Moving a broody hen

[Ylva]

I’m hatching eggs in an incubator (hatching day today!), and one of my silkie hens went broody three days ago. I tried to move her inside so I can put the chicks under her tonight, but she became clearly distressed and just stood still in the cage for about two hours. I moved her outside again, and she immediately started acting broody again.

It’s freezing outside, so I can’t move the chicks out with her in a separate room in the barn.

Any ideas for how to make this work?

 

[fluffycrow]

Unless it's SUPER cold, she should be able to keep them warm. When you brought her inside, did you bring her nest with you?

 

[Ylva]

Unless it's SUPER cold, she should be able to keep them warm. When you brought her inside, did you bring her nest with you?

The only free room in the barn is not isolated, and it is -11 C / 12 F outside. I can make it a bit warmer with a heating lamp, but it feels risky. She is only 11 months old and has never been broody before, so she has no experience with raising chicks. Her “nest” was just a corner in the chicken coop.
My original plan was to raise the chicks myself (inside) until they were old enough to be gradually introduced to the flock.

 

[fluffycrow]

Oof -11 is really cold. When you tried moving her, did you give her any eggs to sit on?

 

[Ylva]

Oof -11 is really cold. When you tried moving her, did you give her any eggs to sit on?

Yes, I gave her some eggs. She seemed interested in them for a few seconds, but then she left them again. I felt so bad for her that I gave up after just a few hours. Maybe I was too impatient? I was also thinking of moving her again after dark, to see if that works out better for her.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The only free room in the barn is not isolated, and it is -11 C / 12 F outside.

I give my broody hens chicks while the broody hens are in with the flock. My broody hens hatch with the flock. I've never lost a chick to another flock member doing that. And broody hens can keep their chicks warm in pretty cold weather. In your situation I would not try that.

The best way I've found to give a broody hen chicks is to slip them under her at night after it is dark. They spend the night under there talking to her and she talks to them. In the morning she almost always accepts them and they accept her. Almost always does not mean always. Sometimes it doesn't work. In those temperatures if it did not work the chicks would quickly be dead.

Many people feel that unless a broody hen has been broody for close to three weeks she will not accept chicks. That's not been my experience but I believe that a hen that has only been broody for a few days is less likely to accept chicks. In those temperatures that would make the risk even more unacceptable. I would not try that unless they are in a much warmer area.

The risk in moving a broody hen is that she may not accept the move and will break from being broody. I believe you can improve your chances of success by moving her at night after dark using as little light and commotion as possible. Fix her a pen where she cannot go back to her old nest with a nest, food, and water. Do not give her a lot of extra room. Make the nest itself fairly dark and have fake or sacrificial eggs in it. If you can, leave her locked in that dark nest itself for most of the first day. It will not hurt her, a broody hen spends most of the day on the nest anyway.

If you can get her to accept the move into your house you can try to give her those chicks and eventually move them outside. But how many eggs are you hatching? Chicks grow pretty fast and in cold weather like that the hen needs to be able to cover all of the chicks. I don't know the size of that hen or the chicks but I'd be very reluctant to give her more than 6 chicks to raise.