How to keep them broody when moved to setting pen?

[Mariella posey]

I usually keep broody hens with the rest of the flock but that always end in disaster. But anytime I move them to another pen to set they freak out and stop being broody. I have 2 hen acting like they might going broody. How can I move them to a setting pen and still have broody hen?

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I usually keep broody hens with the rest of the flock but that always end in disaster. But anytime I move them to another pen to set they freak out and stop being broody. I have 2 hen acting like they might going broody. How can I move them to a setting pen and still have broody hen?

The only thing I've found to work is to make a mini-enclosure inside the current coop. Moving them to a totally new space is unsettling for the hen and she doesn't feel safe.

 

[aart]

The only thing I've found to work is to make a mini-enclosure inside the current coop. Moving them to a totally new space is unsettling for the hen and she doesn't feel safe.

This^^^ and they kind of bond to their nesting place.

When I have a broody and want her to hatch I wait until she's been in the nest most the day and all night for 2-3 days...along with those other signs I posted.

Then I put her in the broody enclosure with fake eggs in the floor nest, she won't like being moved, but if she is truly good and broody she will settle onto the new nest within a half a day.
Then I give her fresh fertile eggs and mark the calendar.

I like them separated by wire from the flock, it's just easier all around.
No having to mark eggs and remove any additions daily, no taking up a laying nest, no going back to the wrong nest after the daily constitutional.

I remove barrier about one week after hatch. The chicks are usually safe it's the broody who has to 'fight' her way back into the pecking order...which can be quick or take a few days.

Lots of space helps for re-integration.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I like them separated by wire from the flock, it's just easier all around.
No having to mark eggs and remove any additions daily, no taking up a laying nest, no going back to the wrong nest after the daily constitutional.

I remove barrier about one week after hatch. The chicks are usually safe it's the broody who has to 'fight' her way back into the pecking order...which can be quick or take a few days.

It's unfortunate I don't have good pictures, but this is exactly what I do. Separate with chicken wire and keep mama and babies separate for about a week. After a week mom is saying very sternly that she wants out! I just cut up a cardboard box to serve as a nesting box. It works well!

This is my old coop. It was 4x6' with a poop board. What I did was drill screws almost all the way into the poop board and almost all the way into the floor. I cut chicken wire to size and just hooked the wire over the screws so it was easy for me to take it on and off to access mom. She didn't have a ton of standing room, but she had enough. If I was home with her, I'd gently remove her and let her run with the flock. She was on about a seven minute timer lol, so I'd just open the fence for her when she came back and she'd go right back to her nest.

I don't have a panned out image, but this was her in her "broody box" with one of her chicks after they hatched. I learned the hard way to separate mom from the flock, so her and her eggs were actually moved about 5-6 days into the incubation period. I was lucky she took to the new location, but it was only a few feet away from her original nest box. Now I know to plan ahead!

 

[Mariella posey]

Thank you! I'll see what I can do for them. They are in home made tractors and we haven't gotten the official nest boxed set up yet so they only have old milk creates to nest in. I might try moving the create to a new pen where she can still see and be around her flock.