Brooding inside the coop.

[Dncgturtle]

Hi. I have a black copper maran hen (Gerty) that's been on the nest for a week now. 3 days ago her sister (Peggy) decided to join her on the same nest. My hens are only 7 months old and laying like crazy.

The main issue is that they have nested inside the coop between the roosting bars making it hard for me to get to them. I've read the article on separating them into a different area at night but I don't want to hurt them trying to get them out. I have MS and its hard for me to reach in like that and I don't have any help. I love all my chickens (my little kids that follow me around) and always worry about them. What should I do here?

 

[fluffycrow]

The biggest question is, do you want them to stay broody? Do you want to have more chicks and/or are able to care for them? If the answer to that is no, then breaking them would be the best option.

I might be misunderstanding your post, and what you say about taking them off the nest every night is just that. Everyone follows a different strategy for breaking broodies. This is usually a great one
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/broody-breaking-ala-aart.77915/

Photos of where they are nesting would help us come up with some better solutions. If you can’t get to them while they’re on the nest, is it possible to wait until they are off to eat, catch them and place them in the broody breaking crate mentioned in the article?