Broody hen advice needed

[NyxxBoy]

I hate to literally count my chickens before that hatch, but this question will do just that...

One of our 3 year old hens has gone broody (if that's a term) and this is new to us. Up to this point our hens have laid eggs in milk crates filled with pine straw and we gather them every day. She has been laying on them for about a week and a half now, hers and the eggs of her 3 coop sisters, totaling maybe 12 eggs or so.

I successfully moved her into a coop by herself yesterday and she seems to be fine and still laying on them. I moved her because the other 3 hens kept adding eggs to her stockpile, refusing to lay any in the other crate.

My question is this: assuming any of them successfully hatch, I don't see how they would be able to get themselves out of the crate. Should I leave them where they are and move them myself should they hatch? Should I attempt to move them all to a flat area like a bigger box that they could walk around instead of a small crate?

I know that's a lot of ifs in the equation here, we have hatched from an incubator before but until now never dealt with a broody hen. Really hoping its works out, and I fear the more I touch or tamper, the more potential for it not to work

Thanks for any advice!

 

[nchls school]

I hate to literally count my chickens before that hatch, but this question will do just that...

One of our 3 year old hens has gone broody (if that's a term) and this is new to us. Up to this point our hens have laid eggs in milk crates filled with pine straw and we gather them every day. She has been laying on them for about a week and a half now, hers and the eggs of her 3 coop sisters, totaling maybe 12 eggs or so.

I successfully moved her into a coop by herself yesterday and she seems to be fine and still laying on them. I moved her because the other 3 hens kept adding eggs to her stockpile, refusing to lay any in the other crate.

My question is this: assuming any of them successfully hatch, I don't see how they would be able to get themselves out of the crate. Should I leave them where they are and move them myself should they hatch? Should I attempt to move them all to a flat area like a bigger box that they could walk around instead of a small crate?

I know that's a lot of ifs in the equation here, we have hatched from an incubator before but until now never dealt with a broody hen. Really hoping its works out, and I fear the more I touch or tamper, the more potential for it not to work

Thanks for any advice!

I assume you have a rooster. When the chicks hatch and are moving around, move the hen and chicks to a place of safety. The hen will do the rest. Provide them with a safe environment, clean water, and the appropriate food. Do not worry about handling the chicks; the hen might squawk but she will not abandon her chicks.

 

[NyxxBoy]

Thank you, and yes to the rooster. Black marans rooster with Rhode Island Red hens. We have hatched with an incubator the last 2 summers, although last year we had much more success than we did this year.

Not sure what made her become broody, but very excited about it! I had read somewhere that RIR were not a particularly broody bunch? Perhaps she felt bad for our lack of success with the incubator this year and decided to take the dumb humans out of the equation ha

 

[nchls school]

Thank you, and yes to the rooster. Black marans rooster with Rhode Island Red hens. We have hatched with an incubator the last 2 summers, although last year we had much more success than we did this year.

Not sure what made her become broody, but very excited about it! I had read somewhere that RIR were not a particularly broody bunch? Perhaps she felt bad for our lack of success with the incubator this year and decided to take the dumb humans out of the equation ha

Even nonbroody breeds occasionally go broody. Good luck; hope you get a nice bunch of chicks.