First time letting a broody hatch eggs. Help!

[HeatherTheMommy]

Ok so I've let my silkie raise stote bought chicks before in my mini coop but I've never let a broody hatch her own. Right now my black australorp is sitting on one of my polish/silkie eggs. I'm hoping my silkie will lay another tomorrow to put under her. Anywho i have no clue what to do here. My nesting boxes are raised and I'm afraid when the chick hatches it will fall out. Also my girls like to fight over nesting boxes and i dont want anyone to crack her egg. I do have a built in playpen in my coop. Should I move her in there where no one can bother her? Also any good apps i can download to help me keep track of the 21 days? Any info appreciated!

 

[Shaunassy]

If you can i would def move her to her own area. That would take care of the chicks falling out of the nest and stop any egg accidents. I did that when my black austrolop hen went broody and I had beautiful babies hatch. It was her first time and she did great with no help from me. Dont put any eggs under her after 3 days however as a chick can only wait 3 days until it needs food and water. My hen wouldnt leave her nest to care for her chicks until the each and every egg hatched. I had to remove one that was infertile before she would leave the nest. Hatchabatch is a free and easy app i used to keep track.

 

[Shaunassy]

Also if you can build a little coop and pen for them inside your flocks main run it will make intergrating them much easier. The flock wont "forget" your hen and be abble to get familiar with the babies by seeing them but not able to peck them.

 

[HeatherTheMommy]

Thanks here are pictures of my nesting boxes and the playpen in my coop. I have a mini coop but i have 12 6 week old chicks in there now. What should i put in the playpen for her??

 

[Shaunassy]

Its kinda hard to tell in the pic as to the size of it but i would keep mom in the inside coop play pen (if there is room) and let her hatch them in there. Once they are a little bigger and feathered enough to go outside then id start letting them out with the others. Mom should be able to protect them. When its time to come in for the night mom and babies should be used to using the nest in their so id just leave thr door to that littlw pen open so they can go in it.You have a pretty nice setup.

 

[HeatherTheMommy]

Thank you the playpen is quite large. She has plenty of room in there.

 

[Shaunassy]

Your welcome! but i would def make a nest of some sort for her and a waterer and feeder in there. At night after they all have gone to roost move her to her new nest. Doing so at night usually has a higher success rate of the hen "accepting" her new nest site. And just close it up so no one can go in there and disturb her. I tried moving my hen to her new coop/nest/pen during the day and she wouldnt set on the eggs/ nest so i had to restart with new eggs the next day and moved her at night. When i did that the next morning she was still sitting on her eggs and nest like she should be

 

[HeatherTheMommy]

Ok so i will try to move her tonight. Any recommendations on what i can use for a nest for her?

 

[HeatherTheMommy]

This morning i went in and took her out of the box to make her drink and so i could inspect the egg. She ran out got a drink and pecked around for like 2 minutes then ran back in. She went into the wrong nesting box tho and another hen came in and got in her next with the egg -_-. I got the egg and put it back under the australorp now in a different nesting box.

 

[Shaunassy]

Yea it may be better to build her a seperate fenced in area with a little coop for her outside in the run area so when she gets up you don have to worry about any other hens. Ill take a pic of my broody pen to show you what i did when i get home from work today