Broody Silkie and first time hatch/moving questions

[ANellis]

Hi All,

I know this question has been posed many times and there's probably no direct answer. But I just need some opinions.

My bantam Silkie has gone broody for the first time. She seems to be committed as she's been sitting on her nest for 5 days. I don't have fertile eggs, so of course I got antsy and ordered some. I gave them to her yesterday and she took to them very well.

Here's the problem. She chose to nest in the box where all the other hens lay, regardless of the fact we have plenty of nesting boxes for all of them. I did try to move her yesterday to a physically confined broody coop (but within the main coop) and she did not like it. I moved her back and she hopped right back on her nest and eggs. My mistake may have been that I moved her in early evening before it was real dark? Anyhow, she's back on her normal nest box and I don't think she can stay there. As you can see in the pic, the box is fairly high off the ground ( ~ 3 ft). Too high to hatch chicks, risk of other hens trying to get in the box and damaging eggs etc etc.

So, do I risk trying to move her again...this time at night? Do you recommend keeping her in the same main coop but being physically separated (still able to see other hens though). Or do I move her to an entirely different location? Or....do I let her hatch the chicks in her current preferred location then move them shortly after hatch- and again, if so into the same main coop/physical barrier or an entirely separate location?

First time hatching eggs/broody hen so sorry for so many questions!

 

[GanderGirl]

Yes it’s best to move them at night, we offen do and there not as shocked (if you do it in the daytime you risk them becoming un-broddy) make sure she has food and water in the alternative area. Preferably keep her away from all other chickens as they may stress her out and make sure she has good air not stuffy. If she refuses to move, I would try to block off that nest.

 

[GanderGirl]

At night is best, make sure that she has food and water and no stuffy air, also if she doesn’t want to move I wouldn’t push her for fear of her losing her broodiness you could take either cardboard or a piece of wood and put it in front of the entrance to the laying box to prevent other chickens from coming in or stressing her out

 

[ANellis]

Good news! So far at least. We moved her during the night and she seems to have taken to the new location. She’s been sitting on her eggs ever since. We even threw together this broody coop real quick yesterday evening so she’d have her privacy. It’ll double as a brooder house when her chicks (hopefully!) hatch.

 

[PouleChick]

Eek I should have read this about the night time thing before I just moved my silkie . So glad your girl has stayed happy and sitting for you!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Yes it’s best to move them at night, we offen do and there not as shocked (if you do it in the daytime you risk them becoming un-broddy) make sure she has food and water in the alternative area. Preferably keep her away from all other chickens as they may stress her out and make sure she has good air not stuffy. If she refuses to move, I would try to block off that nest.

It looks like GanderGirl is cool with chicken adoption so For everyone else's benefit, when a hen starts laying and begins to incubate she homes in on the nest and the nest location. This is called "imprinting" The same thing happens when the chicks emerge. The hen imprints on the chicks and the chicks imprint on their mother regardless of rather she is their natural mama or their adoptive mother. This is why chicken keepers go to great lengths to prevent the mama and the baby chickens from seeing each other the first time in the light of day.