I have two young hens - only layed for a couple months and are now broody. I have 4 nesting boxes for my 11 hens but 2 of the boxes are being held captive by these broody girls. The others wait there turn for the remaining nesting boxes but they sure clack a lot about their displeasure while waiting. The noise is a bit bothersome to me so I'm sure my neighbors are not pleased. I kick the broodys out of the nesting box once a day but they head right back there. Any ideas to get them out of this phase?
The broodys are Barnavelders.
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I just put a dozen fertile eggs under my broody cochin. I put her to use when she gets that way. In fact, I look forward to one going broody to save me the work of hatching them with an incubator.I have a tiny little coop that is set up just for broody hens to hatch her eggs.
I have had luck breaking their broodiness by collecting the eggs promptly throughout the day, and removing the eggs from underneath the broody and then taking her out of the nest box and into the run. Do this as many times as nessesary.
I have had luck with putting them in a wire bottomed cage for 48-72 hours with no nesting materials. If you happen to have a rabbit cage/hutch this is ideal for that. When I've done it, I just put the cage in the coop, and give her food and water (treats if you want). Something about the lack of nesting material/a nest and possibly the temperature from the open air floor are the hypotheses I've heard about why this seems to work.
May be an old wives tale--never had to try it myself--but I've heard a quick dunk in cold water rearranges their thinking. They will flap and cackle and complain about the insult while drying off and then settle back to a laying routine. I don't know though. I always kind of wanted mine to brood and didn't have any luck, so, like I said I never tried it. If you do, be sure it's midmorning on a warm day and they have access to some nice warm sunny dust to finish off with.
We had one that started going broody...oddly enough, just as she went through a non-laying period so she was never sitting on eggs. She favored one particular box. We put out alternate nesting areas, then put barriers in the box so she couldn't get in. In effect, we closed the regular boxes for a while, and opened new ones. It seemed to do the trick. She stopped her broodiness and after a about four days we opened the boxes to the flock again.