broody hen? no place to seperate her? here is an idea :)

[StarStruck203]

so, my hen went broody about 2 weeks ago and i didnt have a seperate coop or place available to seperate her, plus i thought she would be more likely to stay happy and comfortable in her regular coop. so this is what i made:

it has a solid wooden top and front piece. and then the bottom is wood with a square cut out with wire mesh placed in it to help reduce messy water and feed spills. the sides are wire mesh to help with air flow and to reduce stress levels (the hen can still see other chickens, but the chickens cant get to her or the nest.

heres some more pictures:

this is looking in from the front, where the hen could step out onto the 'landing pad' and eat and drink.

obviously this is very movable, so you can move it from nest to nest and remove when chicks have hatched... but i added this mesh door to allow easy feed and water cleaning/changing

i just cut out a square of mesh and then used zipties to make a hinge.

 

[countrylifelover85]

Nice job! We never seperate ours... Is there a reason for it?

 

[StarStruck203]

some hens will sometimes want to get in the same nest with the broody hen, which could result in cracked eggs and smothering. plus the slimey stuff that comes out with a 'fresh egg' from another hen can get on the developing eggs and cause issues.

also some hens, expecially first time broodies will get up for food or water, and then return to the wrong nest and not realize it.. or they will compleatly forget about their eggs, which results in the developing eggs getting cold and dying.

this brooding box was just precautionary i suppose. but i feel like she is safer in there. expecially cause i have one mean rooster who likes to get into the boxs and peck the eggs every now and then.

 

[countrylifelover85]

Makes sense

. I've never had those problems in the past but my new flock is standard size chickens with a lot more hens, whereas the last group was bantams. Not sure if that makes a difference, but they were awesome mommies!

 

[StarStruck203]

aww, my hens eggs hatched yesterday! its too sweet! 3 little mix breed chicks. ill try and remember to post pictures soon

 

[cmom]

Great idea!!!

 

[kuntrygirl]

I love what you did. It looks so comfy cozy. Good job !

 

[Ema]

That is great...thank you for the idea, I plan on letting my new chicks have their own babies when they get old enough to do so. that way I no longer have to buy chicks from a hatchery, and was wondering how I would go about separating them or having to build a whole new coop for that purpose. thanks for sharing

Ema