moving a broody?

[Chefads]

I have one hen that just went broody a couple days ago. She has not laid her own clutch yet and has been pretty docile when i went to grab some eggs beneath her before i realized she was actually brooding. Now that she is, is it best to keep her within the hen house but protected or move her completely out of the hen house and as a new resident in our basement?

 

[lbc1]

I've been able to move a broody hen successfully (other chickens kept kicking her off the nest) and I noticed that once I took her eggs to move them, she ran to another nest box that she could see had eggs. I think she just wanted to sit on ANY eggs. But I moved her and she sat back on the original eggs I moved and still had a hatch. Hopefully yours will do the same.

*Edit to say that if you're not moving any eggs with her, you may want to put a fake egg just to get her situated, until she builds up a clutch. Don't know if she will stay in a new, empty nest.

 

[bobbi-j]

I have one hen that just went broody a couple days ago. She has not laid her own clutch yet and has been pretty docile when i went to grab some eggs beneath her before i realized she was actually brooding. Now that she is, is it best to keep her within the hen house but protected or move her completely out of the hen house and as a new resident in our basement?

I have moved broodys - some with success, some without. I move them at night with as little commotion and light as possible. I would not put her in the basement. If you can keep her in the coop, but sectioned off, that's what I would do. Others will let a hen set in general population, but I have not had good luck with that. The eggs either disappear or get smashed when other hens try to crowd into the nest to lay their eggs. Or, there are a bunch of eggs that get laid, not collected, and then you have eggs at different stages of incubation.