How to make a broody coop to stop your chickens and bantams being broody (takes 1 hour to make)
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“Two of my hens are broody.” Bunty was exasperated.
“We’ve got a broody one too.”
This was our first summer of keeping bantams (a small friendly breed of chicken).
Bunty continued, “I wish I hadn’t suggested Bantams. I’ve discovered that they go broody at the drop of a hat.”
Years ago Bunty had kept chickens commercially. Those were a type of chicken bred for laying that rarely go broody.
She thought that she had the answer to our dilemna.
“We need anti broody coops. You’re good at making things. Why don’t you make a couple?”
My heart sank. I thought that they would take hours to make, imagining a sort of dog kennel with a wide gauge wire mesh floor.
To stop a hen being broody you need to stop her from settling comfortably. The trick is to construct a cage with a floor made of large wire mesh ( with at least 1 inches squares). Set the cage on bricks so that the floor is suspended, keeping the bricks to the outside edges so that she can’t sit on them. Provide a small drinking fountain and feeder within the cage and pop her in. She won’t be able to settle on the wire mesh floor and within a few days will get over her broodiness.
I went to bed early and woke at four. In the still cold light I realised that the entire cage could be made of wire mesh. I went to the garden centre after breakfast and bought three sheets of wire mesh measuring 90cm x 60cm. The cage is 60 cm long and 43 cm high and 43 cm wide This allows for an overlap at the joins.
Our broody coop is simple to make. Lay the wire on a flat surface, and bend 2 cm of wire mesh to a 90 degree angle along a 60 cm side. Then lift the opposite end and press it into the angled flap. Press firmly on the bulgy end and fold flat to make a clean angle and pull the ends apart. You now have the floor and one side. Repeat the operation for the roof and the other side.The flap may seem a bit fiddly but it makes the cage much more rigid and stable.
Now attach the the two halves together to make the body of the cage. I tied the two together with twists of wire at 5cm intervals. The front and back of the cage are made from the remaining sheet. Hold the sheet against the opening at the back and cut to fit using wire clippers. The back was attached using wire twists. The front is hinged at the top with sides that bend back a bit over the sides of the cage.
Having a hinge at the top makes it easier to put the chicken in the cage. If you put her in headfirst you can quickly drop the door down and secure it with pegs before she has turned around. We used clothes pegs but small bulldog clips would be good for a larger chicken.
The broody coop in the photo is the mark one version. I made Bunty a Rolls Royce (mark two) cage out of plastic coated wire. Definitely worth the extra investment as it’s stronger and more durable. Carol (our Maran) has never been broody. If she was, I’d make her a bigger cage (the hen needs to be able to stand up). And it would have to be stronger than the mark one cage as she is a much larger bird than the bantams.
Our broody coop sits in the Day Centre. Bunty had hers in the run with a bit of wood as a roof.
It took me a while to realise when the perfect moment of release should take place. The chicken in the broody coop will ask to be released immediately. But bide your time. Her comb will gradually change from pink to red. When it is red she can get out of jail. If you release her while her comb is still pink she will nip back to the nesting box and you will have to start the process all over again.
If you have a broody chicken and you want her to sit on fertilised eggs put a floor on the bottom of the broody coop, fold the door over the roof and you have a quiet area in which she can sit for twenty one days, with easy access to food and water. She needs to be able to move away from the nest so don’t lock her in. Ideally, place the cage somewhere that is protected from the elements. Or construct a simple roof like Bunty did (a bit of plywood slightly bigger than the cage). It’s not a good idea to let a broody hen stay in the nesting box as it puts the other hens off laying eggs.
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I remember my gran complaining about the chickens being broody all the time! I didn’t know about the combs, thanks for the education.
I hereby display my complete ignorance. What is a broody hen and why is it something to be avoided (although that second part of the answer may be obvious once you’ve answered part one!)
Hello Ash,
My Aunt kept a lot of bantams in a meadow where she lived. The raised them for eggs and meat.
She started keeping chickens when she was four and throughout her life until she died at the age of eighty three. I had no interest in chickens at the time which is a shame as seventy nine years of experience would have been handy.
Hi Angelfeet,
I didn’t know much about chickens until we started keeping them.
A broody hen is a hen who has the urge to hatch a brood of chicks and will therefore sit on the nest over any eggs (fertilised or unfertilised) as part of the hatching instinct. When a hen is broody, she stops laying eggs. So if you want her to lay eggs you have to encourage her out of her broodiness.
We have a post Mrs Boss is Broody http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=25
which gives a bit more information about broody hens. The broody season is just starting in England.
Incidentally you can put fertilised eggs under a hen and she will think that the chicks are her own, even if they are ducklings, pheasant, quail. You can also swap the eggs between chickens. Carol (our large Maran hen was reared by a bantam). This is described here
http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=194
Mrs Boss is in fact broody at the moment and she will be going into the broody coup this evening.
Great idea, thanks for sharing! I wish we had room for some hens (I never totally trust ‘Organic’ Eggs from the supermarket) but our garden is the size of a postage stamp AND our dogs love the taste of chicken unfortunately!
I know what you mean. I have to get in and out of our run ultra fast so as not to let chickens out or baying Min Pins in.
Once Carol escaped. Chicken and dogs were so shocked that nothing happened and she shot back in again.
Many Thanks, for the information, Ive just popped our Bantam in and will be watching her with a close eye for the colour change.
Hi Anthony,
So pleased that our info helped. Hop that she switches back soon. Thanks for leaving a comment.
Thank you so much for the ideas and information! We raise silkies and when they are laying the eggs are great – but then they decide they want to be mamas (again!), I have three hens on empty nests right now and can’t get them off for more than a few moments once or twice a day. My husband will be building those broody coops this weekend! My question is this; silkies have black skin, how do I know when they are ready to be let out? I didn’t know not to leave them in the nest boxes – is that why the rest of the hens seem to have stopped laying? I will appreciate any help that you can give me!
Hi Misti,
The black skin is a problem. I think that you will have to leave them in the anti broody coups for a few days (generally three days does the trick)before releasing them. If they are still broody, they shoot straight up to the nesting boxes. If they do this put them back in the cages immediately for a few more days. It has to be trial and error with your silkies.
Broody chickens in the nesting boxes seem to put the other chickens off lay. It could also be the time of year, our egg production drops off in the autumn.
how long does it take for a cornish cross to mature
Hi Taylor
I would imagine it would take about 8 – 12 months.
Taylor,
10 weeks max for most Cornish Crosses. They grow so fast and put on so much weight that they will end up breaking their legs. I’ve had 7 week old birds that were 6-lbs processed. If they aren’t having broken limbs they’ll be having heart attacks as they startle real easily.
Hi Brent
Thanks for this. I had no idea that they matured so quickly! What exactly are Cornish Crosses?
I have rhode island reds and 2 of them are broody and my egg productio nhas dropped to 1 or 2 a day rather than the 4 or 5 i was getting. is the comb this still true for this breed as well? I am new to this whole chicken thing, but i cant get these birds out of that nesting box, and one weird thing is they squeeze themselves into the same box… go figure?
i had a plastic coated wire box, and i put them in there with food and water, and i proped it up on 2 4 by 4’s how long should i leave them there, should i wait till i see them start laying eggs? with them in the broody box, should i keep that box inside the pen with the other chickens, thats where i have it. and when will the other hens begin to lay again? by the way, 1 hen is oldest and there is another that is just behind her, and well the other 3 have been laying eggs for about 2 months now… i dont know if age has anything to do with it. I only have hens bo roosters, cause i just wanted eggs, and no babies.
Hi Diane
Leave your hens in the broody coup for a few days. If their combs were opink when you put the hens into the BC they should be red when you release them. Don’t wait for them to start laying again, the broody coup doesn’t allow them to settle so egg laying is generally out of the question.
If they seem to be taking their time to get back to normal you can always let them out. If they nip back to the nesting boxes put them back in the BC.
Broodiness has nothing to do with age as far as I know. It’s hormonal. It also has nothing to do with roosters (having or not having them).
Good luck! I’d love to hear how you get on.
There is lots going on at our place today, not only did we have two chicken eggs hatch but we seem to have a hen gone broody, I realised this afternoon that she had hardly been out of the coop and so i lifted her out and off she went to eat and drink, I then nipped back to remove the eggs but noticed her heading back about 20 minutes later. I do feel awful taking the eggs away, they could never hatch, can anyone tell me if I did the right thing?. I am new to this and loving it, but would appreciate any advice. thanks Julie
Hi Julie
Don’t feel bad about shifting your hen off the nest – it was just the right thing to do. She was clearly hungry and thirsty. Every now and then I receive an email from someone whose hen has died on the nest. This will happen if you don’t shift them off. They go into a trance like state and will starve to death if you don’t shake them out of this state every day.
The anti broody coup (detailed above) is so easy to make and will get your hen back to “normal” very fast. Like you, I felt awful pushing hens off the nest and hoped that they would get over their broodiness. They won’t. They’ll get stuck into being broody, disrupt egg production and be miserable all summer. The broody hormones increase as time goes on. It’s a bit unfair to your chickens to let them continue in this state for very long if they are not going to raise chicks. You need to nip the behaviour in the bud asap. Your hen will then enjoy the summer and the sunshine.
Thanks for the info, I have hubby on the rolls royce case but I actually think she is going to be fine she was out and about as usual once the eggs had gone. We had a total of 6 chicks born over the last two days. One chick looked like she was not going to make it out of the egg, she looked almost dead,but my daughter was determined not to give up on her and so eventually helped her out and after lots of nursing looks as though she is going to make it. Is it ok to help them out?
thanks julie
Hi Julie
That’s good news that your chicken is back to her old self without the need of a broody coop.
I’m not sure anout helping chicks out of eggs. Some people say yes others definitely no. All I know is that you have to be very, very careul not to damage the chick. I’ve never had to do it myself so I can’t help you here. This afternoon I’m going to see The Chicken Lady and will ask her as she has breed loads of chickens.
Update:
TCL says that she has helped chicks out of pipped eggs in the past. You need to be very gentle as it is easy to damage a chick. In an ideal world the chick pecks its own way out.
The info bout making a broody coop is great! I keep 6 bantams, and 3 are broody right now. It has stopped the other 3 laying and eggs have stopped altogether now. I will make my broody coop 2mrw and hopefully get the girls back to normal soon.
Hello Lara
Hope that your chucks don’t take too long to get back to normal. They will hate being in the anti broody coop but it works well.
Your advice on how to construct a broody pen was excellent, many thanks. My only query now is, do you leave them outside in the pen over night or allow them into their roosting hut with the others?
We’ve four banties altogether, and our two light sussex are both broody.
Hello The Youngs
You leave the hens in the broody coop (24 hours a day) until their combs turn back to red. They will demand to be released but ignore this plea until they are ready to return to the flock in a non broody state.
Give them a roof to protect them from the elements and make sure that they have a good supply of feed and water.
Thank you we’ll give it a go, keep you posted!!
Hi The Youngs
Good luck. I’d love to hear how you get on!
Hi
I just wanted to write and say thank you for your superb plans and sound advice. my husband is currently building a broody coop to stop two of our banties being broody (one has been broody for a couple of days, the second from this morning)
I’m sure Rusty and Dougal (magic roundabout theme going on with all our girls in this corner of Suffolk lol)will snap out of it really quickly now.
thanks again
Caroline
Hi Caroline
I do hope that it works for your bantams.
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. Much appreciated.
Doodle is much recovered and back to her usual curious self. on her exit Rusty went in and is less than impressed and tries desperately to join her feathered friends at night. hopefully another couple of days will have her back to normal.
thank you again
Caroline
Hi Caroline
So pleased that the anti broody coup worked for you!
Thanks for the update.
Thanks for your advice, I have just built a broody coop and 3 of our 4 Maren Xs are at the moment very unhappy in the coop.
The fourth, not broody, laid an egg in one of the nesting boxes this morning and it was immediatly taken over by one of the broody girls ! ! !
We live in France and with a largish garden which they roam at will (or at least did before going broody) it seems strange not to them pecking around.
We have fenced off our small veg garden just in case but they do not seem to cause any damage to the garden plants and shrubs and it is a pleasure to have them wandering about.
Jeff
My bantam has been sat on fertilised eggs for 21 days now and I was wondering how long she should stay there. What happens if the eggs don’t hatch, how long should I leave the little hen as I am new to this. Thanks
Hi Katie
Sometimes it takes a bit longer than 21 days for bantam eggs. I’d leave her for at least another four days or until she wants to get off the nest. If there’s no activity after a week something has probably gone wrong and you need to investigate.
I’d love to hear how you get on.
Hi Jeff
I’m sorry to skip you!
Great to hear that you built an anti broody coop.
You will feel a pig and your chucks will rage inside the coop but it is a quick and effective way of getting them out of the broody state. So in the end you and the chickens will be happier.
Next time you could try raising a few fowl under a broody hen. It’s great fun. You could always give them away if you don’t want to keep whatever you are raising. It’s nice for the chickens too.
I wish I’d visited your website earlier – I’ve a pekin bantam who has been broody for over two weeks and another one who appears to be just starting – guess what my husband is making this bank holiday!
Hello Ingrid
I do hope that the anti broody coup works for you! Thanks for leaving a comment.
I made a broody coop yesterday (sunday) after reading this page when my hen went broody on saturday. The broody coop is in the garden on legs and i put it in the garage at night. As she is completely isolated from my other two hens, will there be any problems between them when i finally release her? Also, her comb is still red, it never turned pink – is this because i caught her so early? The only other signs i can look out for are the grumpy clucks and the puffing up of her feathers. I cant wait until this is over!
Hello Alison
There shouldn’t be a problem when your hen returns to the flock.
The comb not turning pink is because you caught her so early. Are you sure that she is broody? Mrs Squeaky likes to sit for hours in the nesting box and often I think that she is going broody but spot her out later on with the rest of the flock.
The signs of broodiness are, refusal to leave the nest, a puffing out of feathers so the hen starts to resemble a floppy tea cosy when on the nest. The comb losing colour.
thanks for the helpful advice, i am so glad i found this website! i think she is broody, but i am a chicken keeping novice so i cant be 100% certain. The puffing up of feathers is happening pretty much constantly, and she has gone from being my most timid and shy hen to being a grumpy monster overnight. I have never seen her sit on the nest before (except to lay an egg) and this time last week i couldnt get near here, not even with a handful of grapes because she is so timid, but when i lifted her off the nest to put her in the broody coop she didnt even flinch. She also started to attack my other two hens and puffing herself up and dropping her head if they went anywhere near the chicken house. Is this aggression a sign of broodiness?
Yesterday she had laid an egg in the broody coop, but it was completely soft shelled. Could this be through the stress of being in the broody coop?
Hello Alison
Your hen sounds broody to me! The agression could be a sign of broodiness – protecting her eggs.
I’m not sure why she laid the soft shelled egg. Personally, I wouldn’t be over concerned.
Hope that she is back to her old self soon.
I have a broody sat on some eggs I bought on ebay, she started with 5 and managed to break 3 of them (don’t know how as she has plenty of bedding), anyway she has been on the last 2 for 23 days and they are showing no signs of hatching. Will she stop being broody now even though she hasn’t hatched any chicks or do I need a brookdy coop. Also read on another website that plunging the chicks bum in cold water can stop them going broody, any comments?
Hi Lu
What kind of eggs is she sitting on? Different eggs take different times to hatch. If they are hen or bantam eggs, quite often they just need a few more days.
Have you candled the eggs?
Personally, I wouldn’t put a hen in the anti broody coup if she had sat on a nest for days. Give her a break.
I’ve heard that dunking chicken bums in cold water doesn’t stop them being broody.
Give her a bit more time to hatch the eggs. Make plans after a week of waiting past the egg hatching date. Then remove the eggs, examine them and then start asking questions.
BTW if three eggs cracked they probably had very thin shells, nothing to do with your hen.
Thanks for your help one seems to be pipping so fingers crossed. They are Lavendar Araucana eggs bought at great expense on ebay, not sure I will be going down the ebay route again!
Hi Lu
Hope that everything goes well with the hatching. I’d love to hear how you get on!
I have 3 hens (20wks)& 2 silkies (24wks)no eggs yet, I know its early yet, waiting patiently! They are in a sectioned off part of my garden but would like them to roam freely my worry is as I have a lot of plants and flowers when I have let them roam they eat various plants and end up with runny pooh, they presumably eat anything & won’t know what not to eat. Is it ok to let them free or should I wait till most have died down (the plants) they’re particularly fond of my hosta. Can they get really sick from eating garden plants. They’re fed layers pellets, mixed corn, greens & other veg as their normal diet as well as the bugs they find in their own garden area.
Hi Amanda
Our hen are in a big run and are not free range so I have no experience of them eating plants n my garden. Loads of plants are poisonous and I have no idea if they would eat these or not.
However, I have visited many houses where the chickens are free range in a normal garden and are happy and healthy.
This is something that would be worth investigating further.
Thank you for all the advice. I just wish I had read it sooner. Two of my six hens have been broody for 8 to 10 weeks. I tried everything (in my ignorance) except the broody coop. They have been out and about now for 1 week and the comb is bright red but no sign of an egg. How long should I expect this to go on for? Your advice would be so welcome.
From Mary
Hello Mary
It’s difficult to say as your hens were broody for so long. The red combs are a good sign.
They will start laying soon. It’s hard but you just have to be patient.
If you had left them to be broody you probably wouldn’t have seen any eggs from them until next year! And they probably would have disturbed the laying cycles of your other hens.
hi one of my hens has started to stay on her nest , she also has been pulling the other hens eggs in for her to sit on , i havent noticed any change in her comb but once i move her to get the eggs she streches her legs has a feed and drink and goes back to her nest about 30 mins later. i can put her in to solutry in the hen house as its big enough to do so and can keep her of the floor with mesh , will this be enough or does she need to be outside and well away from the other hens ??
Hi Pete
Our broody coop is in the run, in an open building with a roof, as it wouldn’t fit in the hen house. It seems to work well. The hens can see the prisoner and vice versa.
I’d have a go with the broody coop in the hen house.
It’d be interesting to here how you get on.
well shes in solutry now making loads of noise and stomping around , im going to let her out to feed and water, as i havent got any spare feeders or drinkers and shes knocked everything over so far but will lock the others out first … ill keep you posted
Hi Pete
Your hen will be grumpy but she should get over her broodiness fairly fast. You could make a temporary feeder and drinker out of plastic drink bottles. Make a couple of holes near the top on one side and attach them to the cage with garden wire. She won’t be able to knock these over.
thanx for good tip, shes been promoted to the garden shed(still in broody coop) with the door open during the day so she can see the others because the others seem to be getting aggresive towards her, because of this can i re introduce her as normal or do i have to take ay precautions i obviously dont want her rejected, thanx again
Hello Pete
Good that she is in a quiet secluded place.
The pecking order is a nightmare. There is not much that you can do about this, apart from organising several alternative places that a bird can retreat to. There is a hierarchy with chucks with one at the top and always one at the bottom.
Now your hen is in the shed another hen will be experiencing temporary bottom of the pecking order status. This is the hen, backed up by the top of the pecking order hen that will give your hen grief when she is released from prison.
Meanwhile she will be so pleased to be released from prison that she will just be longing for a dust bath and ignore the taunts.
There are things that you can do to distract the others. Hang a cabbage so the hens have to jump to reach it. A football is another good trick if you have a chicken run. They climb on board and it moves!
shes finaly stopped being broody and has fitted back in nicely with the others , how long will it be until she will start laying again
Hi Pete
Great that your hen has got over her broodiness!
This depends on how long she was broody. It can take a couple of weeks for her to start laying again.
well the broody coop did the trick, made exactly as per instructions, it really works,we only have 5 battams but it seems as though they go broody at the drop of a hat so there is usualy one doing time in the cage.
i have been trying to get info on how the moult effects the hens one seems very down in the mouth and scraggy will they stop laying, and how long doesit last.
Hi Noel
Great that the anti broody coup did the trick.
You can buy bantams that are not prone to broodiness and lay every day! There are bantam versions of most of the good laying breeds. It might be worth Googling and then looking on eBay for hatching eggs.
When you have hens moulting feed them some extra vitamin supplements such as cod liver oil in their food. Moulting can go on for a few weeks but the feathers grow back fairly quickly. Moulting generally means that the hen has gone off lay and is resting.
I have been dealing with broodiness this month with my Buff Orpingtons. I managed to cure Sheila of it, but now Omarosa (not a team player or nice) has gone broody and she’s really nasty. Here however is a problem with one of my Barred Rocks Big Bertha. I was told by someone that if you don’t have a rooster (which I don’t nor do I want) that one of the hens will act like the rooster and quit laying. Big Bertha is now called Uncle Bertha because that is exactly what she did. She tries to mount the other hens and isn’t laying. Anyone every heard of this happening????
Hi,
We have a sussex, an australorp and a leghorn. The sussex has gone very broody. Her comb is pinkish, and we’ve had to throw her constantly out of the nesting box, where she’d immediately run back into while fluffing herself up and making annoyed clucking noises. Funnily enough her comb would go more red once locked out for a half hour or so – but open the door and she was in again like a shot.
We have them in a chook tractor at night with nesting boxes, and they run free range over our property during the day, and all three usually lay in the same nesting box. Unfortunately, this is where the sussex was taking residence. The laying of the other two hadn’t yet been interrupted but this morning we only got one egg (in the other nesting box); however this isn’t unheard of.
We’ve tossed the sussex with some fresh food and water into an old chook house that was here beforehand, that has a concrete floor in it. There’s a largish window with wire mesh over it (that she tried to get through when we first put her in), and I don’t recall seeing any nesting boxes in there. Should this be an adequate anti-brood coup, or would it be better to make something with a mesh base and lay it on the grass?
Hi Vicki
I haven’t heard of hens thinking that they are cockerals! Poor you it sounds like a nightmare. Hope that you sort it out soon.
Hi Paul
Your light sussex needs to be put into a broody coup (as described in the post above). This need to be off the ground so that she can’t settle. This is the quickest and kindest way to deal with the condition. Putting her in a shed may take some time and probably won’t work.
Hi,
Just an update on our broody light sussex. We wound up popping her into the old coop for four days and changed her food and water daily. With the concrete floor she wasn’t comfortable at trying to brood, and often roosted on a besser block in the corner. Anyway, the solution worked perfectly and she began laying again a week after we’d let her out.
Very many thanks for all this information.
We got 2 hens 5 months ago, adding 2 more in October (who were just pre-lay)- and one of these has just gone broody over Christmas, and is certainly disrupting the house routine !
We shall now see what we can do about a broody-coop……….
Thanks for your advice on broody hens. We have had hens for 3 years now and last year had a broody hen who didn’t lay for the entire season. Despite reading all our books on henkeeping, we were not given any information on what to do to bring her out of her broodiness. We only ‘cured’ her by putting fertilised eggs under her which she did hatch successfully – although we then couldn’t bear to part with the chicks so ended up with 6 girls instead of our original 3! Unfortunately this week the same mother hen has gone broody again which upsets the other hens as she steals their eggs to sit on and will not leave the nest. We are so grateful to have such brilliant advice on building the cage as in all three years of henkeeping we have never seen such practical advice on any website or in any book.
Once again, many thanks
Hi Sue
I discovered this method from my friend Bunty, who in her seventies had experienced wartime chicken keeping. Delighted that you found the information useful!
Hello how are you doing my name is larrt mike pls i will like to know of you have hen coops for sell i will like to know the cost of it plux the tax and get back to me i will be waiting to hear from you very soon
Cool! I was worried about my chickens going broody too quickly. This is perfect, thanks!
Hi,
We made a broody coop today as we have 4 broody hens at the moment. We have started off just putting two in there. Is it ok to put a perch in there cause they look so uncomfortable and we dont want them to get sore feet!
Thanks Katie
Hi Katie
The whole idea is that the hens don’t settle. This will take them out of their broody state.
No perch. Just the cage and food and water.
Hi, I have a broody light sussex, she has been sitting on eggs fo about 2 days in the normal nest box in the chicken house and i am wondering if i should move her? If so when and where to, do i need to make her another house?
Please help
Emma.
I have a hen who has been in a rabbit hutch where she layed her eggs – unbeknown to me. They have now hatched and are getting quite big (4 babies and mum). I want to know the best way of moving them back to a new hen coup. I was going to take the hutch away so they don’t head back in there and I don’t want them going and roosting in the tree (as the rooster does) as we are coming into winter now. (new Zealand)
Any ideas would be great – Sue
Hi,
One of my Hens, Gladys, has gone really broody and is quite aggresive if I try to move her. (my husband had to hold her back with a garden rake so I could remove the eggs from under her). She’s now sitting on nothing but she still refuses to budge. I’m worried that she’ll go into a rage if I put her in a broody coop. You don’t think she could hurt herself in there as long as I make the coop big enough do you?
I really hope the broody coop works for me as none of my other hens are laying apart from 1 soft shell and I rely on my eggs for my cake business! Thanks ever so much for the inspiration! I’m off to B&Q now…!
Hi Helen
That really made us laugh about your aggressive broody hen. We had the same thing but if you actually feel their peck it doesnt hurt and if you leave your finger there they stop biting you after the the first or second time you try and pick them up, it doesnt take long before you can pick them up with no problem, especially when you put them by food!
Gladys is in the Broody Coop (or the Moody Coop, as my daughter prefers to call it!) I moved her with gardening gloves in the end! She’s not as bad as I thought she’d be, just really noisy. The next problem is how to prevent her from getting an ASBO while she’s in there for noise pollution! And we now know what you mean about the huge smelly poo!
Thanks again, and I’ll let you know how she goes on when she’s free again!
I’ve just found your website after searching for a solution for my two broody Brahmas. I was just thinking of how to build the coop when I remembered the puppy cage that I reared my two small chicks in. I’ve taken the plastic bottom out, put it on bricks in the main chicken run, and put the two grumpy girls in. They are looking highly indignant, and clucking furiously but they haven’t sat down in over an hour. What a brilliant solution – thank you so much!! So if anyone has a dog cage, and it’s a good size, it provides a perfect coop.
We have took on two bantam hens from someone who no longer wanted them and are loving having them! One of them has been broody for about 4 weeks now and we didn’t know what to do despite trying to find out, after reading this we are now going to build a broody coop and try that. The enclosure we have for them is very big and there is plenty of room, I would love to extend our chicken family to another 4 but I really don’t know how to go about this. Any advice would be great! Many thanks.
Hello all, I too have a broody and have made an impromptu broody cage consisting of:
A bird food crow protector: this is a metal cage with 2″ square mesh. It had no floor so i’ve attached some chicken wire to the bottom of it.
I’ve suspended the four corners on blocks so the bird cannot sit comfortably.
There is a plastic feed bowl tied to one corner and a water bowl to the other.
It’s been in there since Sunday night and it happens to have been dry weather. Should the pen have a roof on it?
Hi Sarah
You can buy hens on point of lay (pol). Just Google for breeders in your area.
Or you could by some bantam hatching eggs off EBay and put these under your broody hen. Then you will have the fun of the chicks!
Hi GS
Your cage sounds ingenious!
Yes the cage needs a roof (we put ours in aopen fronted chicken shed) – against strong sunshine and/or rain. Heavy duty plastic or roofing felt would do.
I was told by someone I met on a chicken forum to put my 2 broody pekins in a cage to ‘break’ their broodiness and I thought it was mean, so I decided to just let them be broody, turfing them out of the nest box 3 times a day to eat and drink.
This has been fine, but its been 2 weeks now and Im tired of it!!! I never see them and there are no eggs, so whats the point of having them?!
So after reading this I’m getting a small dog cage (I cant make stuff!!)and isolating my girls in the shed ASAP!
Hi Kerry
The broody coop route is the kindest I think. Hens don’t want to be broody if they are not sitting on eggs they want to be out and about and enjoying life. If you put fertile eggs under them it’s a different matter and they will generally love raising a brood.
Hoever if you just leave them they could be broody until the autumn, loose a lot of condition and have problems in the winter.
Ive bought a small dog crate this evening and set it up in the shed. Im putting the girls in it tonight at 8pm (their normal bedtime).
Its just like you said; a wire cage with a wire floor and food and water.
They’re gonna hate me!!
Hi Kerry
Yes, they’ll hate you for a few days but they won’t spend the entire summer moping and loging for a brood. The latter would be dreadful for the chickens and they would really suffer.
A dog crate is a great idea! Thanks for the update.
Hi,
Can someone please help me out here, my chicken is in the broody coop(dog cage) on briks with the garne parasol over the cage to give her some shade(its really hot today) It has no roof on it and I cant make one as my partner is away with work and i’m not good at DIY. Will it be ok to leave her in this over night(supposed to be keeping warm) or shall I try and make room for it in the garden shed? Any suggestions.
Hi Nicci
Sorry to reply so late but I’ve been out all day.
Good idea to shade her from the sun! She shuld be fine without a roof tonight.
You can make a roof for the coop using carrier bags. Try and put the coop in the shade.
Many Thanks for helping me out!
I will leave her where she is, I will keep here out the sun again tomorrow and no doubt catch an earfull off her when I go near her cage!!!
I will give you a shout if I need any more expertise.
Can’t thank you enough!!
Hi I have 3 Black Rocks, one has been broody for a while now. Her comb is still red but flops to one side. If I put her in the broody coop how will I know when to let her out? Julia
Hi
I’ve just spent a happy half hour reading all about your brilliant boody coop and everyone else’s trials a tribulations with their broodies!
My bantam has just gone broody in the garden (she cleverly gets under the electric fence and wanders around at will leaving all the bigger hens behind in the run!). She’s decided to settle in rather an exposed position with no weather protection, in some long grass and wild flowers. I’m waiting for some fertilised eggs to be ready for collection next week and what I want to know is if I can move her to a better, drier and safer site in the hen run to do her broody bit or should I just try and erect a special weatherproof coop for her in situ? Last year she was much more accommodating and chose a spot in the hen house…
Hi,
We have just started with hens (had them since end of March this year) and have 3, a Black Rock; a Bluebelle and a Bovan Goldline.
Unfortunately Jemima (the Black Rock) has gone broody. We managed to get her into a separate cage yesterday, located in such a way that the others could see and be close to her but so that she couldn’t see the coup/nest, but she started throwing herself at the wire and ended up with a cut above her beak. She did calm down eventually and thought all was going well until the evening when again she started throwing herself at the wire and opened the cut up again (we managed to get some powder to cover the cut). I am afraid I couldn’t bear it so let her back in with the others with the obvious result that she has been on the nest most of the day except when I lifted her out to eat/drink. Is there anything we can do to put her off sitting on the nest without putting her in a separate cage as luckily she hasn’t put the other 2 off laying or should we put her back in the other one?
hi,
i have 3 hens a cochin (WALL.E) a buff orpington (Lottie) and a frizzel (Lilly) they are all just over 1yr.
4 weeks ago Lilly (frizzel)went broody,i have read the above comments and will try them out but i would like to know why the non- broody hens attack my broody hen ….i came into our garden the other day and Lilly was being dragged around the garden by her wing, i have since left Lilly in the pen with the door shut to the nest and the other 2 are able to be in the garden. Is this normal they dont seem to attack her when they are all in the nest box at night just if they are roaming in the garden together? please help
Hi,
I think we’ve cracked it! I put a piece of cardboard up to block off the nest box at night so that all 3 hens had to sit on the perches. I then took it out during the morning to allow access for the Bluebelle (Eggy) who lays first thing and kept Jemima out. When Eggy had finished I then shut the door on the coop so that none of them could get in. Lottie (the Goldine) still laid her egg anywhere she could outside and Jemima didn’t sit on it. After 3 days of this I finally left the coop open all day and Jemima apperas to be back to normal although no sign of an egg from her yet. At least this has meant that they have all stayed together and no more harm came to Jemima! Hope this helps. Although Sam I didn’t experience the others picking on the broody one so can’t help with that.
I wish I had found this article two months ago. My hi-line (ex-battery) hen has been broody for this long. Having been told that ex-batts don’t get broody, I was stuck how to deal with it, and no amount of searching poultry keeping forums seemed to provide a solution until I found your site.
I have built my broody cage today and put Ms Broody in there. She was boiling hot and practically bald of feathers underneath. I covered the top of the wire cage with an offcut of clear corrigated plastic which I had sitting around.
I am hoping we will be able to get her back to normal within a few days.
Hi all, I have found all the discussion of broody hens really interesting and useful. We have several Pekin Bantams and they seem to go broody quite regularly. Despite all the great information above, I still have a couple of questions which it would be great if anyone can anser:
Firstly, how often do they tend to go broody, and is it triggered by anything in particular?
Secondly, we have one hen that has never laid an egg and has a very small comb. We bought her with the others as ‘point of lay’ but that was over 3 months ago. The others have all been laying for a while. What could be the reason for this, any suggestions? We love her anyway, so don’t mind if she never lays, but it does seem odd.
Debbi
I’ve got a good one for ya! My daughter said one of our chickens was brooding. I didn’t think much about it until it started raining later that night. I went out to check on the chickens (3 of them) to find Miss Broody sitting IN a chest deep mud puddle on ONE unfertilized egg. Had her head held high doing it though. Darnedest thing I’ve ever seen. Now she sits on NOTHING and refuses to quit. Crazy.
This is wonderful new’s. I have been buying baby chick’s and putting them under the hen at night. This time it did not work. She didnt pay them any mind, so i will try again tonight. If she dosnt take them in I am building a broody box. This hen is a Ten lb Buff Orphington. Miss Momma is her name. Thank’s for the info. Wish me luck.
Just to let you know, that two days after putting Miss Broody in her broody cage, she was right as rain!