[Fiona55]

I would just like to thank everyone for the advice around stopping my hens being broody.  On three occassions at first sign of broodiness I have put hen in a wire cage with enough room to move about & plenty of food & water & kept them in there for 48 hours.  Hens do not seem to mind too much making themselves at home by perching on the water container at night.  A bit concerned about rats at night so overnight cage is moved to a rat prrof place - the back of my husbands landrover!  Has anyone tried just caging them for 24 hours as I would like to get length of time "in prisoned down to a minimum"?

[joyfull]

you could try placing her back in with the others after 24 hours but if she then goes back to being broody straight away then you would need to remover her and place her back in the cage for 48 hours - which in effect lengthens her time in the cage to 72 hours. Some hens can snap out of it after 24 hours though.

[jhub]

When my hen first went broody I didn't recognise the early signs so she was a fully blown 'don't mess with me chick mamma' before I took action and she needed five days of caging to switch off her hormones. Now I am more aware and I can break the habit in 24-48 hours.