Broody in a second floor apartment

Peppercorngal

Crowing
6 Years
Feb 5, 2018
2,679
6,194
421
Feather Falls, CA
Last spring one of my Black Giants, Bucky (dumb name I know, my granddaughter named her!) got broody and she was very serious about it. She laid a clutch of 6 eggs and wouldn't leave the nest most days at all! I got a small Tupperware bowl and would feed her and give her water, so she survived but that's not my question. Two of her eggs hatched, two died trying to get out of the shell (happened overnight and I wasn't around to help), and two were not fertile. The problem was this: She chose to nest on the "second floor" of the nesting boxes. The chicks couldn't get out of the nest and go with her and return. I tried to re-locate her to a nest on the floor and she wouldn't have it. I ended up taking the chicks away and raising them alone. If this happens again should I get an incubator and try that route instead? I had another hen that was broody too, but she would jump from box to box and wouldn't "sit" in the same nest on eggs. She was inexperienced. Bucky broody small.jpg Bucky and chick small.jpg baby can't get out of shell small.jpg
 

Attachments

  • DSC_0191 (31).JPG
    DSC_0191 (31).JPG
    432.1 KB · Views: 6
Here's an idea. Take a good look at your coop and see if you can locate a nice out-of-the-way spot on the floor for a nice roomy broody nest. This is what I did.

I had a small coop that I had previously partitioned down the middle for a pair of roosters that lived to try to kill each other, and after they had both died, I built a big floor nest on one side.

When my broody later started to sit on eggs, I moved her and her eggs very early on into the big broody nest where she continued the process. When the chicks hatched, they were right on the floor so it was easy for them to get in and out, and they were also protected from the rest of the flock for that first week when the chicks were so tiny.

This has worked out splendidly. Here's what my broody nest looks like.
P1010029.JPG
 
Yes, Azygous, that seems like a great idea. Have you had any problems with hens wanting to lay in the box? You know who they are, they can choose from 18 nesting boxes and they share laying in 6 of them! I'm going to try that, I have tons of room in my coop. Thank you.:D
 
My broody nest is only used for broody purposes. I keep it closed off the rest of the time. The reason is that I don't want the hens all to get used to using the nest to lay in. Then when it comes time for a broody to occupy it, the hens that have been laying in that nest all would try to get to it, making things more complicated. They have more than enough nests for egg laying.
 
Oh, thank goodness!
...title of this thread made me think someone had chickens in an apartment.

Have read of many broodies who jump out with the chicks then settle on the floor.

I too separate my broodies, behind a wire wall right in coop.
Have a floor nest and give them fake eggs in there until they settle back down(usually within a day), makes thing much easier IMO.

upload_2018-3-5_19-5-22.png
 
I had one broody who insisted on an "upper floor" as well. But, after a couple of days post-hatch she jumped out and kept on clucking and clucking until the little one's summoned their courage and came tumbling out after her. She then relocated her hatch to a corner of the coop. If she had insisted on returning to the upper floor and leaving her cheeping little ones behind, that is tantamount to abandoning them, and I would think her mothering instincts were poor in general.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom