I have a first timer young broody hen sitting on a nest. My nest boxes are about 1.5-2 feet from the floor where she set in everyone's favourite box. I thought this was too high to hatch chicks so I removed her and put her in a basket and covered her with another basket in the kitchen like my grandma did.
Here is the dilemma: I want her to be with the flock but still safe from the other birds because I want to prevent pecking order issues so she needs to go back to the coop before the others forget her and she needs to hatch there.
Here is the issue with the coop. The house was made to lock up wolves at night. Previous owner was breeding wolves. I made improvements to turn it into a chicken coop because the house is sturdy with a great roof. There is a corner that is separated with a foot high board. I kept straw there and I used it to transition new chickens to the coop and I was able to protect the little ones with a wire panel and door. In the winter I could use the heat lamp over the water to prevent freezing. I covered that spot now so the nest could go out there and the hens won't sit on top of the wire, and the broody could get off the nest when she wants to. The new chickens won't be able to get out of there and maybe that's ok in the first few weeks. What happens after a few weeks?
We are on day 12 today, 9 more days to go to hatching.
I could keep her in the nest covered and let her out and supervise the nest twice a day, which is what I do now in the kitchen.
But what happens at day 18-21 (lockdown). Does she still get off the nest regularly?
What do I do when the chicks hatch? I assume I will need to change the bedding at some point but I don't want to disturb her too much because I don't want her to abandon the eggs.
I am adding some pictures to show how this set up looks. I need opinions would this work? What can I do to make it better?
The 4 nests are on the left on the wall. There is a corrugated board on top so the hens can't sit on it and poop onto the nests.
The roosting ladder is on the right. The back corner has a separation area. I turned the dividing wire down so the hens can't sit on top and poop inside the box.
There is a gap on the left where the hen can get in and out. I blocked it with boards now to keep the straw clean. The floor and walls have been disinfected. I don't let the hens lay eggs in there now. The feeding bucket used to hang on the left inside the door which is not showing on the pictures. This way the feed was kept clean. The water bowl was elevated at the corner in the front under that heat lamp but the roosting hens would poop into it at night so that was not a good spot.
There are 13 hens and one rooster in this coop currently. My broody is the 14th hen. The rooster is a gentleman. The 3 ameraucana hens are bullies but the rest of the hens are nice. The other roosters are in a separate run and sleep in a small coop (made from a dog house).
Here is the broody hen. She is 11 months old and she was hand raised in the kitchen. We hatched her in a home made incubator and got 3 chicks including her from that hatch. Not very good considering that every egg had full grown chickens in it but most died during lockdown. She knows what she is doing better than the incubator. This is our first time hatching with a hen. I want it to work. She is sitting on 10 eggs, all of them are viable so far. I don't want to do anything to disturb her and make her abandon the nest, but I have a new incubator from Christmas. I guess I should calibrate it just in case. Hm
Here is the dilemma: I want her to be with the flock but still safe from the other birds because I want to prevent pecking order issues so she needs to go back to the coop before the others forget her and she needs to hatch there.
Here is the issue with the coop. The house was made to lock up wolves at night. Previous owner was breeding wolves. I made improvements to turn it into a chicken coop because the house is sturdy with a great roof. There is a corner that is separated with a foot high board. I kept straw there and I used it to transition new chickens to the coop and I was able to protect the little ones with a wire panel and door. In the winter I could use the heat lamp over the water to prevent freezing. I covered that spot now so the nest could go out there and the hens won't sit on top of the wire, and the broody could get off the nest when she wants to. The new chickens won't be able to get out of there and maybe that's ok in the first few weeks. What happens after a few weeks?
We are on day 12 today, 9 more days to go to hatching.
I could keep her in the nest covered and let her out and supervise the nest twice a day, which is what I do now in the kitchen.
But what happens at day 18-21 (lockdown). Does she still get off the nest regularly?
What do I do when the chicks hatch? I assume I will need to change the bedding at some point but I don't want to disturb her too much because I don't want her to abandon the eggs.
I am adding some pictures to show how this set up looks. I need opinions would this work? What can I do to make it better?
The 4 nests are on the left on the wall. There is a corrugated board on top so the hens can't sit on it and poop onto the nests.
The roosting ladder is on the right. The back corner has a separation area. I turned the dividing wire down so the hens can't sit on top and poop inside the box.
There is a gap on the left where the hen can get in and out. I blocked it with boards now to keep the straw clean. The floor and walls have been disinfected. I don't let the hens lay eggs in there now. The feeding bucket used to hang on the left inside the door which is not showing on the pictures. This way the feed was kept clean. The water bowl was elevated at the corner in the front under that heat lamp but the roosting hens would poop into it at night so that was not a good spot.
There are 13 hens and one rooster in this coop currently. My broody is the 14th hen. The rooster is a gentleman. The 3 ameraucana hens are bullies but the rest of the hens are nice. The other roosters are in a separate run and sleep in a small coop (made from a dog house).
Here is the broody hen. She is 11 months old and she was hand raised in the kitchen. We hatched her in a home made incubator and got 3 chicks including her from that hatch. Not very good considering that every egg had full grown chickens in it but most died during lockdown. She knows what she is doing better than the incubator. This is our first time hatching with a hen. I want it to work. She is sitting on 10 eggs, all of them are viable so far. I don't want to do anything to disturb her and make her abandon the nest, but I have a new incubator from Christmas. I guess I should calibrate it just in case. Hm
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