Broody hen

[fishin_dad]

I have a hen that just hatched 10 chicks over a 4 day period. The area she chose was not ideal for raising chicks. I free range and the spot she chose was about 2 feet off of the ground so as I checked on her and found chicks on the ground I would take them to the brooder house. Will I be able to put the removed chicks back with her in a few days when I have a few days off and can create a more ideal area for her to nest with her chicks?

 

[CindyinSD]

The triangle versions far better for me when wind strong. I can get hens to move with those I have so long as they are not moved to far. I want a consistent design, especially with the angles as they are still the weak points. I have pups that jump up on the flat roofs too. They jump up on everything.

Silly doggies! Mine are afraid of the birds. I'll go take some more pics for you. But first, this is where I had so much trouble with the angles:

Assuming an equilateral triangle, which I think, is pretty close to what I ended up with, all the angles would be 60°, but it's not that simple, because that's not the angle you have to cut.

Angles "a" butt up against the straight-ended 2x2 (green treated) front bottom framing member. I don't know what they are. Plus I was working on grass--it would have been a lot easier to fudge the math if I'd been working on a hard, flat surface. Angles "b" are also the same. Again . I don't know how to figure them out and don't know how to frame the question. If you can calculate that or know someone who can, I think these pictures will give you the rest of the information you need to build this little coop to any size you like.

Hardware cloth covering back vent. (I ran out and had to piece it.)

I set my bit of leftover plywood inside the as-yet unroofed frame and traced inside the back truss. I fastened a piece of 2x2 long enough to completely overlap both sides of the truss, along the top edge. This serves to stabilize the plywood, prevent warping, and provide a handle. Note the hinges.

I did the same on the bottom, but I cut the bottom stabilizer flush with the edges of the door. That didn't work, so I had to grind some off. You need to cut this shorter and/or bevel the ends. Otherwise it will scrape against the truss sides. You might do without the bottom stabilizing piece, since the hinges may work well enough to prevent warping, but my plywood was 3/8" and I wanted the extra stability.

This is how I fastened the door shut. You might do better, but I was making this up as I went along. Don't use a very precise fastener. The wood will shift and it will eventually become difficult to fasten.

Here's a detail of the front corner & angle brace. I only did these on the front. The plywood floor of the nest box braces the back.

The second truss is situated just fore of the second bottom-frame horizontal brace/nest box floor support. You can see the edge of the plywood floor under the interior wall of the nest box.

I slid the plywood in and traced the angles for the interior wall, leaving a space at the top for air circulation. I cut out the door with a hand-held jig saw. Curves are stronger and easier to cut--mostly easier to cut.

As an afterthought. I added a piece of 1x2 to the inside of the doorway to help keep the bedding in.

Here it is from the inside.

Here's an ugly bit. I realized I had nothing to staple my side hardware cloth to at the top. There ought to have been a ridge board along the top of the run portion. All I needed was something to fasten the hardware cloth, so I scabbed a couple of short 2x2s in by putting screws into them from the outside of the ridge cap of the roof. Notice my hardware cloth is buckled a bit. I did the sides first--that was wrong. Tack down the middle of the top then ditto with sides and bottom. Work out from there. It's kind of ugly, but still just as strong.

This shows the screws affixing the nailer in place for the hwc. I had a bit of a ridge cap left from a roofing project, which covered a lot of the sides as you can see from other pics. I ran the regular roofing sideways because it fit better that way.

So... hopefully this helps. It's been a very sturdy little coop for me. I lift the front up to place feed & water.

 

[The Happster]

I wouldn't do that.
They need to bond & imprint, and if you want her to raise them, you do not want them imprinting on you.
Plus it's just kind of sad for both the hen and the chicks.

 

[CindyinSD]

She's unlikely to take them back. Before going to the trouble of building her a broody coop, you should try giving them back to her. Watch carefully before you leave them alone, then check back very frequently until you're sure she's accepting them.

A broody coop can be very simple--just an enclosed dog crate with a tiny run will do for a few days until she's ready to introduce them to the general population. Here's one that my girl stayed in for the whole of her confinement. It's purpose built, but I needed it mobile. She and her chicks are still using it at night after free ranging. They wouldn't have to, but the tractor is pretty crowded.

 

[centrarchid]

Dog kennel might work. What I do is place chicks in cage / trap so they are right up next to broody on the nest all day long. They have food in water inside there little confines. The hen and chicks can talk to each other through cage wall without risk to chicks. They will imprint on each other through those interactions. At night I pull chick and place them under hen so they are closer yet and so chicks to be adopted stay warm. The imprinting appears to take place at night too. Check them at dawn to make certain hen and chicks getting on. If not, then put chicks back into cage for another day. You can force imprinting even with older chicks. What I cannot force is hens not far enough into broody cycle which is usually 18 or less days into incubation.

 

[Perris]

I doubt it

 

[fishin_dad]

I wouldn't do that.
They need to bond & imprint, and if you want her to raise them, you do not want them imprinting on you.
Plus it's just kind of sad for both the hen and the chicks.

The problem I ran into was that she was sitting in one of the laying boxes that is 2 feet off of the ground and the babies were falling out so she was trying to keep them warm and sit on her eggs so she stayed stressed out. I took the first 7 that hatched and fell out and placed them in a brooder. The last 3 that she hatched are still with her in the coop. The first 7 were with her for a couple of days after they hatched.

 

[centrarchid]

She's unlikely to take them back. Before going to the trouble of building her a broody coop, you should try giving them back to her. Watch carefully before you leave them alone, then check back very frequently until you're sure she's accepting them.

A broody coop can be very simple--just an enclosed dog crate with a tiny run will do for a few days until she's ready to introduce them to the general population. Here's one that my girl stayed in for the whole of her confinement. It's purpose built, but I needed it mobile. She and her chicks are still using it at night after free ranging. They wouldn't have to, but the tractor is pretty crowded.

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Do you have a design for those little things?

 

[centrarchid]

You can get the hen to adopt all the chicks of a staggered hatch, but it is a lot of trouble. @fishin_dad do you have a small rabbit cage or even a live-trap like used for raccoons / opossums?

 

[centrarchid]

The triangle versions far better for me when wind strong. I can get hens to move with those I have so long as they are not moved to far. I want a consistent design, especially with the angles as they are still the weak points. I have pups that jump up on the flat roofs too. They jump up on everything.