[Gemjt]

Ok, so I admit it - I am a wuss!

Poor Lewis is definately broody (thanks Joyful for confirming that this morning).  I have been lifting her out of the coop all day and putting her our with the other girls to play in the garden....  However, I am working from home (as I often do) and can't keep running down every 10 mins to do this... thought it would be better just to shut the coop as none of the girls tend to go in it once they are out in the garden..... 

But...... then felt blooming awful when poor Lewis was trying every which way to get back into the coop!  it was so rubbish to watch her trying... I gave in, opened the coop and within seconds she is back inside.

t'husband won't hear of any more chickens - so I can't give her any eggs to sit on (or introduce a man to the little family)...  what happens if I just leave her to get on with it?  Will she eventually snap out of it, or do I have to break the broody cycle???

I know, I am rubbish... pathetically lame when it comes to animals (they get away with murder!)

[Beano]

They can be quite persistent and pathetic when they are broody. We have one that's just come out after being broody for the second time this year. I tend to push her out and once the others have layed I shut her out (that is if I'm at home). When I'm in work I just turf her out when I get home. It's not ideal and it doesn't work that well I'm afraid. It's also a pain when she sits on the others' eggs as soon as she can and you have a very hot egg when you get home.
Yours will come out of it eventually. There is a quicker method that I have read on this blog, which is to put her in a cage with plenty of ventilation underneath her with food and water.
This cools her down and gets her out of it within days apparently.
Good luck.

[Kenilworth]

We have one bird who constantly gets broody, I just  isolate her in a shady, ventilated run on her own and she soon comes around. From what i have been told the main thing is too cool her down. It works for us anyway.

[joyfull]

if you leave her be she can stay broody for 4 weeks or more - I prefer the dog cage method and I put her in that every day just returning her to the coop to sleep. This method works for me and my hens and can take from 2 days to a week to get her to snap out of the broody state.

[Kenilworth]

if you leave her be she can stay broody for 4 weeks or more - I prefer the dog cage method and I put her in that every day just returning her to the coop to sleep. This method works for me and my hens and can take from 2 days to a week to get her to snap out of the broody state.

Like i said we isolate (although in full sight of the other birds) like you do but dont return her at night. Is there a chance she would become "detatched" from the flock and  cause problems with the pecking order once she is returned?
 

[joyfull]

not if she is full view - I put mine back just in case we get a visit from a mink (they are around our area  ) and in a dog cage they will see her and try to get her which would be very upsetting for her so they go back to the confines of a dark coop out of sight 

[Kenilworth]

Cool thought as much............ when isolated she roosts within a small guinea pig house which i shut off at night, this is within a small moveable run which is placed within the main chicken pen hope that makes sense?

[jinty1911]

They can be hard work.  My 1st 3 took turns to be broody every 9 weeks.  I now have 2 Pekins and a Orpy bantie.  1 of the pekins has been broody for weeks and is showing no signs of coming out of it.  The main problem is locking her out of the house because the other girl that is laying has laid under the house and in the garden and that makes me feel bad. 

[Honeysuckle]

One of my Light Sussex was broody for about 3 weeks, kept trying to break her of it but she wasn't having it  so.... it was the naughty cage for her....  2 days in the cage and she's back to normal!