broody hen in main chicken house?

[izziwizzi]

hi
We are excited as we have a young silkie hen that has gone broody in the nesting box attached to the hen house (3 days). this is where our hens roost at night. All our other hens (2 light sussex,2 Barnvelders ) went off lay a couple of weeks ago and appear to be going through a moult ? so are not laying at the moment except the second silkie who laid this morning and Ella has laid claim to that egg to hatch too.
our chook house is in an old bird aviary so there is a large run and i try to let them out once a day for a couple of hours in our back yard (3/4 acre)
This hen was a recent addition to our flock as a young pullet a couple of months ago and she is the lowest in 'the pecking order' we also have a silkie rooster .

I have been in two days in a row and lifted her out of the nest for about 10 minute and make sure she eats and drinks.
My questions are:
Should I move her and her eggs (x6 silkie eggs?) to a different location or will this disturb her?
should I put food/water/grit in the nesting box?
Should I clean out and replace old nesting box material with fresh straw:/?

I could put her in our shed....


Thank you!!

 

[BarefootMom]

If the other hens aren't bothering her I wouldn't move her. you might want to mark her eggs with a pencil or something so you can keep track of her eggs, since she will likely steal any eggs that are laid.

Moving her will not disturb her too much- I just moved 3 broody hens 60 miles today and they are sitting now on their eggs!

She will get up and eat/drink-- you just may not see her do it. She knows what she is doing. I have another broody that is in a dog pen inside of our other coop and she eats and drinks I know because I have to fill up her dishes every other day or so. I had to move her out of the coop because I have 29 other hens that are laying and with the broody in nest box it only left 3 other nest boxes.

 

[THathaway]

I left my broody hen in the nesting box. I put a bunch of fertilized eggs under her and let her do her thing. They get off for a few minutes each day to eat and drink but will not allow the eggs to cool off. My other hens would go in the laying box with her each day and lay their eggs, it never bothered her and each day I would lift her off which she did not like and remove the unfertilized eggs. She did a great job and was a great mother.
Good luck.

 

[NottinghamChicks]

I too have a silkie (mix) who is lowest on the Totem Pole who went broody. I gave her 6 eggs and she was doing great, but my Brabanter would not stop laying in her box, so, I put her in a dog crate within the coop. She loves the privacy and I have a small bowl with food and water in there. Every day at 4:30 I open her crate up and the door to the run and they all free range til sunset. She only comes out to run around and screech as loud as she can, also does a bit of scratching, relieves herself and right back to the nest she goes.

When they hatch they will all stay with momma. The only worry I have is the other Bantams jumping down from the roost in the morning. That will be my only reson to remove them from mom.

Good luck and hope this helps

 

[izziwizzi]

thanks eveybody for the quick replies

Fingers crossed we'll leave her where she is:
I do have a puppy cage i could in the run using an old mower grasscatcher as a nesting box ?
- When she comes out to eat the others peck her though Rocky our rooster is very protective (normal behaviour for them and they never draw blood)

Maybe I should just leave her be!!!!!

I'll keep you all updated i would post a photo but dont know how!