Hen made nest in bad area...what to do

[zanelee]

Background info:
We live in a neighborhood. I had been letting my chickens roam the yard constantly, as we are in the part of Texas that has had all the flooding this year and their yard had been underwater for weeks. Last week, we missed one of our chickens, Velociraptor. Searched everywhere for her, but didn't find her. Finally assumed that she had been picked off by something. Then a couple of days later she showed up for the cat's feeding time. Yay! We put her in the pen with the rest of the flock. (We started locking them up again after we thought she had been eaten.) Next thing we knew, she was out and gone again. Fast forward several day, and I happened to see her in the backyard drinking water. So I fed her some food and watched to see where she went.
So here's my dilemma. She has made a nest in our front flowerbed. Very well concealed, obviously, lol. But, we had found a couple of eggs out there, broken and eaten a week or so ago. Now I realize they were her's. My concern is that something else will get to her or her nest, or the babies once they start hatching.
Can you move a sitting hen and her nest without her leaving it? I'd really love for her to hatch out some babies, as she's the first of my hens to ever have gone broody.
Or should I leave her there and hope for the best?
The photo is her in her hidden nest.
Thanks for any help!

 

[zanelee]

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[cocoganger]

I've got a similar situation, and I'd love to hear other people's opinions as well, since I don't know how well our solution is working. My chicken Tinkerbell has made a nest somewhere in our neighbor's back yard. She comes back to eat and drink, so we moved her into a smaller, separate open-air coop (the coop we use to introduce new chickens into the flock) and kept her in there for a little over a week (with food, water, etc. of course). That worked for a while because when we finally let her out, she stayed in our yard all day, started sleeping with the flock again, and generally seemed like everything was back to normal. However, when she started laying again, she disappeared again. So, you might try our strategy to get to her remember where her home is, but I think you'd need to keep her cooped up until she is laying regularly so she feels like this new location is her nest.

 

[cocoganger]

Again, I'm not an expert by any means. Just sharing what we're trying.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I would make a broody box for her (get some plywood and make a little coop like this):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/480649/just-finished-my-broody-coop-pictures

I have been wanting to build one of these sooooo badly so I am telling you about it too LOL. If you have digging predators it would need an apron out to prevent digging. (Google hardware cloth apron if interested.)

You can put her in there with food and water and she will do everything for them if she is a good mama- hatch them out and show them the ropes. So yes you can move a broody if she is determined. However there is always a risk that she will stop sitting!! Good to have an incubator just in case, in that case. I give my broody hens about a week with the new chicks before putting her back with the flock so the chicks are faster and can follow mama well.

It is dangerous for her to be out in the open where the predators can get to her. I'd be worried about losing my hen and would take the chance on moving her nest.