Broody hen in winter, what to do?

[Lynzi777]

If I were you, I would move her to her new permanent (transportable) nest where she currently is, and then once she has accepted the new nest, I would wait until dark, cover her with a towel and move her inside. Some hens do not like to moved and will abandon the next if it is not done properly.

That makes sense, rather than doing all that moving around at night. Thanks! I'll work on that today and move her tonight. Keeping my fingers crossed this works!

 

[Jungleexplorer]

That makes sense, rather than doing all that moving around at night. Thanks! I'll work on that today and move her tonight. Keeping my fingers crossed this works!

You can make a simple nest out of a 5 gallon bucket. I used these to hatch out 40 chicks this year and they did fine, although it is easy to stabilize two buckets then one.


Example picture (not of my nest).

 

[Lynzi777]

You can make a simple nest out of a 5 gallon bucket. I used these to hatch out 40 chicks this year and they did fine, although it is easy to stabilize two buckets then one.


Example picture (not of my nest).

As much as I love these, I have a very small flock so therefore my coops are very small. This bucket would never fit inside the coop I have for my 3 silkies. Luckily the silkie that went broody is very small, I can get away with placing a shoe box in the coop - moving her to it and then moving the shoebox tonight. This is my little girl...

 

[TMNfarm]

Just to clarify, I didn't keep her in the bucket... I only used it to move her and the eggs to a brooder box...

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Cute little girl you got there. All my birds are standard sized birds so a 5 gal bucket works for them. I am all about cheap but effective.

 

[Lynzi777]

Just to clarify, I didn't keep her in the bucket... I only used it to move her and the eggs to a brooder box...

But those are really nice nestboxes to use if you do have a large coop to keep them in. I like 'em!!

Well, I did it! Mission 1 - Complete! I looked out my kitchen window and saw that she had come down from the coop to get some water, I ran out there thinking what a perfect time to get those eggs into a shoebox in order to move her tonight!! It totally worked! She came out with the others to free range for a few minutes, grabbed some more water, ate some more food, and now she's sitting in the shoebox back on her eggs! there was even an egg in the other nextbox that must have been from my other hen since the other nestbox is occupied. So I grabbed that one and placed it in the shoebox as well. Here she is in her new nest...



Terrible picture, and it's driving me nuts how filthy she is, thought about giving her a quick bath to get cleaned up but I really don't want to mess with her too much.

 

[DDNONIN2016]

But those are really nice nestboxes to use if you do have a large coop to keep them in. I like 'em!!

Well, I did it! Mission 1 - Complete! I looked out my kitchen window and saw that she had come down from the coop to get some water, I ran out there thinking what a perfect time to get those eggs into a shoebox in order to move her tonight!! It totally worked! She came out with the others to free range for a few minutes, grabbed some more water, ate some more food, and now she's sitting in the shoebox back on her eggs! there was even an egg in the other nextbox that must have been from my other hen since the other nestbox is occupied. So I grabbed that one and placed it in the shoebox as well. Here she is in her new nest...



Terrible picture, and it's driving me nuts how filthy she is, thought about giving her a quick bath to get cleaned up but I really don't want to mess with her too much.

Very clever Looks like she never knew the difference. I think its a good pic too and she doenst look dirty. She is very pretty. I love silkies

 

[Chloe77]

She looks like a huge pillow. Geez! Where's her head?

 

[Lynzi777]

Very clever Looks like she never knew the difference. I think its a good pic too and she doenst look dirty. She is very pretty. I love silkies

Thanks,
I'll be very surprised as to what color the chicks will be if any hatch from this small clutch. My roo is a lavender split (blue).

 

[wowmanacat]

I have had to clean up after mine twice now for she poohed all over. I now have two dish pans to change out as need. She is due on the 20 th