4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Lisastyal]

There seems to be a lot of broody questions at the moment and i'm afraid I'm now going to add to the pile!

Two of my hens have been broody for about a wk and a half now, we have been turfing them out of the nest boxes every couple of hours and on Monday I tried the theory of putting ice blocks in the nest boxes.

The troube is now, as of yesterday, my third hen has decided to join them! This means my 2 cockerels are just looking fed up and lonely!

I have tried various things like turfing them out of the nest boxes, putting bricks in the nest box, shutting them out of the nest box but the smallest hen just gets sooooooo stressed and bullied by one of my silkies to the point I give in and open the nest box.

At the moment I have resorted to shutting the little hen in the nest box (she has food and water in there) and leaving the others to roost on a rock somewhere, at least this way the cockerels annoy them a bit and they dont stay sat for long.

Sorry its a long one but I just want some advice, am I doing the right things?

[moochoo]

Hi, it's tricky with 3 of them being broody at once. The only successful method I've used is a broody cage. I guess you could put 3 in at once if the cage is big enough, it ideally needs to be airy and off the floor. I guess a wire dog carrier should work. It does take at least 3 days to break them though so be strong.

Either that or can you close the hen house (don't know if it's an eglu) off once your other girls has laid so none of them can sit?

Good luck, you need to be persistant they're stubborn things when they're broody

[Lisastyal]

I think we have been a bit soft and were under the impression that even if we leave them to brood that they'd be back to their old selves in 3 maybe 4 weeks but I've just read somewhere that they can stay that way all summer?! It's only been a wk or so , dont think I could cope with them doing it all summer?

Ive considered shutting them all out the coop but the little one gets beaten up so much, take it the others are moody!!

I havent really got the funds to buy or make a broody cage at the moment so might just sit it out a bit longer

[Egluntyne]

Could you borrow a wire dog crate from someone?

[Lisastyal]

not that I know of Eglutine.

What we are doing at the moment seems to be working.

We have shut the little one in the coop with food and water and left the others out. They occasionly try to roost down but the cockerels soon disturb them.

We keep letting the little hen out every couple of hours to make sure she stretches her legs and has chance for a dust bath etc.

At least this way two of the three hens are out and about!