broody hen in high nest box... how will this work?

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wsmoak

wsmoak

Songster
Apr 21, 2010
355
15
164
a little north of Columbus, GA
I have a hen sitting on eggs in a nest box 2-3 feet off the coop floor. How is this going to work when they hatch? They're going to fall out!

Assuming I get everybody out safely... I can put some extra hay on the coop floor (which is hardware cloth) and I imagine she'll stay down there with them.

There is a rooster and three other hens in the same coop. How worried do I need to be about them bothering the little ones?

-Wendy
 
Hey. You don't have to rush BUT remove the broody and her eggs out of the house before they hatch. I left my broody and her eggs in the coop and it resulted in one new born being pecked and a portion of the poor little thing eaten by the others. I have four hens and one rooster. I put my hen and her new eggs in a hooded cat litter box in a large wire dog crate and put that in the outside coop. I made sure that I put poultry netting around the bottom so the babes couldn't get out. After a week I let them in the general population and the hen protected the babes and was grump enough that no one would bother the offspring. Bad things will happen if you leave them in there. The hen goes off to hatch her babies for a reason and brings them back after the fact. It will work out if you separate them for about a week. Good luck
 
Quote:
My nest boxes are also 3+ feet off the floor, the chicks have no problem or injury when dropping to the coop floor. (deep mulch litter)
Have you ever watched a film of the hatchery sorting chicks, they toss them into bins.

36435_gossiphens.jpg

36435_chickencoop.jpg
 
I came home today and found three baby chicks on the coop floor in a little tub. She left the other 9 eggs in the nesting box and stayed with the chicks. When I got home the eggs in the nesting box were already cold but I went ahead and put them on the ground with her and she sat on them? not sure if the eggs are any good any more but I have my first 3 baby chicks and they are soooo cute.
 
I also have a hen who has gone broody in her favorite nest which is 3 ft above the floor. To top it off, she is a Bielefelder who has crammed herself into the nest box.


She has not laid an egg in 3 days - I slipped her egg out and put a fake one in its place. I just got a batch of fertilized eggs. If I put them under her, when should I move her and the eggs?
idunno.gif
 
Coop de Grass said:
I also have a hen who has gone broody in her favorite nest which is 3 ft above the floor. To top it off, she is a Bielefelder who has crammed herself into the nest box. She has not laid an egg in 3 days - I slipped her egg out and put a fake one in its place. I just got a batch of fertilized eggs. If I put them under her, when should I move her and the eggs? :idunno
Click to expand...
I would move her, and her fake eggs, to the desired location. Some hens tend to pitch a fit when they're moved, and any real eggs in there with her could potentially get broken during her hissy. Move her at night, and when she's back on the fakes and sitting tight, switch them out for the fertile eggs. I let my hens stay in the nest, but yours doesn't really have a lip, so theres not much to hold the eggs in, let alone little wobbly chicks. Good luck!
 
Ive tried moving my broody 3 times. Each time, she stopped sitting on the eggs. She is broody again on sitting on eggs in a box almost 3 feet up. Not going to touch her this time. I'll wait and see. Let nature do its work.
 
Coop de Grass said:
I also have a hen who has gone broody in her favorite nest which is 3 ft above the floor. To top it off, she is a Bielefelder who has crammed herself into the nest box. She has not laid an egg in 3 days - I slipped her egg out and put a fake one in its place. I just got a batch of fertilized eggs. If I put them under her, when should I move her and the eggs? :idunno
Click to expand...
I always wait until the chicks hatch before moving them. Even if you move the eggs with them IME they freak out and keep trying to go back to the other location, not recognizing that the new nest is the same eggs. Kinda silly, considering how they will play musical nest boxes during the setting stage.
 
Once the chicks are out of the nest boxes (normally two or three days after hatching) the mother hen will huddle with them on the coop floor (deep litter) at night and it may be a week or more before she takes them outside. I make sure there is water and food inside until then. Occasionally I may have to help the mother hen get all the chicks back into the coop at night since they are small and need help to get up the ramp and into the coop. Within a couple weeks, they are fine and go in/out with the mother hen and other flock members as needed.
 

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