Can I have two broodies hatch different lots of eggs in the same area?

[Judy]

A broody needs a little room to walk around in, besides the nest, food and water. So it depends somewhat on your setup. You could mount food and water to the wall where they would use almost no floor space. I can see that crate in your pic as enough for a broody, if the nest, food and water don't essentially use up all the space. (Did you know that chickens can learn to use a wall mounted rabbit waterer quite readily?)

I have a large coop, so I fenced off a corner, about 4'x5', for various uses including a broody pen or room. It is bigger than a broody needs, but nice that she can walk around a bit without tracking that good old broody poop all over.

 

[maddogdodge]

I've set up the dog crate in the yard, with a nest box and food + water. There isn't a heap of room for her to move around though. I haven't put her in there yet, she's still in the coop nest.

I do have a round dog pen like this



I could probably sit this next to the crate so that the door of the crate and the door of the round pen match up. And I could peg some shade cloth over the top, so she can't fly out and others can't get in, that would give her more space to move around

 

[Judy]

You didn't give any dimensions, but I imagine the dog crate is generous. Does either give her good predator protection? Btoodies are pretty vulnerable, since they are in a sort of trance most of the time.

Also -- moving a broody once she has startes setting is a tricky propposition. Sometimes the will become un-broody entirely, and often they will fuss or try to get back to their old nest, regardless of where the eggs are. (They will also set on an empty nest.) I suspect she would go right over the dog crate and back to her nest, or pace at the entrance to that area. Crates are usually pretty well predator proof, and at least will contain the hen. Be sure you move her at night, after good dark falls. It's actually best to move the whoe nest, or at least the nesting material.

 

[maddogdodge]

I don't know the exact dimensions of the crate, its probably about 1m long by 60cm wide at a guess. The round dog pen which I plan to give her access to early tomorrow morning is probably roughly 1.5m across.

Because I'm in Australia the only predators I have to worry about are foxes, birds of prey (and maybe snakes) Foxes are yet to even attempt to get in to my chicken yard, I've got wire all around the bottom of the fencing so that they can't dig under, and I've got strings around the top which would make climbing over a bit difficult too... Not to mention that my dog likes to patrol the chook yard at night, so he tends to scare any foxes away. But say a fox did somehow get in the yard and wasn't scared of my dog, there is no way it would be able to get in that dog crate!

Its night-time at the moment here (I really should be in bed, lol). I moved her about an hour ago, pitch dark outside, so she was totally calm, she's now happily sitting in the dog crate on a nest with eggs. Hopefully tomorrow she'll be happy, but only time will tell. If she's not coping I'll let her out to do what she wants. But if she does seem happy to stay on that nest, I'll set up the extra round pen to give her more space.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The crate is basically 3’ x 2’ which is big enough. Personally I’d leave her locked in that for a day or two, until I was certain she has accepted the move. Then you could give her the extra room if you want, but she really doesn’t need it. It might make it easier for you to clean the poop out, maybe.

 

[Judy]

I agree with Ridgerunner. Moving her again right now might be a mistake -- and the crate sounds big enough. It's great that she accepted the move to the crate so well; I wouldn't push my luck, at least for a while. I like the idea of using it to clean the crate in a few days, though.

Good luck!

 

[centrarchid]

You didn't give any dimensions, but I imagine the dog crate is generous.  Does either give her good predator protection?  Btoodies are pretty vulnerable, since they are in a sort of trance most of the time.

Also -- moving a broody once she has startes setting is a tricky propposition.  Sometimes the will become un-broody entirely, and often they will fuss or try to get back to their old nest, regardless of where the eggs are.  (They will also set on an empty nest.)  I suspect she would go right over the dog crate and back to her nest, or pace at the entrance to that area.  Crates are usually pretty well predator proof, and at least will contain the hen.  Be sure you move her at night, after good dark falls.  It's actually best to move the whoe nest, or at least the nesting material.

Mine imprint on nest location rather than actual nest. Nest can be moved if entire "location" moved as well.

 

[maddogdodge]

Well she seems pretty settled. I've got towels draped over the top to give her some privacy. Not sure If i'll give her the round pen, I might in a couple of days... but i'll see. I don't need to move her to do that, just have to set it up next to her crate and open the door.

I'm going to see if I can find some water and food bowls that will clip to the side of the crate, to give her more room to move around.

 

[Judy]

Looks good, and she does look settled! That's what counts, after all.

 

[maddogdodge]

When I went to check on her this afternoon, I noticed that she had pooped in the nest... and it was a normal sized poop, not broody poop. The eggs seemed fine, I just removed the hay that was messy.

Hoping that she's just not in the routine yet because she kept getting kicked off her nest the last two days by the other hens. So hopefully now she's got her own space she won't keep pooping in the nest like that!