Broody hens?

[Dawnrenae]

I have 3 hens brooding now in the same nest...? And sometimes a big male cat.
(No one seems to mind.)

But these ladies keep stealing my eggs?

The other ladies keep laying in the nesting box, though we have 6 of them in the coop, and several more around the yard.

If I move my hens and their eggs, will they stop brooding?

Is there anything I can do to get the other gals to lay somewhere else?

 

[Judy]

This is the sort of problem you get with letting them brood in with the flock, although people often do it anyway. Moving a broody is iffy. Sometimes they will keep sitting and sometimes they will stop. I've done it 2 or 3 times successfully, and haven't had one quit on me, but my experience is very limited. If you do try it, do it after dark, and try to take the nesting material and eggs and bird all at once. If you can move the nest as well, so much the better. (Ideally, move the broody a day or two before you give her the eggs you want to hatch.)

 

[Dawnrenae]

They are setting on eggs now. Like I'd say two week old eggs...

I didn't even know it would happen (them going broody...)

It's pert near impossible to move the entire nest. Blah!

Only a week left, I reckon, it won't kill me to see what happens.

Thanks!