broody hen wont stay on same nest what should i do

[blueseal]

i gave her 6 eggs monday marked them. she has moved off them twice since yesterday found her in another nest with 3 eggs today. also think i have another broody so i put her on the 6 egg nest. but not sure if she will stay there. do they have a way of knowing which ones are fertile and thats why they jump around to other nests. just wondered.

 

[Fleabuskitty]

Nah, they can't tell if they're fertile or not, hens in a rooster-less flock will brood just as easily as hens living with roosters. Maybe she's just getting distracted by the other nests? Put her in a separate box/cage with only the eggs you want her to hatch (with food and water, of course) so she will not have another nest to be distracted by

 

[Kev]

a common problem in setups using rows of nestboxes. the only 'cure' is isolating her in a nest.. if she will accept you moving and confining her and eggs in a kennel then that will work. Some hens refuse accepting a nest that looks radically different from her usual choice of nestbox though... I use covered cat litter boxes for that reason, if I want to move a broody hen, I just pick the whole cat box and put in isolation after dark. Same nest, slightly different location- nearly all accept this.

if you screen off her nest box, I'd prefer to take her out once a day for toilet and food/water break instead of just putting food/water and shutting her in. She needs to exercise too, so her muscles don't atrophy too much. Screening her nest off also prevents other hens from bothering her, which has the high risk of eggs getting broken.


they do not know if eggs are fertile or not like the person above said.

 

[sourland]

Right on the money.