Broody golden comet

[Farmlife16]

One of my golden comet hens started setting yesterday morning! I'm planning to wait another day or two before giving her eggs. Have any of you had a golden comet (red sex link) brood successfully? Any ideas for a good broody set up?

 

[NatJ]

Any ideas for a good broody set up?

She needs a nest (even if it's just a cardboard box turned on its side), with suitable nesting material.
She needs shelter from the weather (heat, wet, wind) and protection from predators.
She needs food, water, and enough space to stretch her legs and poop.
She does not want any other chickens bothering her, so a pen of her own can be good.
You do not want other hens laying eggs in her nest, because they would develop later and hatch later, and that gets difficult to manage.

If you want to move her to another nest, do that before you give her any real eggs. Just move her and provide fake eggs for a day or two, until she is settled on the new nest. Some hens are content to sit wherever you put them, some refuse to sit anywhere but the nest they chose, and some fuss for a bit and then sit where you want them.

 

[Farmlife16]

She needs a nest (even if it's just a cardboard box turned on its side), with suitable nesting material.
She needs shelter from the weather (heat, wet, wind) and protection from predators.
She needs food, water, and enough space to stretch her legs and poop.
She does not want any other chickens bothering her, so a pen of her own can be good.
You do not want other hens laying eggs in her nest, because they would develop later and hatch later, and that gets difficult to manage.

If you want to move her to another nest, do that before you give her any real eggs. Just move her and provide fake eggs for a day or two, until she is settled on the new nest. Some hens are content to sit wherever you put them, some refuse to sit anywhere but the nest they chose, and some fuss for a bit and then sit where you want them.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Ridgerunner]

To me you have two basic options though there can be some variations of detail. One is to isolate her from the rest of the flock as NatJ mentioned. I let my broody hens hatch with the flock. Each has it's advantages and disadvantages.

If you isolate her you have to have or make a place to isolate her. She might not accept the move and break from being broody. Since she is isolated you have to work to take care of her, food, water, and cleaning. Once you get the place to put her and she accepts the move, it isn't very hard. Many people go this route.

If you let her incubate and hatch with the flock you need to mark all the eggs you want her to hatch, I use a black Sharpie. Then check under her every day after the others have finished laying and remove any eggs that don't belong. That's it for the extra work, she'll eat, drink, and poop where the rest of the flock does. But she will be interacting with the rest of the flock so there can be issues. Sometimes a hen will lay in her nest, that's why you check for extra eggs. Sometimes another hen is laying an egg in her nest when she gets back from her daily eating and drinking and she goes to the wrong nest. Mine hardly ever do this but it can happen. I've never had problems with eggs being broken by other hens laying in the nest but some people say they have.

Broody hens have been hatching eggs like this for thousands of years, long before man became involved. A big difference now is that those hens were not limited by fences and close quarters. Now many of us keep them locked up fairly tightly. This is just my opinion but I think the less room they have in the coop and run the more likely isolating the broody hen is a good idea.