I can see why broodiness has been bred out of many poultry breeds. With my hens the build up to broodiness seemed all advantageous, but that didn’t last.
In Spring they went from being occasional layers to laying four each per week, and although several were laying in the same spot under the house, at least it was easy to collect the eggs. Then my ringleader rogue hen, which was in the habit of leading the others down to the fatal forest beside the house every morning, went broody, sat under the house, and stayed put. So I got my dozen fertilised eggs and put them under her. She was a model foster mum and stopped leading the others astray.
But then another of the old hens went broody, and another, and another. Three out of the original six which had survived the forest excursions, plus the new mum out of action, with Katie the boss chook too old to lay. And then apparently having broody hens in the laying boxes discourages the others from laying, and all mine tapered off to a trickle of eggs.
It was time to check the blogs for advice. Far from being a benign hen thing that you can just let go, it seems that I should have been discouraging broodiness from the start (apart from my foster hen). The hens lose condition and can send the rest of the flock all hormonal. Also I thought that after 21 days, the egg incubation time, they would give up and realise they are sitting on nothing, but no.
Fortunately help was at screen, especially from Garden Betty and TBN ranch, and their linked sources. There are a few actions to take, from just moving them out of the laying boxes to more physiological approaches like bringing down their body temperature. My three would just return to their boxes, so as all mine had stopped laying I simply filled the boxes with straw and removed the hens if they pushed a hole in. That worked for two of them.
The third was a little more determined, so I tried the cold water treatment, which involved spraying her breast from the hose for a few minutes to try to cool her down (it was a warm day, apparently you have to be judicious with this in colder climates). That did seem to put her off setting for a short time, but she was back in her box that evening.
So I just continued removing her from the laying boxes whenever I saw her there, and carrying her outside. She got the message eventually.
Now I’ve got to work out how to get them all back into lay. Maybe some wet weather and greener grass will help.