Broody hens

[Coon Cotten]

I tried to move mine to a cage in the coop in the daytime and she did the same thing...freaked out! Then I moved her to a crate in the run at night. She sat on the eggs all night, but freaked out when the other birds were let into the run in the morning. I think her flocking instinct took over and she wanted to be with them. I put her eggs back in the coop and she sat on them there for the rest of the day. That night I put her and her eggs in the crate in the garage where she couldn't see the other birds and that fixed the problem. She sat contentedly the next few days until hatch. She is still in the garage with her chicks. I was hoping to leave her in sight of the other birds so that reintegration would be easier, but it didn't work.

 

[Coon Cotten]

I tried to move mine to a cage in the coop in the daytime and she did the same thing...freaked out! Then I moved her to a crate in the run at night. She sat on the eggs all night, but freaked out when the other birds were let into the run in the morning. I think her flocking instinct took over and she wanted to be with them. I put her eggs back in the coop and she sat on them there for the rest of the day. That night I put her and her eggs in the crate in the garage where she couldn't see the other birds and that fixed the problem. She sat contentedly the next few days until hatch. She is still in the garage with her chicks. I was hoping to leave her in sight of the other birds so that reintegration would be easier, but it didn't work.

This is a coop my dad built about 40 years ago. The walls have been replaced but everything else is same. I put a tarp over top to try keep the heat down inside and I added the door and the fence over the window opening. He always had it open and has lost many chickens over the years. The nesting boxes are all outside the coop between the broody boxes and coop and a few boxes in front of coop. The broody boxes are on the right side of picture and she can see out both side of the box. It has little windows. Hopefully she will except it because the nesting boxes are not safe for her to hang out in overnight.

 

[Lisafitz]

I’m new to owning chickens but currently have a broody hen with three fertile eggs due to hatch in 2/3 days. I tried moving her about two weeks ago when she was sitting on an infertile egg but she went beserk when she realized what had happened. She eventually made it back to the coop and settled back into her nesting box and has hardly moved since. The three eggs she now has were put under her during last week's hurricane as we lost power for 24 hours and could not use the incubator. Anyway I am wondering if it is possible to successfully hatch and keep safe chicks in a coop with other hens. I have only had the hens and one pullet since mid August and she has been broody from the start so I don’t really know where she is in the pecking order. One of the other hens and her pullet have started to get into the nesting box with her which she doesn’t mind but does not allow any of the other 4. The nesting box she has chosen is right beside the ramp and opening to the run. There is another opening and door that could be used if I wanted to block off an area for the broody hen to keep her chicks safe but I am not sure how changing that set up would upset them all. Any advice would be much appreciated. All the other hens free range during the day but will go to the run sometimes if it’s raining.

 

[goldysgirl]

I’m new to owning chickens but currently have a broody hen with three fertile eggs due to hatch in 2/3 days. I tried moving her about two weeks ago when she was sitting on an infertile egg but she went beserk when she realized what had happened. She eventually made it back to the coop and settled back into her nesting box and has hardly moved since. The three eggs she now has were put under her during last week's hurricane as we lost power for 24 hours and could not use the incubator. Anyway I am wondering if it is possible to successfully hatch and keep safe chicks in a coop with other hens. I have only had the hens and one pullet since mid August and she has been broody from the start so I don’t really know where she is in the pecking order. One of the other hens and her pullet have started to get into the nesting box with her which she doesn’t mind but does not allow any of the other 4. The nesting box she has chosen is right beside the ramp and opening to the run. There is another opening and door that could be used if I wanted to block off an area for the broody hen to keep her chicks safe but I am not sure how changing that set up would upset them all. Any advice would be much appreciated. All the other hens free range during the day but will go to the run sometimes if it’s raining.

I think it is best to try to make changes and move birds at night. Then they are calmer and more accepting of changes when the sun rises. Some people keep broodies and chicks in with the flock, but I hear that success depends on situation, birds, and space. My two broodies fought over a few eggs and one cracked. I repaired it but the chick needed help to hatch. Now my hen and babies are in the garage. I want to reintegrate ASAP, but my space isn't huge and the coop has a pretty long ramp to get in the door. I am going to wait a while to help keep the babies safe. Also, I had a chick that flew over a barrier once and was horribly scalped. It survived, but was picked on for the rest of its life. I couldn't bear anything like that happening again...but then these chicks do have a mom defender.

 

[Lisafitz]

Thank you for your response. Do you think it would be ok to move so close to potential hatch date? I’d really only have tomorrow night to move or I could section off an area for her in the coop during the day. One egg will be 21 days on Wednesday and the other two will be on Thursday. I’m afraid she will abandon so close to the end!

 

[goldysgirl]

Thank you for your response. Do you think it would be ok to move so close to potential hatch date? I’d really only have tomorrow night to move or I could section off an area for her in the coop during the day. One egg will be 21 days on Wednesday and the other two will be on Thursday. I’m afraid she will abandon so close to the end!

I don't think there is a black and white answer...I think it depends on bird and situation. I tried over several days to move mine, once to a cage in the coop in daytime ( she freaked out and I realized night time and bigger cage would be better), next day to bigger cage inside run at night ( she sat through the night, but freaked out when she saw the other birds at daybreak...seemed to want to flock with them), then the next night successfully moved to cage in garage. She didn't freak out in morning and sat comfortably for the next couple of days until hatch. It worked once she was out of site of other birds. I also once moved a bird mid hatch from coop to cage in garage after the first chick I ever had hatched fell out of the nest box the night it hatched and got too cold and died...aargh, I have learned from my mistakes. That hen was a calm, super broody cochin.

 

[goldysgirl]

Thank you for your response. Do you think it would be ok to move so close to potential hatch date? I’d really only have tomorrow night to move or I could section off an area for her in the coop during the day. One egg will be 21 days on Wednesday and the other two will be on Thursday. I’m afraid she will abandon so close to the end!

Oh, and because I had another broody, i was not too worried about her abandoning eggs. I was going to just slip them under the other hen if i needed to.

 

[Lisafitz]

Thanks. I’ll see what I can do in the morning. When she had the infertile eggs underneath her she would come out once a day. Since I placed those fertilized eggs under her she has not left once. I can only imagine the nesting box is rather dirty so at the very least I’d like to try to clean it prior.

 

[EggWalrus]

Thank you for your response. Do you think it would be ok to move so close to potential hatch date? I’d really only have tomorrow night to move or I could section off an area for her in the coop during the day. One egg will be 21 days on Wednesday and the other two will be on Thursday. I’m afraid she will abandon so close to the end!

I would wait till all her eggs hatch, then I would move mom's and babies at night. Out of hundreds of chicks I've seen hatch in the coop with other chickens running around, only 2 got stepped on by other chickens and crushed. Most (not all) Mommas are very defensive of their chicks and will put the hurt on any other hen that even looks at her babies wrong. After about a week they will usually let a rooster closer to the babies but they will still be fluffed up, mean and defensive. I used to seperate mommas and babies from the rest of the flock for about 1 month, but now, after about a week, I let the Momma take them around teaching them foraging, dirt baths, and other chicken things and letting them become integrated. Seems like all the babies I kept away from the flock never would get the hang of foraging. They would lay around and nearly starve rather than forage up something good to eat that God provided for them.

 

[Coon Cotten]

Thanks. I’ll see what I can do in the morning. When she had the infertile eggs underneath her she would come out once a day. Since I placed those fertilized eggs under her she has not left once. I can only imagine the nesting box is rather dirty so at the very least I’d like to try to clean it prior.

Well i lost the battle. She totally would not set on eggs in new Broody pen so I let her go after 2 days and she went back to the nest of her choice. I had to go out and build a cage around the nest the best I could. So far she still alive. I was gonna let her just raise her babies with the rest of the flock but got to thinking about the food. The babies really need chick starter not layers pellets so I’m now in the process over hauling what will become the chick nursery. My plan is when she hatches I’m going to go get her and move her and the babies to the new nursery. I’m afraid to move her before then, thinking she my abandon the eggs. I’ve got little less than 3 weeks to complete.