How to care for outdoor broody

[Floof]

The last 2 days I couldn't find one of my barred rocks. She normally goes home and roosts with the rest of the flock at sundown and I searched high and low for her with no luck. This morning I saw her briefly when I fed everyone but then she dissapeared again. I FINALLY tracked her down this afternoon in a pile of blackberry brambles and fallen branches that I had piled against a stump. She's pretty well in there and sitting on a huge pile of eggs! I never expected a 1st year barred rock to go broody so I haven't done any homework on this. How can I keep her comfortable and safe while letting her hatch out her babies? I normally incubate my eggs but this is my first broody and she picked a spot that I can't really confine or protect. To top it off she picked an area that was supposed to get terraced this month.

 

[Cecisflock]

Is there a way to move a broody whilst still keeping her broody is the question, and why didn't she feel comfortable brooding in the coop is another...

 

[Floof]

For the time being, my chickens share the duck coop. We were prepping our hill for landscaping before the ice storms hit and grouped everyone together. I don't blame her for not wanting to set in there!

Have you ever moved a broody? Is there a better time to do it?

 

[Cecisflock]

For the time being, my chickens share the duck coop. We were prepping our hill for landscaping before the ice storms hit and grouped everyone together. I don't blame her for not wanting to set in there!

Have you ever moved a broody? Is there a better time to do it?

I haven't sorry. You could try it but it may break her, this is an tricky situation.

 

[Floof]

For anyone in the future who ends up on this page, I brought her food and water to her hidden spot daily and she ended up hatching out 12 babies with 3 late fails. She's a fantastic momma and super devoted! When the chicks were 2 days old I moved everyone into a tiny coop (the kind that TSC sells for "2-4 hens" but can really only hold 1 or 2) near where my other chickens live. Everyone is doing great and I'm excited when I can move everyone back into the main coop.