Broody chicken in raised nest box

[Country Parson]

I have a nest box about 3ft off the floor in the chicken coop. I decided to let one of Buff Orps go ahead a brood some of the eggs (she's actually brooding some Dark Cornish, and whatever else her fellow hens keep managing to slip in the side). I've never let any of my girls hatch out before, so this is a new experience.

So....what happens when they hatch? Do they just drop 3ft from the next box down to the floor (dirt, w/ thick straw)? Will the fall kill/injure them? Do I move her to a ground level box (I'd had to build something)? Once hatched, will the rooster and other hens be OK or try to kill them?

 

[Tanichca]

Quote:
ok, first, move her to a plastic dog crate or something larger than a nest box, with walls and a door so nobody can get out. Make sure its away from the other birds, because the other birds may try to kill chicks. then, give her food and water, and wait. and wait. and wait.

 

[BeccaOH]

I did let a broody do the same thing. When I thought she was close to day 18, I "fenced" her into the box with a cup of water and food (that she didn't touch). I waited until the last hatch when she was getting up and moving around in the nest, then I moved her and the babies down to a dog crate in a closed off area of the coop. When the chicks were feathering out, I opened the pen and let the hen introduce the chicks to the flock. It worked out very well.

Good luck!

 

[AKsmama]

My broody hatched hers out in a high nest box, but we moved them into a box on the floor once they were dry and fluffed up. They stayed in there for 2 days. The rest of the flock could see and hear them through the box. I watched the first time she brought them out to see if anyone was going to hurt them, but they didn't. If any got too close that first day they were out, the mama went after them. So far so good here- they are a week old and I think my broody mama is handling things very well.

 

[elmacri]

Wow i am so plesasd to see this, i was just about to write my own question the same as yours.
One of my hens has gone broody for the first time and i am so excited

but like yours they are up high and still in the normal place where all the other hens like to lay. after reading this i think tomorrow i will make her a new home in the same pen but in a dog crate on the floor in the corner. I shall put some straw in and food and water, should i shut the door on it to stop the other hens/ ducks getting in or will she feel a bit trapped?
I am just so excited i don´t want to mess it up. pleaseeeeeeeeeeee help

 

[AKsmama]

elmacri, try moving your broody at night. Sometimes they adjust to the change better when it's done at night. I personally wouldn't shut her in there. She needs to be able to get out and poop (trust me, you don't want a broody poop in there with the eggs

) and take a dust bath and all that. What if she doesn't like the change and panics and tramples the eggs? You don't want that either. Most broodies know how long they can be off the nest. Just make sure she is getting back on, she might not if she doesn't like the move. We tried moving our broody about a week into it and she hated it and went to sit in the box she had been in, so we moved her back and let her hatch there, then moved them.

 

[elmacri]

Thanks AKsmama,

I think i might wait and see what happens in the morning first, i will see if the other hens will lay in any of the other boxes there and if so i might just leave her to carry on and then mover her when they hatch, I think you are right and she would panic in a closed cage. If she is being pestered by the others i will set her up a little fenced off area just for her.
Thanks again. x

 

[annaraven]

Quote:
We had to do that too - she was just insistent on getting back on "her nest". Didn't matter that the eggs were in the cage where I'd put her... I eventually relented and put her back. I'm glad to read about this thread though - cuz her first peeps hatched this morning. I think tonight, I'll move her and the babies (and any unhatched eggs) into the cage I prepared for her earlier.

 

[BeccaOH]

Oh, if you leave her in a nest box where other hens are likely to keep adding eggs, you'll want to mark the eggs she is supposed to be hatching and remove new additions each day. I had to use permanent marker on broody's eggs as the pencil seems to get rubbed off.

Anyone notice how smooth an egg gets under a broody after a while of having her feathers rub it?

 

[elmacri]

I have been down with a pen in order to mark the eggs so i can check in the morning that they are all from her and no one else. lol thanks everyone