Broody hen hatching in coop

[centrarchid]

I am not a fan of running multiple broodies close to each other or confined with the general flock. I raise multiple broods every year, approaching 15 for this season. When they are kept close, then I like to confine each hen in a pen the chicks can walk through walls of easily. They can hang with mom or go check out other members or flock. I like to keep the penned hens at least a few feet apart. Then to ensure chicks get chick resources with adults other than mom getting them too, I have yet another pen without a hen that has feeder and waterer for chicks that general flock cannot access.

Cocci is my biggest concern when chicks get to be around 10 days old. That is when I watch and get ready to use medicated water that is accessible only to chicks. My setup has so chicks can can leave area housing confined adults which can make life more complex. Not all adults confined.

 

[Perris]

only houses our 8 hens

If they are all hens, then none of the eggs will be fertile. Or did you buy in hatching eggs for your broodies?

water and feeder by the nesting boxes

Their nesting boxes are quite high off the ground

Pictures please; I cannot imagine how you can have feeder and waterer by the nesting boxes if the latter are high off the ground.

Once the chicks hatch (fingers crossed) can I just move mama and her chicks right away to a covered nest on the ground of the coop

Mama will stay on the nest until she thinks the needs of any hatchlings outweigh the needs of any unhatched eggs. Then she will lead the chicks out. (They may fall out before then, and you should take measures to prevent that, as several have said, as she cannot rescue them, as someone else already said.) They will not be able to get back and she will choose a place to nest with them on the floor of the coop.

All my broodies over 3 years have hatched their clutches in open nest boxes in the coop with the rest of the flock, and I have had no issues with chicks being attacked, but have read other people's tales of woe.

Marking the eggs is essential, as others have said, as other hens will add to the clutches given the chance and you want to remove late additions.

I have a broody that overreacts and has broken eggs in panic, and one that is very calm. As @JaeG said, you won't know what you've got till you and they live it. If you separate the broodies and chicks to a shed, you'll have to reintegrate them to the flock later.

Someone made the point that a broody whose own eggs are not yet ready to hatch may be broken by hearing the cheeping of chicks hatching in another nest box close by. I don't know if that's true but it's worth considering the possibility, and acting on it if you think it might happen to yours. Of course moving a broody can break her too, so there's no risk-free option here.

Hope this helps. I currently have a broody with 3 x 2-wk-olds also surrogate mothering 4 x 9-wk-olds, whose own broody just drove them away to resume her own life and laying. It's very cute to see her little chicks poking their heads out from under her wings while the bigger kids are filling the space all around her in the nesting box