I have a broody BO hen that I want to put some eggs under. She will be in my pole barn in a small dog house, no heat. Will she be able to keep eggs warm enough to hatch, and if she hatches them, can she keep the chicks warm enough without extra heat? Dec here can be anywhere from mid to high 30s, to mid to low teens. I could bring her into the basement, but I don't know if I want her and the chicks in the house for 3 months till it gets warm enough for them to go back outside. If she hatches the chicks, then I want to let her raise them, to me it would just be mean to take the babies away to be raised in the house and leave her out in the barn. Any ideas?
She should do just fine as long as she has a dry, draft free, safe place to brood and raise her chicks. I had chicks in early spring/late winter here and while it was nowhere near as cold ay what you're talking about, it was very wet and windy. The chicks would run around for awhile and then start the "I'm cold" cheaping, mamma hen would hunker down and ten minutes or so later they'd pop out warm and dry to do it all over again. ETA: My BO is my best broody--NOBODY messes with her chicks, I let her brood with the main flock because she's so fierce, and she mothers them 2x longer then any other hen that I have.
