[pod]

hi i was wondering if some one could help i have 3 chickens had them from babys thay was all 3 laying every day like clock work one whent broody and stoped laying now all 3 have stoped laying thay dont come out the nest box all day only for somethin to eat then thay are strait back in thay are not siting on eggs i took them all out thay are shut in at night and nothin can get in the pen where thay are eny advice would be apreciated thanks 

[joyfull]

Sounds to me like they have all gone broody, in which case you have a couple of options 1) do you want them to hatch eggs and 2) or not?
If option 1 then what will you do with the resulting cockerels that you will definately get (often more males than females in each hatch) and do you have room to set up broody boxes and to keep the young additions?
If option 2 then some people just shut them out of the nesting boxes and let them sort them selves out (3-4 weeks), or put them in a wire cage (dog cage or similar) to cool them off, or dunk their bottoms in a bucket of water to cool them off.

[Hensington]

Most old timers say a wire mesh cage raised slightly off the floor will break a broody in a couple of days.

I usually just lock them out of the laying boxes and it works albeit usually slower than a wire mesh cage.

[honeysuckle farm]

This happend to two of mine in the second year.   With both I locked them out of the hen house as I was worried they weren't eating or drinking.  It took about a week to break the broodiness, but both were then back to normal and laying each day.

[darcyhen]

four weeks ago one of my three went broody and this weekend we had eight little chicks!
 
It was lovely. got the eggs from ebay. we wanted more hens anyway so if we are lucky and get three more hens then we will have achieved our aim for the same price or cheaper.

Obviously the cockerels will be another issue but we will cross that bridge when we come to it!

[joyfull]

oh great darcyhen, do we have pictures yet? What breed, 8 hatched out of how many?
As for the cockerels I think a lot of us are in the same boat, but pure breeds stand more chance of being rehomed as people want unrelated ones to keep their breeding strong. 

[darcyhen]

i'll try to get a picture on later today. They are soooooo adorable. Total distraction in the garden as we are all spending time watching them.
There are 4 Silver - Lavender Araucana and 4 Golden - speckled sussex.
Can't believe how strong they are. They've even been out in the garden with their mum. (With me on guard to help keep the other two from hurting chicks).
 

[joyfull]

lavender araucanas are just so pretty 

[Foxy]

oh great darcyhen, do we have pictures yet? What breed, 8 hatched out of how many?
As for the cockerels I think a lot of us are in the same boat, but pure breeds stand more chance of being rehomed as people want unrelated ones to keep their breeding strong. 

breeders normally want to know the strain of cockerel, serious breeders rarely would bring in an unrelated cockerel, and then only from a recognized true breeder and certainly not ebay. Unrelated birds can actually wreak havoc a very good strain ( which may have taken years to get to a certain standard) by bringing to many confounding factors into the strain.

[joyfull]

I suppose thats where I am lucky then as I know the breeder (who shows his birds and does win quite a few shows) who I got my eggs from, so strain isn't a problem with me, however I do take your point Foxy regarding those off ebay who you don't know. There are some unscrupulous (sp?) people who will just interbreed  to make a fast buck etc.   .

[mias chooks]

I heard that putting ice cubes under broodys would discourage them?  but you just need to make them very uncomfortable and they should stop


.......hopefully

[LittleRedHen]

I have a broody hen and have talked to three other people locally that have them too.  It just must be the time of year?  I just bung mine out whenever I have a treat for my girls like spinach leaves, make sure she stays out for about an hour's time, then I let her back in to get on with it.  It's a natural occurance and so we are tolerating it.

[pod]

thanks for the info will try keeping them out the nest box for a while just wish i had some eggs to put under them make it worth there while never mind thanks chaps and ladys enyway