Broody question....

[ladybug99]

I have a hen who has been broody for a good three weeks now( she is my first one!!).. she is sitting on one egg and it is due to hatch today or tomorrow. I have noticed she has taken all the nesting material and shoved it under herself.. so I am assuming she is waiting for her egg to hatch as well. I have a two week old chick who now is all by herself (had to cull her brother)and I wanted to put the chick with the broody....

.. here is my issue our nesting boxes are about 3 feet off the ground... should I move the nest and broody to ground level or is the box low enough that I don't have to worry about losing a chick to a fall.

....if I move the broody is it better to do it in the daytime or at night???

 

[Judy]

Usually there are about 24 hours during which the chicks hatch and the mama keeps the new chicks under her to wait for the rest, before leaving the nest to take the chicks to food and water. The ideal time to move her would be as she is leaving, usually first thing in the morning. I've actually moved a coule while they were hatching -- I'm not recommending this, I probably just got lucky, but it worked and the chicks survived. If you try to move her before the hatch begins she is much too likely to abandon the nest. I found that once there was a live chick, she would stay with the nest, wherever it was.

The chicks will be fine jumping down that far. Many a brood has hatched in a hay loft. Usually the only way there is a problem is if one leaves or falls before mama is ready to leave the nest.

Another thought would be to just leave them alone. When she and her chicks leave the nest, she will make another nest lower down, either in a spot she chooses, or where her chicks have gathered. She may try to get them to follow her to the high nest box but will soon see that they won't/can't (however it appears to her) and go to them. I've had this happen, too.

 

[jjdward]

Congrats on the broody!!!!!

I have a silkie that is broody and my nest situation is about the same as yours. I have had a hen in the past actually carry her chick to a roost on her back!!!! It was the darnedest thing I have ever seen!!!! I kept seeing the little chick up on the roost but I could not for the life of me figure how it was getting up there. So one day, I watched as they were going to roost and there I saw it, a tiny yellow head sticking out of the top of the hen's wing!!!! Crazy!!!!!! It amazes me how nature takes care of itself!!!!! Good luck!!!!! Let us know how it turns out!!!