Broody Jail

[LAS1315]

Hi! I came home from work yesterday and found a hen in a nest box (not their normal time). I left her alone for a bit then went in to check on her and she would not get up when I took the 2 eggs out of the box. If she's still in there this morning I was going to put her in broody jail. I have a wire dog crate I was going to put her in, but where should I put the pen? In the coop or run? Or completely separate her into our garage?

 

[Shadrach]

Hi! I came home from work yesterday and found a hen in a nest box (not their normal time). I left her alone for a bit then went in to check on her and she would not get up when I took the 2 eggs out of the box. If she's still in there this morning I was going to put her in broody jail. I have a wire dog crate I was going to put her in, but where should I put the pen? In the coop or run? Or completely separate her into our garage?

Does she need to be put in jail? One may find that removing the eggs, destroying the nest (strip out the nest box) and placing her on a roost bar at roosting time does the trick.
This all needs to be done at dusk after the rest of the chickens have gone to roost. You may find she returns to the nest site and sits for part of the day; just put her back on the roost bar at night should this be the case.
In over twenty years of caring for chickens and more broody hens than I can recal, I have never had to use a broody jail.

In the event that the above doesn't work; I would choose the coop or the run, whichever provides the most security. If you have the space, place the broody jail where the hen can't see the nest she sat in.

 

[RoyalChick]

I set mine up in the coop so she is not too far from her friends at night.
Do make sure she is broody before you put her in. As well as staying on the nest she will flair up and maybe peck you if you try to touch her and if taken off the nest will run around frantically all fluffed up making a specific broody sound (which I don’t have to hand).
On the set up, @aart has a good article on it.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/broody-breaking-ala-aart.77915/

 

[RoyalChick]

Does she need to be put in jail? One may find that removing the eggs, destroying the nest (strip out the nest box) and placing her on a roost bar at roosting time does the trick.
This all needs to be done at dusk after the rest of the chickens have gone to roost. You may find she returns to the nest site and sits for part of the day; just put her back on the roost bar at night should this be the case.
In over twenty years of caring for chickens and more broody hens than I can recal, I have never had to use a broody jail.

In the event that the above doesn't work; I would choose the coop or the run, whichever provides the most security. If you have the space, place the broody jail where the hen can't see the nest she sat in.

I have only had to use it for one of mine. Seems like it is a personality thing.
At one end of the extreme is Piglet who packed it in after a few days of me removing eggs (I think because she doesn’t like missing meals). At the other end is Tassels who will sit and try to hatch a bottle of frozen water. She tried to hatch the wire bottom of the dog cage.

 

[LAS1315]

Does she need to be put in jail? One may find that removing the eggs, destroying the nest (strip out the nest box) and placing her on a roost bar at roosting time does the trick.
This all needs to be done at dusk after the rest of the chickens have gone to roost. You may find she returns to the nest site and sits for part of the day; just put her back on the roost bar at night should this be the case.
In over twenty years of caring for chickens and more broody hens than I can recal, I have never had to use a broody jail.

In the event that the above doesn't work; I would choose the coop or the run, whichever provides the most security. If you have the space, place the broody jail where the hen can't see the nest she sat in.

Thanks!! I've had chickens on and off for 10 years and have never had one go broody so I just assumed that's what you do. She slept in the box last night. I took her out this morning and she didn't run back in. I was already planning on cleaning out their nest boxes today so I'll do that too!

 

[Shadrach]

Thanks!! I've had chickens on and off for 10 years and have never had one go broody so I just assumed that's what you do. She slept in the box last night. I took her out this morning and she didn't run back in. I was already planning on cleaning out their nest boxes today so I'll do that too!

Broody jails are it seems apopular option here on BYC. I believe the popularity can be explained by the majority of keepers wanting to keep the hen producing eggs and thus choosing what would seem to be the quickest and surest method.
However, it is quite possible that the hens egg laying cycle has switched off by the time the keeper takes action and it may take a couple of weeks or longer for the hen to switch the egg laying back on. In such cases it doesn't seem worth the hassle of broody jail and the least stressfull option may be a better option.

 

[aart]

I believe the popularity can be explained by the majority of keepers wanting to keep the hen producing eggs and thus choosing what would seem to be the quickest and surest method.

Not egg production so much.
There are other reasons, as you well know.
It's the simplest, and yes the quickest, way to break broodiness.

 

[LAS1315]

She let's me pull her and then she will go around with her friends then end up going back in. She's not frantic to go back in so maybe she's not broody??

 

[rosemarythyme]

She might be partially broody - sort of thinking about it, not yet fully committed. Or she might not be a hardcore broody, but will head in and sit if given the opportunity.

I like being more proactive with putting them in the breaker if it seems they're more broody than not as they should break pretty readily at that stage. The crate ideally should go somewhere safe and in full view of the flock, so coop or run is fine, with some climate protection from full sun, wind, rain, etc.

 

[ChookaPete]

Broody jails are it seems apopular option here on BYC. I believe the popularity can be explained by the majority of keepers wanting to keep the hen producing eggs and thus choosing what would seem to be the quickest and surest method.
However, it is quite possible that the hens egg laying cycle has switched off by the time the keeper takes action and it may take a couple of weeks or longer for the hen to switch the egg laying back on. In such cases it doesn't seem worth the hassle of broody jail and the least stressfull option may be a better option.

I don't mind if my chickens do not lay eggs for a bit, since usually they are so prolific in their output that I cannot keep up with eating their eggs or giving them away!

I only ever purposely broke the broodiness out of one of my hens, because I was concerned she would perish from a sustained lack of nourishment (I was away when she went broody).

She happens to be broody again, but this time I was there to observe her enter broodiness, so I am monitoring her. I want to get her some fertile eggs to hatch but they are hard to source at the moment. If I can't after 21 days of broodiness, I will pop her into the tent for a few days.