Broody hen on nest in the house - what do I do?

[as110]

I have a jersey giant sitting on a nest the way my grandma used to do. I have been unsuccessful with the incubator and with the previous broody hens. My mom told me to put the hen in a basket and cover it with another one. Take the hen off the nest once a day to eat and poop and don’t bother her otherwise. So that’s all been going fine, I take her off in the evening and she goes back on the nest when she is done.

It just occurred to me: what do I do when it is day 18-21 and it would be lock down in the incubator? She still needs to go to poop and eat. The eggs will move if I move the hen and humidity won’t be stable. Any advice in this situation?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hens generally stay on the nest in that last day or two and they don't leave. That's one reason that a hen needs to leave the nest about 2 days after the first egg hatches. Most broody hen hatched eggs hatch a day early. If you hear peeping eggs the hatch imminent. Usually within 12-24 hours.

 

[as110]

Hens generally stay on the nest in that last day or two and they don't leave. That's one reason that a hen needs to leave the nest about 2 days after the first egg hatches. Most broody hen hatched eggs hatch a day early. If you hear peeping eggs the hatch imminent. Usually within 12-24 hours.

Tomorrow is 18th day. Do I get her off the nest and then leave her alone for 3 days?
Can I give her food and water while she sits? I feel sorry for her. I think she is getting coccidiosis. Her poop is green today.

 

[aart]

Tomorrow is 18th day. Do I get her off the nest and then leave her alone for 3 days?
Can I give her food and water while she sits? I feel sorry for her. I think she is getting coccidiosis. Her poop is green today.

Best to just leave her be.
Has she been getting off nest on her own to eat/drink/poop every one or two days?
Do not put feed/water near nest.
Pics of poops please.

 

[as110]

She wasn't getting off by herself, so I took her off every day. I let her go back on the nest and she was off the nest anywhere from 23 to 70 minutes and she was reliable going back.

 

[centrarchid]

At this point leave her be. Be ready to move her when chicks done hatching.

 

[aart]

Curious, why is she in the house......and what's the plan after the chicks are hatched??
Do you have other birds outside?

 

[as110]

Curious, why is she in the house......and what's the plan after the chicks are hatched??
Do you have other birds outside?

The broody came inside because there wasn't a good spot for them to be separated in the coop. The other hens were bugging her and she kept moving nest, leaving eggs behind and starting a new clutch. So I let her be broody and took her inside like my grandma did and nobody is bugging her while she sits. I was prepared for her to abandon the nest and break broodiness from the move but she seems to be ok with it. I bet she enjoys being left alone.
I have an incubator if I need to use it. I don't think we will get chicks out of these eggs though but it will be a nice surprise if we do. She is sitting on 4 eggs now. I was 100% sure of 3 live moving chicks, I didn't see the 4th one move but it is getting darker at the same rate as the other 3 so I left it in the nest. I don't see the chicks move anymore. So, I don't know. We will see.

Yes the whole flock is outside. There is 3 feet of snow around the coop and it is melting. The hens and roosters spend most of their days around the house where the snow melted and they are dust bathing. The coop needs to be redone this spring. The plan is to keep them inside until it is safe to be outside. I usually wait until they feather out, then depending on the weather I take them outside for an hour and then each day an hour longer until they are out all day, and hopefully by then they can stay in the coop at night and the temperature is good enough and the flock is used to the new chicks. They are almost full size by then. That's my experience here.

 

[as110]

Here is a picture of a poop. Yesterday it was a lot greener like grass. I didn’t take a picture of that.
most of her poops were large piles but now they are becoming softer and runnier and greener.?

 

[as110]

Here is yesterday’s poop. I guess she doesn’t have coccidiosis. I thought it was pretty green but it’s not runny now.
She did not come off the nest from Monday until Thursday.