How do I move a broody hen?

[Cntrcrssgl]

Well, I have a little gold bantam sitting on a shelf above a window in my feed shed. She has 6 eggs under her - no idea how old or how viable they are and a dead mouse! Got the dead mouse away from her but she is fierce about those eggs! I can't leave here there due to the pet door for the barn cats ( that eat the mice but are very good about leaving the chickens alone). We have a problem with possums killing our birds that nest outside of the coops - usually its a guinea but I have already lost a broody young golden sebright this past month in this very shed. Any suggestions about how & when to move her into one of the nesting boxes in the coop?

 

[Judy]

To move her, try to take all her nesting material with her when you do it. Pick up everything at once, place it in a carrier of some sort and make the move. Do this at night.

If you can, you might consider putting her somewhere besides the coop, so she will be left alone, and to avoid things like her returning to the wrong nest, another hen trying to take over or share her nest, others laying their eggs on her nest, others oving her partly incubated eggs out of her nest, etc. IME the mama does fine raising her chicks in with the flock, in the coop and run, but not so much for the setting. All she needs is a nest in a slightl larger space, big enough for her to move around a little, and of course big enough to hold food and water. Perhaps a large dog crate in your shed, or make a little room for her in your shed or coop with chicken wire.