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?

 

[debid]

I'm confused. You say your hens are 7 months old and laying like crazy which indicates they are NOT broody. Broody hens stop laying while they work on hatching and rearing chicks. If you have two hens sleeping somewhere that isn't the roost, this is a different issue than having them trying to hatch the eggs.

 

[Sinadrea]

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?

Worst case, if they are broody and you want them to keep going, they may be okay in that spot, especially if it's hard for you to get to them.

If you are able to get them. You can put a towel over them at night and pick up individually and move their eggs over to a new nesting spot. Keep them isolated there for a few days so they keep staying there.

I currently have 1 broody and she moved back to a nesting box in the coop so I gave up and let her have it. Last year I made a ramp for the chicks after they hatched and she protected them from the bigger ones.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It sounds like it may be your first time with a broody hen. So, are your girls really broody? My test is that a hen has to spend at least two consecutive nights on the nest instead of sleeping in her normal spot. One night is not enough, it has to be two consecutive nights. It sounds like one of them has passed this test.

What do you want to happen? Do you want them to hatch chicks? Do you have a rooster so the eggs are probably fertile and hatchable? Have you been collecting eggs from that nest before she went broody or since? Is there likely a pile of eggs in there? Will your MS prevent you from reaching in there and checking the nest every day? Sounds like it will. Do you have or can you get a separate area where you can lock them (or one of them) that is predator safe? If you want to hatch chicks a plastic dog crate works well. If you want to break a broody a wire dog cage works well.

So my basic questions are what do you want to happen and what do you have to work with so we can figure out a way to get there.