Moving a Broody Hen

nelson329

Hatching
10 Years
Apr 22, 2009
5
0
7
I have only had my chickens for about a year and I now have a broody Black Australorp. I didn't pay attention to her broodyness for the first couple of days so I'm not exactly sure when the chicks will hatch but I know it should be soon. I read on other posts that I should move her out of the nest and to another area where she wouldn't be bothered by the other hens as we only have two nests. When I tried to move her it was a total disaster. I put everything back in the original nest and she has been on it since, however, the other hens continue to climb in on top of her to lay and she is really getting picked on. I need some suggestions as to how to move her, my nests are permanent so I would have to lift every egg out into a new nest as well as the hen, where I should move her to, if I should set up a place in my garage for now or what. I am worried that moving her will disturb her too much especially if I move her to a totally different building. Also, the nests are raised off the ground and I am worried the chicks will try to climb out and fall. Another thing I don't know is what happens after the chicks hatch, does the mother hen still sit on them and raise them for a bit or what? How do I accomidate that? Another thing is that I don't know how many eggs were in the original clutch so what happens when the first few hatch but the others aren't as far developed does the hen sit until all the eggs hatch? So many questions, any advice would be so greatly appreciated!!
 
welcome-byc.gif
from Michigan and the addiction!

I'm new too so I am hoping someone with more experience wil pop in to help!

Do you want her to stay broody and hatch eggs?
You can try a search on broody chickens on BYC.. I think some folks will put their broody birds in a seperate area, dog kennel, where she has close access to water and food and piece & quiet to finish the job.

Or do you want to stop her?
I'm not sure! My DSIL puts hers in a cage above the perches so the air can get under them... usually stops in a couple days.
 
Instead of moving her now, you could wait until after she hatches them. Just take some fencing (chicken wire) and staple it up to keep the others away from her. Good luck!
 
I do want her to stay broody and hatch the chicks. But I need ideas on how to protect her from the other hens and if and when I should move her. And what to do after she hatches her chicks.
 
We got a little dog carrier and put shavings, straw, and a little DE in it. At night, we put the chicken inside it. She wasn't already sitting on a clutch, though, she had been acting broody for a day and we had removed her egg and put wooden ones (from the craft store) under her. We put the dog carrier inside a little doggie exercise corral that we put together inside the chicken run. We threw a tarp and some wood over the top to protect her from the spring rains. We have a small waterer and feeder in there with her.

When she continued to sit on the nest for one more day, we removed the wooden eggs and put some freshly laid eggs from that day and the day before under her. All we did was set them in front of her one at a time. She used her beak to roll them under her. (We did this in the late afternoon.)

Our girl didn't leave the carrier on her own, so a couple times a day we remove her and put her in front of the water and food. The other chickens are kept out of the run when we do this, because one or two pecked at Broody Mama the first couple of times we did this. They are very curious about what is going on -- they all come running and watch when we do our exercise period with Broody Mama. Oh, they want some of that "special food" she's getting! (It's the same food they get but once Broody is put away they RUSH in to pick up and spilled pellets like it is the most delicious food they have ever had!)

The eggs are due to hatch Monday. All of ours are due to hatch the same day. I don't know what to tell you about your mixed due dates, but maybe someone else can chime in?
 
I moved a broody hen and one with day old chicks the other day. Both didn't care.
Maybe you could somehow fence her off with wire and move her when the chicks have hatched?
 

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