Broody hen

cpennell

Chirping
8 Years
Nov 22, 2015
4
0
65
I have a Buff that has been incubating her eggs for about 19 days. She is in a coop with 15 other hens and 1 rooster. She is in a nest about 4.5 ft off the ground. Do I move her and her eggs to their own coop or just leave her alone. I have never done this before. Help!
 
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It's generally a good idea to move broody hens to their own area for the duration of brooding and chick raising. You have no way to predict how the others will react; if she's submissive in the flock, she may be badly hurt trying to defend her chicks. Even if she is dominant, she may take on a bird more aggressive than her and get injured anyways - I have had a hen scalped while trying to protect her babies. Hens will often kill chicks that are not their own, as will some cocks.

I would recommend moving her during the nighttime as soon as you can. Make sure she has plenty of room and access to feed and water in her new pen.
 
I would recommend moving her during the nighttime as soon as you can. Make sure she has plenty of room and access to feed and water in her new pen.
X2, I moved them at night when the eggs have not hatched so they stay in the nest. Also have moved them to a separate location during the day after the babies have hatched and they stayed with the babies.
 
I have a broody hen on day 20 right now! I was lucky to already have a broody area set up from the spring and lucky that she chose the brooding box, all I had to do was close the door. if the eggs were in an incubator, this would be lock down and if it were me, I would not move them. If possible, I would consider removing the rest of the flock out to a tractor or small pen or "walling off" the area where the brooding box is. at some point she will decide the hatch is done and get off the nest, usually within a couple days past the hatch date. at that point, moving her and the chicks to another enclosure and returning the flock will be much less risky.
 
This is the same situation I'm m in. I am on day 20 and have 3 eggs with internal pips. For my last hatch, I left the hens with the eggs until everyone hatched then moved them all to the brooder pen. I was planning to do the same this time but I have another hen that is giving my broody a hard time and keeps trying to take over her box, but I feel now it is too late to move her and I'll have to wait it out, though I am contemplating moving her after dark tonight as long as no one is in the middle of hatching.
 
This is the same situation I'm m in. I am on day 20 and have 3 eggs with internal pips. For my last hatch, I left the hens with the eggs until everyone hatched then moved them all to the brooder pen. I was planning to do the same this time but I have another hen that is giving my broody a hard time and keeps trying to take over her box, but I feel now it is too late to move her and I'll have to wait it out, though I am contemplating moving her after dark tonight as long as no one is in the middle of hatching.
do you have a place you can put the hen who is giving her a hard time?
 

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