Have broody need advice

[LoneCowboy]

I have this little blue Amercauna Broody who is so young, she wasn't even laying full sized eggs when she went broody.

I tried to break her but she was persistant, so I gave her some eggs. Not even sure what kind. I checked them once and didn't see any development so I wasn't too worried. Well I checked tonight and there is definate growth in 2 of the eggs I checked. They are due to hatch next week.

So here's the problem. She's hold up in one of the 5 nesting boxes in her coop. Everyday another chicken climbs in with her and lays her egg in there too. I've marked all of Lily's eggs so I know which ones belong and which ones don't. However with the possibility that these might actually hatch I've decided to move her.

I'm worried that she won't keep sitting if I move her. I'm not sure where to move her or how best to do this. I'm thinking about borrowing the dog house for a few weeks.

What do you all think? What's the best way to approach this? What if I move her to a dog kennel (Crate) inside the garage. Will she do well there? HELP!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Yay for Lily! Hope she has a good return for all her patient setting!

You have several options. You could leave her there for the rest of the time, & take your chances with how the chicks will be treated once they hatch. It might be fine, since she's sticking onto that nest despite interruptions from the other hens. My main concern would be the other hens bothering the chicks while they're hatching. If a hen tries to interrupt then Lily might fuss & fight & the new-hatched chickies might get hurt.

You could also fence off the area around Lily's nest box to keep the other hens out but give her a bit of room to come out for her food/poop breaks.

If you must move her, do it after nightfall, and try to move everything in one piece if you can. I use horse buckets for nest boxes, and can move the entire bucket with hen & eggs inside. If your boxes are stationary, then perhaps you could scoop up all the straw, eggs, & hen together & move it quickly to the new location. There's a good chance she'll stay with the job, she's been on that nest for so long already.

Let us know what you do & how well it works!

 

[shelleyd2008]

I have one of mine setting in a dog kennel in the barn, so no varmints get her. I lost one hen this year from something taking her right off the nest! You could try to move her, but some say this may make them stop. You could also try to cover the opening of the box, and just letting her out once a day to do her business. I would also put a golf ball, or some other type of 'nest egg' in the other boxes. I have a few hens that absolutely WILL NOT LAY in an empty nest. Good luck!

 

[momma's chickens]

I also had a young EE who was broody very young and I moved her last night and this morning she had completely left the nest. She showed no interest in being broody anymore. Tonigh when I went to shut the chickens up, she was back on the roost but four weeks of being broody. I wasn't sure whether to let her sit or not at first.

I would somehow tried to to block her off and leave her where she is.

 

[LoneCowboy]

AAHHH!! She's in a coop that's a bit over crowded as it is.

I have a bator going right now and those eggs are due to hatch next week too. Just a day or 2 ahead of Lily's so I could throw her eggs in there if she leaves.

Maybe I'll let it be for now and just close off the box right before they hatch. I've been slipping her treats in the box from time to time. She's Loved that.

Several times I've had to take her out of one nesting box and put her back in her's. She get out to eat and poo and another chicken slips in there so she gets confused. She's always let me move her and since I've been slipping her treats, she's mellowed out toward me.

Gee, thanks for the advice, I just wish this was easier. I would have moved her earlier, but we've needed the kennels to transport piglets that we still haven't gotten!! I was afraid that as soon as I got her settled, we'd need them.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
I would still try closing her in the box. Hens only get off the nest about once a day anyway. My hen that just hatched would wait till I came to open her cage before she would ever get off. She had plenty of room to move around, and food and water. Guess she just liked taking her dust baths too much!