[joyfull]

Lots of you on here ask about how to stop a hen being broody so I thought that I would post this picture of my broody that I have placed in the dog cage today. The metal plates are to keep one of the cockerels away from her as he hates black coloured hens for some reason (one of the guinea fowls hates the white hens  ).

[Elcie]

I remember when I had a broody last year, I took the advice on here, probably from you Joyful, to put her in a bucket of water.  It wasn't easy but it did seem to work!

[joyfull]

thats my next step if this way doesn't work with her in the next couple of days 

[TeaPots]

Whilst I would LOVE a quick dunk in water right now,    I have never been able to bring myself to do this to a chook. What I do is just close off the coop after theyve laid, and the broody cant go back in. There are other options too, putting in a board/wire shelf type thing, at an angle as she cant get comfy on a slope, remove the straw/bedding, take the lid/roof off, so the coop is fully open and not dark and cosey. Some of these work, some dont, theres a lot of things you can try. 

[joyfull]

well I have let her out this morning and she has ran off to join her sister so hopefully another broody broken, now to fetch another one and put her in the cage 

[joyfull]

here is my list on ways to break a broody 

You cant stop them going broody but there are several ways to deal with it.
1) let them have fertile eggs,
2) keep removing the eggs so she is sitting on nothing - can take weeks,
3) keep removing her from the nest box - again can take weeks,
4) put her in a cage with food and water - can take between 1 and 7 days,
5) dunk her bum in a bucket of cold water - this lowers her body temperature - not tried this method but she may need several dunkings (just make sure she dries off though).
So far I have tried methods 1 and 4 - much prefer method 1 though 

[carolbriar]

I have managed to borrow a dog crate but it is not huge.  I will put newspaper aswell as shavings in the bottom and food and water.  Do you leave them in it overnight in the open?  By that I mean in my run rather than letting her go back into the house with the others during the night?  Once the others have laid we have been shutting the hen house and although she has started joining the others and has had dust baths she then goes and checks to see if the door has miraculously opened.  Last night when I opened the door she was there and straight in. 

[joyfull]

I have done both left them in the crate ( I don't put paper or shavings in and also remove the solid tray on the bottom so she is straight onto the mesh underneath) and bought them into the coup at night then taking them out at dawn in the morning before they wake up.

[carolbriar]

The dog crate wouldn't fit into my coup.  Well it might just about but it wouldn't give the others much room.  They don't perch at night but sleep on the floor of the coup.  I will try putting her in it all day and see what happens and decide what to do this evening.

[Wild Pony]

One old boy near me reckons to put her in a house that has a slatted floor so they get a breeze up their.......nethers, lolololol And it does work.