HELP!! Broody hen needs HELP!

frillydishes

In the Brooder
5 Years
Aug 28, 2014
88
19
48
Cedar Creek, TX


We have a small flock of 7 that wonder the grounds of the plant nursery I work at and this little lady decided to go broody. We have no coop here, and for the most part they spend the evenings at a neighbors property and we thought they may get cooped there but aren't sure...they roam the neighborhood. She thought my shed where we keep the irrigation parts was the perfect place to lay her eggs so I threw together a nest box for her and was thankful of her daily deposit. I went away for a few days and found her like this and she was adamant about me not moving her so, why not, let her do her thing right? Well, she's 2 weeks in and the last 3 days she's not covering them all and a few have even rolled out. I'd candle them and put them back in the box and she'd roll them back under her. This morning I came in to find one broken open outside the box, the bloody yolk covered 2 other eggs, but the embryo was gone. Even if it rolled out, it couldn't have gotten the damage I saw.

She's not really protected from predators where she's at and I'm starting to get really worried. She pretty much hates me, she's drawn blood both times I put her eggs back and she's so far along that I really don't want to stress her out and change her location and her get up and leave them. What should I do??? I might be able to put up a make-shift cage around her with fencing but there's still the issue of her eggs rolling out. I think so much of her straw has moved around that she's too close to the edge of the box now. I'm not here at night to move her when I'd normally do it and I could haul the incubators in for the ones that roll out but more than anything I'm worried a coon may catch wind of her. Any ideas??
 
She does wander with a rooster and I've candled the ones that have fallen out before I put them back and they've had little wigglers. I have food for her but I moved it so I could get a picture...she's always hated me. Maybe hate is a strong word, but she has never been happy about me being within 3 yards of her.
 

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