broody pekin bantam

[markjak]

I have my first ever broody hen she is a small pekin bantam, shes been sitting on infertile eggs and rubber ones and a golfball for about 32hours now coming off only for 45 mins this morning.
I know its coming up to the cold weather but really want to let her do what nature intended I have a separate coop I can move her to my question is

1 is it to late in the year (im in uk)?:/

2 how many eggs should I put under her (normal size ones not bantam)?

3 when and how should I move her to her own smaller coop?

Thanks all advice appreciated

 

[nchls school]

I have my first ever broody hen she is a small pekin bantam, shes been sitting on infertile eggs and rubber ones and a golfball for about 32hours now coming off only for 45 mins this morning.
I know its coming up to the cold weather but really want to let her do what nature intended I have a separate coop I can move her to my question is

1 is it to late in the year (im in uk)?

No, Not if you have a heated room/coop/area to put the hen and chicks.

2 how many eggs should I put under her (normal size ones not bantam)? There is no definite answer as bantams/chickens come in many sizes. The number of eggs should be LESS than what the hen can easily cover. At the moment my crossbreed bantam is brooding americana eggs. The hen could easily cover seven so I put six under her to be incubated. If the hen doesn't covers the eggs properly some will get chilled and by hatching time, most or all the chicks will have died in the shell.

3 when and how should I move her to her own smaller coop? Last week I moved a hen from the outside run to the coop. Later in the day I put the hen, nest, and eggs in a dog crate and moved them indoors. The hen has continued to brood. This weekend I'm going to open the dog crate so the hen is better able to exercise. If all goes well, I'm going to remove the nest from the crate on Sunday.

Thanks all advice appreciated