her nesting bed. I have got her out in the mornings and she did eat and drink some. I now understand this condition much better and what I need to do for her. I do my research and also check in with you. You always have trustworthy and compassionate information. Can’t believe some folks just let them continue or worse, put them into freezing cold water. Geeze, that is awful to imagine. So, thank you once again 🙂
Thank you. I'm glad you found it helpful. Once you have seen broodiness you will always recognise it again - it's very distinctive behaviour. Good luck with your broody one.
Perfect timing! My Wyandotte hatched 6 chicks 15wks ago and shes broody again. Not quite ready to have new chicks for colder months ahead. Thanks for the tips.
Thank you for your videos, I had chickens about 20 years ago and i am preparing the chook house to have them again. All your information is very helpful. Thank you .... Glen.
Aaawww..how about you get her some fertile eggs and let her be the mom she desperately wants to be? I did that with one of my hens and she was such a loyal, wonderful mom! And those little heads peeking out under her feathers the next weeks, were PRICELESS images that I saved. ADORABLE!
Just found this video. My light Sussex has gone broody just a month after laying her first egg! Lots of good tips noted. Thank you. Hopefully her full blood sister and the Wyandotte’s I also have don’t do this too often either and fingers crossed the leghorns and australorps never bother haha.
You should be ok with the leghorns anyway - the Sussex are famous broodies. You can persuade them out of it if you're quick and consistent but there will usually be another bout of it a little while later.
Thank you for this. I’ve got 6 marans that have just started laying. The top hen laid for a couple of weeks and I had a couple of false eggs in the nesting box as she initially laid out in the yard. However now she is broody and has stopped laying - her feathers are puffed out. I want to remove the false eggs but the other marans are just beginning to lay now and I want to make sure the others don’t lay outside, however I’d rather get the broodyness out of her. Will try your tips!
If the nest box is appealing (check out my video about nest boxes your chickens love to lay in) you shouldn't need to worry about encouraging the others to lay there - they will choose to lay there, unless the broody is taking up the space!
Chickens in my garden As she’s the top chook, she can be quite dominating with the other hens. Although I have 6 in total, they each have a nesting box available. I use sawdust, straw for the nesting boxes. They initially slept in the boxes as they were only pullets when I get them but now some will sleep on the perches but some will still sleep in the boxes. I’ve taken the false eggs away, placed top chook outside and she immediately went to eat and drink but hasn’t gone back in yet. Will see how she she goes.
What an adorable little lady! I'm new to chicken farming for just the past 6 months with just 12 hens. I've been learning all I can, but up until this week, had no problem, until one of them began the broody behavior. I tried the cool bath and then separated her from the others. As soon as I put her back in with the others, she immediately went to the nest again and has been sitting on a ceramic egg. I'm worried!
Marta Peterson Womack Some hens can be very dedicated broodies and hard to get out of it. Just carry on keeping her away from the nest. But don't worry - as long as she is eating and drinking she will be ok. (And if she's pooping then she's eating and drinking).
Thank you. Yes probably my favourite rooster - he's a Cuckoo leghorn and has a lovely nature. He's not at my place anymore - he went to the next town to a new harem of hens.
Hi. Thank you for your great tips. I have a small dog crate i'll have to put my broody hen in. My question is, can i put that cage in our coop with the other chickens so she is away from the elements. We have a rather large coop where the cage will fit
Yes absolutely! The main thing is to stop her settling and being warm and cosy. It might even be a good idea to put the crate up on blocks so the cool air circulates underneath.
I have bantams, two with pompom heads and feathery feet that are laying eggs and two who have smooth heads and feathery feet who are broody. One is so bad that when I hoist her out of the nest and off someone else's eggs, she then picks on one of the pompom girls by jumping on her back and pecking her head or anywhere she can get her. I have tried to keep her out of the nest boxes etc but she will climb in/on top of one that's trying to lay and peck and push them as soon as she can. I have now taken her out of the main yard and put her into the old rabbit cage. How long should I have her out of there ? Also the bantams do not roost even though roosts are there for them. They will sleep on the ramp to the nest boxes but not in the boxes as I block them at night so they cant do that. Or is what they are doing roosting ? I think we (the chickens and I) need some advice.
Yes, your chickens are roosting even though they have chosen to use the ramp instead of what you intended them to use. As long as they are off the floor and not in the nest box they will be fine. The behaviour of your broody hen sounds typical. The most reliable way to know how long she needs in the cage is to let her out and see what she does. If she rushes to test box she needs longer. If she just goes about her chicken life normally then that might be long enough. Put her back on the perch at night and see what she does next day. If she goes back on the nest then it's back to the cage for another day.
@@chickensinmygarden Thank you. I tried her out this morning and she dashed right back to the nest box so back in Chickentraz (chicken version of Alcatraz) she is. I will try her again in another day of isolation and cooling down. Totally love your videos and good advice.
I was hoping you would show the broody box at a little distance so I could see how this works. Right now I have an EXTREMELY broody chicken. She puffs up, flares her wings, growls very loudly and tries to bite me......not just mildly peck like Liza.......BITE! She’s downright vicious. Her name is Lucy (Rhode Island Red) but, I’m considering changing her name to PitBully.
The exact details can vary based on what you have. The principles are to keep her cool, especially her belly, keep her from sitting down, and keep her uncomfortable. And keep it bright not dark or dim. A determined broody will sit down on the most uncomfortable surface so some broody boxes have a wire mesh floor. Most important - keep her out of that nest box!
Thanks for your video. We currently have 2 broody hens out of 3. Our Australorp regularly goes broody so we close off the nesting boxes for a couple of days and she normally comes good, however our Rhode Island Red has gone broody for the first time for the last 3 days and she is extremely defiant..sitting any where she can find. Today the Australorp has turned as well! So do you think I could put them in a box together or do I need 2 seperate boxes? Or should I just make the coop/run ‘unsitable’ and the 3rd unbroody hen will just have to stand or perch too?
Whether you can have the two broodies together will depend on their personalities and how they behave. The point is to make them uncomfortable and cool so if they settle down cosily side by side that will do no good at all. The unbroody hen is probably spending her days being busy anyway so won't mind if you make the whole coop unsitable. But if she's laying she does need somewhere to lay - at least briefly when she lays her egg.
Thank you! Yes I suspect they will just sit together which is how I found them this morning under the perches. I think I will try and make the whole coop unsitable. And yes I let the laying one in briefly by herself to lay. Unfortunately I can’t have them free ranging all day due to our swooping attacking magpies, but that is a whole other story!
I have a hen which has hatched twice. Now, my hen has laid 9 eggs and she is sitting on them. after day 9, I decided to candle light the eggs only to know that they are not fertilized and it hasn’t developed as compared with her previous eggs i candle light before she hatched. Meanwhile, a rooster mated with her. I want to collect all the eggs so that she doesn’t waste her time sitting on the eggs. Can I also eat the eggs?
You can certainly eat any fresh eggs that you collect regardless of whether a rooster has mated with your hen. Even if the eggs are fertilised they are good to eat if fresh. I'm not sure whether you are asking about eating the eggs that have been sat on for 9 days. I would not eat them but you could cook them for your chickens - cooked eggs are great treats for chickens 🙂
Isa browns are a commercial hybrid and they are not sold in New Zealand. We do have brown shavers and Hylines, which are both commercial hybrids and very like the isa browns. I have three hylines- two young pullets who should start to lay next month and one 3year old hen who doesn't lay any more. They are all super friendly. I have had a couple of Plymouth Rocks but don't have any at the moment.
If you've ever seen a broody hen, the broodiness is unmistakable. Sick or picked on might hide in the nest box but would never do that broody growl and puff up.
She doesn't seem aggressive but when I let the others out to roam she did go out but came back to tge run and when I closed off the nest, I noticed she would hung near it. But I have been feeling like she's not very confident in coming forward for food like the rest (I just recently got these hens) and thought she was at the bottom of the group...feel bad for her.
Doesn't sound broody. More likely shy and bottom of the pecking order as you think. Someone has to be at the bottom. It can get rather brutal but unless she gets injured (e.g. pecked on the comb and it bleeds) you are best just to let them sort themselves out. If you approach that will probably disrupt the dynamic, which can be useful if you think it seems a bit too rough.
I have 6 chickens one being a baby rooster and another being a baby hen (I call her a baby because she hasn’t laid her first egg) which leaves the four big girls two of these four are very prone to being clucky (or broody) anyways one is a black Pom-Pom headed chook (idk what their breeds are) and she acts big and makes grumpy crows but thankfully she doesn’t peck but the other one she is a golden chook with black speck on her Pom-Pom and neck she does everything that the other chook does except she pecks too so whenever this happens we put them in our dog cage cause we don’t cage our dogs and a day or two later they have cut the habits and they go be normal chickens ( lol it almost autocorrected to children 😂 well they follow me around like it) also I am so excited for our baby hens first egg and to see what colour it is 😁
Hi Samantha. I can tell that you are really enjoying your chickens. I love having chickens too. And I love chatting to people about chickens, so your post is certainly not too long for me! (I write the word 'chickens' so often that my spell check now suggests 'chickens' as soon as I write the first two letters.) What colour eggs do the big girls lay? And why do you think your 'baby hen' will lay different ones? Is she a different breed? I love finding different coloured eggs in the nest box. To be honest I love that my chickens give me eggs no matter what colour, but colourful ones are even better. By the way, a young female chicken who has not yet laid her first egg is called a pullet. I expect she will start laying in the spring. Best wishes from Sheryl in New Zealand 🙂
I don’t know any of their breeds but our black hen (olive) lays olive green eggs hense the name and our golden and black specked hen (maple) lays white eggs so does our white and black dotted chicken (cruella but I call her Ella my sister named her cruella) she is a smaller chicken and her eggs are slightly smaller than maple’s and then there is another chicken (shadow) who is a vary of different browns she lays light brown eggs and I think our “pullet ” (is that it?) (her name is baby shark my niece named her) will lay brown eggs too and then we have our rooster (chocolate I call him chocy boy) I love them all but my dad pulled down our chicken coop to build a new one with a vegetable garden so the sleep on the back veranda were also chicken sitting our grandma’s chook she doesn’t really have a name because my grandma named her b*tch hen because she attacked our baby chickens when they were tiny so all seven of them are sitting on the veranda railing or in the plant pots sundown to sunrise which is a good thing because the foxes and dingos don’t have the guts to come into town but the only issue is it’s starting to get very cold in Australia I don’t know about New Zealand but I’m sitting waiting for the bus to take me to school and it is freezing my hands are about to go numb from the cold 😔
That sounds like a wonderful life for your chickens. We are near the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The nights are getting cold but the days are still sunny and warm. I have 9 young chickens that were hatched at Easter. (That's rather late for hatching chickens here.) Last night I moved them from the shed to a wooden box outside, with a light bulb to keep them warm. This morning they have still not yet ventured out of the box.
my lady friend is resisting . I keep lifting her off the nest and wetting her but after a while she is back on. I also take the eggs away daily so there she sits on an empty throne.
You have to keep her off the nest completely. If she is still laying then allow her on just to lay. Otherwise keep her off. You can lock her in a breezy cage with no comfortable ground to settle on or maybe just lock her outside, where she will march up and down angrily. Any time she is sitting her hormones are just going up and making her more broody - it doesn't matter what she is sitting on. Stop her sitting anywhere - she can stand, walk, peck, scratch, eat, drink, perch, anything except sit.
The problem with my broody hen is she is blocking the nest and my other hens are not laying. I was getting 10 eggs a day, now between 2 and 6. And she's not eating or drinking. I take her out of the nest box twice a day and she does eat and drink but she goes back in. I think I'm going to put her in chicken jail. Solitary for a few days.
Yes you need to get her out of the way of the other hens - either in a quiet nest of her own with some fertile eggs to hatch or in solitary until she stops being broody. Meanwhile maybe the other hens have been laying somewhere else?
Sometimes she is just too far gone to be easily discouraged. If you have no fertile eggs for her, then you will have to keep locking her away from the nest box and putting her back on the perch with the others after dark until one morning she just joins the other hens instead of making a beeline for the nest box.
There are a lot of crazy sounding "remedies" out there for this problem. But I think your "broody box" is ingenious! It is kind but effective. Thanks for the idea!
Thanks. It works for me and my chickens.
Thank you! I have my first experience with a broody hen. I thought maybe she might stop because there are no eggs in her nesting bed. But this is day 3 I got very nervous because she is not eating or drinking much. And she seems like she goes into some kind of trance in her nesting bed. I have got her out in the mornings and she did eat and drink some. I now understand this condition much better and what I need to do for her. I do my research and also check in with you. You always have trustworthy and compassionate information. Can’t believe some folks just let them continue or worse, put them into freezing cold water. Geeze, that is awful to imagine. So, thank you once again 🙂
Thank you. I'm glad you found it helpful. Once you have seen broodiness you will always recognise it again - it's very distinctive behaviour. Good luck with your broody one.
Perfect timing! My Wyandotte hatched 6 chicks 15wks ago and shes broody again. Not quite ready to have new chicks for colder months ahead. Thanks for the tips.
You're welcome :-)
You are so informative and lovely! Thank you so much!
What a nice comment. Thank you 🙂
thanks for this video! i've got a broody speckled sussex hen and i've been stuck on what to do with her to stop her so this video really helped out!
Excellent 🙂 Good luck, and be persistent - those Sussex girls are pretty determined!
I think you are amazing! I always love coming back to your videos. Thank you for making them.
Aww, that's so kind of you. Thank you 🙂
Very nice and informative video. Thank you for taking the time to share your wonderful information.
Thank you for your kind comment, and for watching my videos. Have a great day 🙂
Thank you for your videos, I had chickens about 20 years ago and i am preparing the chook house to have them again. All your information is very helpful. Thank you .... Glen.
Glendram Thank you. It's great that you have the opportunity to have chickens again. Best wishes.
Aaawww..how about you get her some fertile eggs and let her be the mom she desperately wants to be? I did that with one of my hens and she was such a loyal, wonderful mom! And those little heads peeking out under her feathers the next weeks, were PRICELESS images that I saved. ADORABLE!
Chicks with mama hen are adorable, aren't they! My best mama was this old lady - have you seen this video
ua-cam.com/video/Zr0ujRPwNeQ/v-deo.html
Just found this video. My light Sussex has gone broody just a month after laying her first egg! Lots of good tips noted. Thank you. Hopefully her full blood sister and the Wyandotte’s I also have don’t do this too often either and fingers crossed the leghorns and australorps never bother haha.
You should be ok with the leghorns anyway - the Sussex are famous broodies. You can persuade them out of it if you're quick and consistent but there will usually be another bout of it a little while later.
Thank you for this. I’ve got 6 marans that have just started laying. The top hen laid for a couple of weeks and I had a couple of false eggs in the nesting box as she initially laid out in the yard. However now she is broody and has stopped laying - her feathers are puffed out. I want to remove the false eggs but the other marans are just beginning to lay now and I want to make sure the others don’t lay outside, however I’d rather get the broodyness out of her. Will try your tips!
If the nest box is appealing (check out my video about nest boxes your chickens love to lay in) you shouldn't need to worry about encouraging the others to lay there - they will choose to lay there, unless the broody is taking up the space!
Chickens in my garden As she’s the top chook, she can be quite dominating with the other hens. Although I have 6 in total, they each have a nesting box available. I use sawdust, straw for the nesting boxes. They initially slept in the boxes as they were only pullets when I get them but now some will sleep on the perches but some will still sleep in the boxes. I’ve taken the false eggs away, placed top chook outside and she immediately went to eat and drink but hasn’t gone back in yet. Will see how she she goes.
That sounds very promising. Keep up the good work. 🙂
What an adorable little lady! I'm new to chicken farming for just the past 6 months with just 12 hens. I've been learning all I can, but up until this week, had no problem, until one of them began the broody behavior. I tried the cool bath and then separated her from the others. As soon as I put her back in with the others, she immediately went to the nest again and has been sitting on a ceramic egg. I'm worried!
Marta Peterson Womack Some hens can be very dedicated broodies and hard to get out of it. Just carry on keeping her away from the nest. But don't worry - as long as she is eating and drinking she will be ok. (And if she's pooping then she's eating and drinking).
Nice rooster at the end there. Thanks for the video.
Thank you. Yes probably my favourite rooster - he's a Cuckoo leghorn and has a lovely nature. He's not at my place anymore - he went to the next town to a new harem of hens.
thank you for a wonderfully informative video. one of my buffs is doing exactly that
Once you've seen it you will always recognize it.
greg watts mine sounds like a trumpet when I take it out
Thank you. We will take your advice.
Best of luck 🙂 Be persistent
Hi. Thank you for your great tips. I have a small dog crate i'll have to put my broody hen in. My question is, can i put that cage in our coop with the other chickens so she is away from the elements. We have a rather large coop where the cage will fit
Yes absolutely! The main thing is to stop her settling and being warm and cosy. It might even be a good idea to put the crate up on blocks so the cool air circulates underneath.
@@chickensinmygarden thank you soooo much.!!!
I have bantams, two with pompom heads and feathery feet that are laying eggs and two who have smooth heads and feathery feet who are broody. One is so bad that when I hoist her out of the nest and off someone else's eggs, she then picks on one of the pompom girls by jumping on her back and pecking her head or anywhere she can get her. I have tried to keep her out of the nest boxes etc but she will climb in/on top of one that's trying to lay and peck and push them as soon as she can. I have now taken her out of the main yard and put her into the old rabbit cage. How long should I have her out of there ? Also the bantams do not roost even though roosts are there for them. They will sleep on the ramp to the nest boxes but not in the boxes as I block them at night so they cant do that. Or is what they are doing roosting ? I think we (the chickens and I) need some advice.
Yes, your chickens are roosting even though they have chosen to use the ramp instead of what you intended them to use. As long as they are off the floor and not in the nest box they will be fine.
The behaviour of your broody hen sounds typical. The most reliable way to know how long she needs in the cage is to let her out and see what she does. If she rushes to test box she needs longer. If she just goes about her chicken life normally then that might be long enough. Put her back on the perch at night and see what she does next day. If she goes back on the nest then it's back to the cage for another day.
@@chickensinmygarden Thank you. I tried her out this morning and she dashed right back to the nest box so back in Chickentraz (chicken version of Alcatraz) she is. I will try her again in another day of isolation and cooling down. Totally love your videos and good advice.
I was hoping you would show the broody box at a little distance so I could see how this works. Right now I have an EXTREMELY broody chicken. She puffs up, flares her wings, growls very loudly and tries to bite me......not just mildly peck like Liza.......BITE! She’s downright vicious. Her name is Lucy (Rhode Island Red) but, I’m considering changing her name to PitBully.
The exact details can vary based on what you have. The principles are to keep her cool, especially her belly, keep her from sitting down, and keep her uncomfortable. And keep it bright not dark or dim. A determined broody will sit down on the most uncomfortable surface so some broody boxes have a wire mesh floor. Most important - keep her out of that nest box!
Thanks
Thanks for your video. We currently have 2 broody hens out of 3. Our Australorp regularly goes broody so we close off the nesting boxes for a couple of days and she normally comes good, however our Rhode Island Red has gone broody for the first time for the last 3 days and she is extremely defiant..sitting any where she can find. Today the Australorp has turned as well! So do you think I could put them in a box together or do I need 2 seperate boxes? Or should I just make the coop/run ‘unsitable’ and the 3rd unbroody hen will just have to stand or perch too?
Whether you can have the two broodies together will depend on their personalities and how they behave. The point is to make them uncomfortable and cool so if they settle down cosily side by side that will do no good at all. The unbroody hen is probably spending her days being busy anyway so won't mind if you make the whole coop unsitable. But if she's laying she does need somewhere to lay - at least briefly when she lays her egg.
Thank you! Yes I suspect they will just sit together which is how I found them this morning under the perches. I think I will try and make the whole coop unsitable. And yes I let the laying one in briefly by herself to lay. Unfortunately I can’t have them free ranging all day due to our swooping attacking magpies, but that is a whole other story!
I have a hen which has hatched twice. Now, my hen has laid 9 eggs and she is sitting on them. after day 9, I decided to candle light the eggs only to know that they are not fertilized and it hasn’t developed as compared with her previous eggs i candle light before she hatched.
Meanwhile, a rooster mated with her. I want to collect all the eggs so that she doesn’t waste her time sitting on the eggs.
Can I also eat the eggs?
You can certainly eat any fresh eggs that you collect regardless of whether a rooster has mated with your hen. Even if the eggs are fertilised they are good to eat if fresh.
I'm not sure whether you are asking about eating the eggs that have been sat on for 9 days. I would not eat them but you could cook them for your chickens - cooked eggs are great treats for chickens 🙂
Nice roosters ❤
Yes, I've been very lucky and had some gorgeous roosters over the years. A few make appearances in my videos
Do you have any isa browns or plymouth rock chickens? They are my favourites!
Isa browns are a commercial hybrid and they are not sold in New Zealand. We do have brown shavers and Hylines, which are both commercial hybrids and very like the isa browns. I have three hylines- two young pullets who should start to lay next month and one 3year old hen who doesn't lay any more. They are all super friendly. I have had a couple of Plymouth Rocks but don't have any at the moment.
Is it possible yo make a mistake between chicken being broody or sick or picked on?
If you've ever seen a broody hen, the broodiness is unmistakable.
Sick or picked on might hide in the nest box but would never do that broody growl and puff up.
She doesn't seem aggressive but when I let the others out to roam she did go out but came back to tge run and when I closed off the nest, I noticed she would hung near it. But I have been feeling like she's not very confident in coming forward for food like the rest (I just recently got these hens) and thought she was at the bottom of the group...feel bad for her.
@@chickensinmygarden anyway basically just put her in her own crate rhis afternoon, she let me pat her chest through the fence...
Doesn't sound broody. More likely shy and bottom of the pecking order as you think.
Someone has to be at the bottom.
It can get rather brutal but unless she gets injured (e.g. pecked on the comb and it bleeds) you are best just to let them sort themselves out. If you approach that will probably disrupt the dynamic, which can be useful if you think it seems a bit too rough.
Why do you close off the nest?
I leave mine available for whenever they want to lay. Sometimes they lay late afternoon even, just not after dark.
If I put my hen with 5-6 eggs in a big box in a separate room away from my coop, in a little bit dark place...will it become broody ???
Jawad she might get lonely, idk much, but I think is a hormonal thing mostly
You are right - it's mostly a hormonal thing.
How long after a short broody spell of 4-5 day can I expect my hen to start laying again?
It depends a bit on the hen and how deep into broodiness she was, but probably about a week if she's good layer.
I have a buff Orpington and two white silkie bantams that are all broody right now :l I’m trying to get them to stop now
Magic Pigeon Those skies can be very persistent. Good luck.
Mast
I have 6 chickens one being a baby rooster and another being a baby hen (I call her a baby because she hasn’t laid her first egg) which leaves the four big girls two of these four are very prone to being clucky (or broody) anyways one is a black Pom-Pom headed chook (idk what their breeds are) and she acts big and makes grumpy crows but thankfully she doesn’t peck but the other one she is a golden chook with black speck on her Pom-Pom and neck she does everything that the other chook does except she pecks too so whenever this happens we put them in our dog cage cause we don’t cage our dogs and a day or two later they have cut the habits and they go be normal chickens ( lol it almost autocorrected to children 😂 well they follow me around like it) also I am so excited for our baby hens first egg and to see what colour it is 😁
Good job to any one who read this entire thing
Hi Samantha. I can tell that you are really enjoying your chickens. I love having chickens too. And I love chatting to people about chickens, so your post is certainly not too long for me!
(I write the word 'chickens' so often that my spell check now suggests 'chickens' as soon as I write the first two letters.)
What colour eggs do the big girls lay? And why do you think your 'baby hen' will lay different ones? Is she a different breed? I love finding different coloured eggs in the nest box. To be honest I love that my chickens give me eggs no matter what colour, but colourful ones are even better.
By the way, a young female chicken who has not yet laid her first egg is called a pullet.
I expect she will start laying in the spring.
Best wishes from Sheryl in New Zealand 🙂
I don’t know any of their breeds but our black hen (olive) lays olive green eggs hense the name and our golden and black specked hen (maple) lays white eggs so does our white and black dotted chicken (cruella but I call her Ella my sister named her cruella) she is a smaller chicken and her eggs are slightly smaller than maple’s and then there is another chicken (shadow) who is a vary of different browns she lays light brown eggs and I think our “pullet ” (is that it?) (her name is baby shark my niece named her) will lay brown eggs too and then we have our rooster (chocolate I call him chocy boy) I love them all but my dad pulled down our chicken coop to build a new one with a vegetable garden so the sleep on the back veranda were also chicken sitting our grandma’s chook she doesn’t really have a name because my grandma named her b*tch hen because she attacked our baby chickens when they were tiny so all seven of them are sitting on the veranda railing or in the plant pots sundown to sunrise which is a good thing because the foxes and dingos don’t have the guts to come into town but the only issue is it’s starting to get very cold in Australia I don’t know about New Zealand but I’m sitting waiting for the bus to take me to school and it is freezing my hands are about to go numb from the cold 😔
That sounds like a wonderful life for your chickens.
We are near the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The nights are getting cold but the days are still sunny and warm. I have 9 young chickens that were hatched at Easter. (That's rather late for hatching chickens here.) Last night I moved them from the shed to a wooden box outside, with a light bulb to keep them warm. This morning they have still not yet ventured out of the box.
I was right Baby Shark does lay brown eggs she laid her first one today they’re a really light brown almost beige colour
my lady friend is resisting . I keep lifting her off the nest and wetting her but after a while she is back on. I also take the eggs away daily so there she sits on an empty throne.
You have to keep her off the nest completely. If she is still laying then allow her on just to lay. Otherwise keep her off. You can lock her in a breezy cage with no comfortable ground to settle on or maybe just lock her outside, where she will march up and down angrily. Any time she is sitting her hormones are just going up and making her more broody - it doesn't matter what she is sitting on. Stop her sitting anywhere - she can stand, walk, peck, scratch, eat, drink, perch, anything except sit.
The problem with my broody hen is she is blocking the nest and my other hens are not laying. I was getting 10 eggs a day, now between 2 and 6. And she's not eating or drinking. I take her out of the nest box twice a day and she does eat and drink but she goes back in. I think I'm going to put her in chicken jail. Solitary for a few days.
Yes you need to get her out of the way of the other hens - either in a quiet nest of her own with some fertile eggs to hatch or in solitary until she stops being broody.
Meanwhile maybe the other hens have been laying somewhere else?
I've got 2 in chicken jail
Old dog kennel
I have like this hens but they are not broody I wants they are broodies
It is probably because of the breed. Some breeds are more broody and some are not broody at all.
I have tryed all the tricks that people have said and my hen won't stop brooding
Sometimes she is just too far gone to be easily discouraged. If you have no fertile eggs for her, then you will have to keep locking her away from the nest box and putting her back on the perch with the others after dark until one morning she just joins the other hens instead of making a beeline for the nest box.