Best way to give broody hen her much-needed peace

[Freia]

I have fertile eggs.
I have a broody hen.

Yay! So excited!

How do I make this successful.

The broody hen is in a community nest box, sitting on 8 eggs. I have a "maternity ward" that I want to move her in to. It's a dog kennel with lots of comfy straw in a corner of the run. The last time I had a broody hen, is worked well. i moved her to the kennel, and she went off her eggs a few times: "Oh dear, I can't remember where I parked!". Then she stayed there after that. Only I didn't have fertile eggs then. She was sitting on duds, and I gave her store chicks after 3 weeks, so it didn't matter if she got confused and left the nest in the start.

I now have fertile, nicely developing eggs, so I want to make sure they don't get left exposed too long.

I have to move Momma. She's getting harassed in the nest box. Today there was a scuffle, and she's now down to 5 eggs. One got rolled out and froze, and 2 were broken. If I move her, I may lose all the eggs, but if I don't, I know I'll lose them all.

2 questions.

-1- the remaining 5 eggs has some broken egg-goo on them. Will Momma get this cleaned up as she turns them, or are they now contaminated?

-2- how do I move her to her own little cabin and get her to stay there? I was going to do it during the night, and fence it in so she can't get back to the nest box.

I really want these chicks. i have awesome roosters and some very special hens.
Thanks!

 

[Freia]

I may have just thought of the obvious.

Am I better off moving her to the cabin, then forcing her to stay there? Assuming she's confused and has left the eggs unattended for too long at some point during the move, should I then just collect a new batch of eggs for her once she's settled in?

 

[LRH97]

Sounds like you're all set up. Hens like a nice, kind of darker and quiet area to lay and set on eggs. Question #1: It probably will not come off, especially if it's dry. However, if the eggs are not too severely covered, there still could be a chance that they might hatch. I once had a hen that "went" in the nest and covered parts of two of the eggs, and they still hatched. I would still leave them under her. Question #2: Moving her at night is the best way to go. It eases stress on her to make the move while she is groggy with sleep. She may explore for a while, but if she's devoted, she'll sit on anything that looks like an egg. Hope I helped!