Broody Hen

[1stflockMama]

My sweet baby girl is being broody! I can't separate her, we have a run and coop with automatic door, if we close the door our other girls won't be able to lay their eggs.
We wouldn't mind getting a few fertilized eggs. Coop is 8ft by 8ft and we have 7 hens, we also have 7 nesting boxes. The run is an Octogon 8ft each side which we are expanding this summer.
Only issue is we aren't allowed roosters in out neighborhood (maybe we can get the neighbors to be ok?)
So do we break the behavior, sneak in chicks we know are female, give her fertile eggs? We want a happy hen.

 

[Yardfulla poopers]

If you want more chickens, I would sneak in pullets around day20-21 of her being broody. If you don't want more chickens, you can try taking her off the nest several times a day. This works for some. My last broody I had to put in an elevated dog crate (in the coop) with a fan blowing under her. It still took three days for her to break. Three days later we took in a rooster that had been dropped off in a nearby neighborhood so the next time she went broody, we let it happen and got two new pullets.

 

[1stflockMama]

If you want more chickens, I would sneak in pullets around day20-21 of her being broody. If you don't want more chickens, you can try taking her off the nest several times a day. This works for some. My last broody I had to put in an elevated dog crate (in the coop) with a fan blowing under her. It still took three days for her to break. Three days later we took in a rooster that had been dropped off in a nearby neighborhood so the next time she went broody, we let it happen and got two new pullets.

Thank you! She is still going strong, I take her out and she eats like she's starved then goes right back to the nest