Introducing 8 week old chicks to broody hen. Dilemma.

[Gabaliene]

I have a main flock of 9 hens and a rooster. One hen has been sitting on 13 eggs for 11 days now and I have two other hens that have become broody in the last 24 hours (I'm trying to break them as I don't have space for 3 broody mamas). This morning the main broody was repeatedly kicked out of her nest by one of the other hens, I removed the other hen and placed the broody back on her nest. Upon checking this evening I've found that two eggs are missing from under the broody and there is dried yolk on some of the eggs but no egg shells or other evidence of the other two eggs.

I'm assuming the missing eggs we're damaged by one of the other hens and then eaten but I also can't rule out them being stolen by a rat, snake or other predator.

I'm growing concerned about keeping the broody mama with the rest of the flock, both because of the other hens aggressively trying to steal her nest and the missing eggs/vulnerability to predators in the main coop (the door is open during the day and the other chickens free range). I also have 6 cats so I'm worried about them attacking the chicks once they've hatched.

This brings me to my dilemma... The only other housing option I have is a secure coop of 1m2 with a 2m2 run that is currently housing four 8 week old chicks that I raised from eggs. The coop and run and covered with hardware mesh and are very safe in regards to predators. Will I be better off leaving the mama with the main flock or putting her in the secure coop with the 8 week olds considering she stays on her nest for 23+ hours a day? It's my first time dealing with a broody hen so all advice is appreciated!

 

[My Bagurks]

I dealt with about the same situation. I tried moving mama and her eggs and kicking the other chickens out. When I moved her and the eggs to a different nesting box, the next day she had moved all 10 eggs back to the original nesting box hung on a different wall. They can be stubborn.

Let me preface this by saying I make my nesting boxes in threes. I hang them by the 4x4s that frame my coop. They are 4 feet apart. So I make 3 boxes equaling out to 44 inches and change so they are supported by the ends. The bottom row is secured and the two upper rows just sit on top of the first.

I moved the top row (you can make a single box for your mama) out of the coop and into the run. Then I took a 10 foot length of 4ft chicken wire and stapled it to a 2x4 at each end. The chicken wire always wants to curl up, so I made a round area for mama and the eggs until they hatched. I just screwed the 2x4 to the coop wall to hold it up. I gave her chick starter because she didn’t need layer feed now and her own watered. And I moved her and the eggs at night. She seemed to like her privacy and hatched them without incident.

 

[Yardmom]

The pullets should not be a problem. Getting her to stay with her eggs on the new spot could be. She will want to go back to the original nest. If she can not get to her original nest she may be willing to sit on the eggs where they are. To increase your chances of her staying, I would move her at night and keep her in a smaller enclosure.