[maxine123]

can someone please give me some advice i have a light sussex that has gone broody about 5 days ago now a pekin bantum has as well the problem is the light sussex keeps sitting on the pekin but i'm not sure why or if the pekin is burrowing under the light sussex. is this normal and how can i prevent it. 

[joyfull]

are they hatching eggs? do you want them to? if not then keep chucking the girls out of the hen house or put them in a wire cage with food and water - this will stop them 

[Fiona55]

Hi, I also have 2 brooky Leghorns that are sitting squeezed into one nest box together  despite having 2 alternative boxes.  One is very broody & the other not quite so much.  They are not sitting on any eggs, I keep putting them out into the run.  All my hens like to lay their eggs in the same nest box & this one particular broody hen seems to be putting the others off laying - has this happened to anyone else?

[Fiona55]

Whoops I meant to say broody not brooky - it must be too early for the forum & I need my caffiene intake first!!

[Casey76]

It does happen; so unless you are planning to hatch eggs, you really need to keep kicking the hens out of the coop.  If you catch them early enough you can stop them being broody by keeping them out of the nest box - though they may grumble at you

[maxine123]

i got them some hatching eggs to sit on but now the bantum has completely kicked the light sussex out of the nest box and wont let her back in as she wants all the eggs to herself . Had just wondered if it was normal for one hen to wriggle herself under another to sit on the eggs. it quite a funny sight to have a grown hen sat on top another one trying to hatch it with the eggs .

[Casey76]

Have you had chicks before?  Do you have somewhere to keep them away from your other chickens?  What are you going to do with the boys which will hatch?

You need to keep each broody hen separate in her own coop, as, as you have noticed, one hen will "steal" the eggs from the other hen.

If you keep them both together, you could find that the hens will kill all the chicks which hatch because they don't know whose is who.