Moving a setting hen?

[Ellaluvsbirds]

I have moved a sitting hen to another pen and she was fine. I think that if the hen is a good mother she will stay on the nest and follow her instincts. Good luck!

 

[jenndk]

We have a hen that is sitting on eggs right now in the coop and one of the other hens must be still laying an egg in with her because yesterday morning she came out to eat and I counted 17 eggs and today there are 18...about 4 days ago there were only 16 eggs. Our nest boxes are milk crates that we hung a few feet off the ground on the walls of the coop and I am also worried about the chicks falling after hatching. I think we will go in tonight and move her in her nest box into a large dog crate for the remaining time(about 12 more days). I just hate that she won't be able to do more than get up and eat and drink. Right now she comes outside, runs around flapping her wings, stretches, flies up on the fence and preens, gets some food an water and then goes back to nest, usually every few days, although she did this both yesterday and today(two days in a row). I am going to leave the dog crate in the coop so it won't be too much change at once but keep it closed so the other hens can't go in. My son is sooooo excited to have chicks, I hope this works out.

 

[bobbi-j]

We have a hen that is sitting on eggs right now in the coop and one of the other hens must be still laying an egg in with her because yesterday morning she came out to eat and I counted 17 eggs and today there are 18...about 4 days ago there were only 16 eggs. Our nest boxes are milk crates that we hung a few feet off the ground on the walls of the coop and I am also worried about the chicks falling after hatching. I think we will go in tonight and move her in her nest box into a large dog crate for the remaining time(about 12 more days). I just hate that she won't be able to do more than get up and eat and drink. Right now she comes outside, runs around flapping her wings, stretches, flies up on the fence and preens, gets some food an water and then goes back to nest, usually every few days, although she did this both yesterday and today(two days in a row). I am going to leave the dog crate in the coop so it won't be too much change at once but keep it closed so the other hens can't go in. My son is sooooo excited to have chicks, I hope this works out.

Generally, setting hens are perfectly content to not do much more than get up to eat and drink anyway. If you're concerned that she would want to do more than that, you could just leave the dog crate open and check for extra eggs. Mark the ones she's already been sitting on so you know which are which. Or, you could just put her and her nest on the ground so you don't have to worry about the babies falling through the bottom. Again, just check for extra eggs and it should be fine.

 

[Cass]

We have a hen that is sitting on eggs right now in the coop and one of the other hens must be still laying an egg in with her because yesterday morning she came out to eat and I counted 17 eggs and today there are 18...about 4 days ago there were only 16 eggs. Our nest boxes are milk crates that we hung a few feet off the ground on the walls of the coop and I am also worried about the chicks falling after hatching. I think we will go in tonight and move her in her nest box into a large dog crate for the remaining time(about 12 more days). I just hate that she won't be able to do more than get up and eat and drink. Right now she comes outside, runs around flapping her wings, stretches, flies up on the fence and preens, gets some food an water and then goes back to nest, usually every few days, although she did this both yesterday and today(two days in a row). I am going to leave the dog crate in the coop so it won't be too much change at once but keep it closed so the other hens can't go in. My son is sooooo excited to have chicks, I hope this works out.

You can open the door to the cage once a day and let her out to poop and eat. Once she goes back on the nest in the cage, close the door.

Did you mark the original eggs you wanted her to hatch? When you leave a broody with the flock it is best if you mark the eggs you want her to hatch and remove the unmarked eggs daily, when she gets up to stretch, eat and poop.(I pick the darn bird up and pull the extra eggs daily, but my broodies allow me to do that, many hens won't) It is not in you best interest to leave eggs that are laid late in the nest because one of two things will happen: She will not be able to turn the entire clutch and most won't hatch OR she will stay on the late arrivals and the first chicks to hatch will crawl out of the nest and die because she won't leave the nest to tend to them.

I used to put a small X in pencil on the eggs. I quickly learned that the hen turns the eggs and the pencil mark rubs off in about 4 days. Now I use a non-toxic marker and put a large mark on both sides and a line completely around the egg so no matter how it gets turned, I can tell at a glance which eggs to leave in the nest and which to remove. (With one of my hens, this ability to quickly tell the difference made the difference between my having 10 whole fingers and missing parts of some of my fingers. I don't encourage that particular hen to go broody, she's a mean momma)

 

[jenndk]

You can open the door to the cage once a day and let her out to poop and eat. Once she goes back on the nest in the cage, close the door.

Did you mark the original eggs you wanted her to hatch? When you leave a broody with the flock it is best if you mark the eggs you want her to hatch and remove the unmarked eggs daily, when she gets up to stretch, eat and poop.(I pick the darn bird up and pull the extra eggs daily, but my broodies allow me to do that, many hens won't) It is not in you best interest to leave eggs that are laid late in the nest because one of two things will happen: She will not be able to turn the entire clutch and most won't hatch OR she will stay on the late arrivals and the first chicks to hatch will crawl out of the nest and die because she won't leave the nest to tend to them.

I used to put a small X in pencil on the eggs. I quickly learned that the hen turns the eggs and the pencil mark rubs off in about 4 days. Now I use a non-toxic marker and put a large mark on both sides and a line completely around the egg so no matter how it gets turned, I can tell at a glance which eggs to leave in the nest and which to remove. (With one of my hens, this ability to quickly tell the difference made the difference between my having 10 whole fingers and missing parts of some of my fingers. I don't encourage that particular hen to go broody, she's a mean momma)

I didn't think to mark the eggs...the hens all seemed to be so good about taking turns on nest boxes, I just thought since she was in there that they would go in a different box. Lesson learned. The only hens I have had that raised chicks were game hens and they usually snuck off and hatched theirs and then would appear with chicks, or if I kept them penned up they didn't seem to share their nests as much. I will have to really watch for the hatch on these so that the chicks don't die. We expect them to start hatching June 6th. Can you move the late arrival eggs into an incubator and successfully hatch them after the first ones hatch out? that way the hen can tend do the first arrivals without trying to sit on the remaining eggs.

 

[Cass]

I didn't think to mark the eggs...the hens all seemed to be so good about taking turns on nest boxes, I just thought since she was in there that they would go in a different box. Lesson learned. The only hens I have had that raised chicks were game hens and they usually snuck off and hatched theirs and then would appear with chicks, or if I kept them penned up they didn't seem to share their nests as much. I will have to really watch for the hatch on these so that the chicks don't die. We expect them to start hatching June 6th. Can you move the late arrival eggs into an incubator and successfully hatch them after the first ones hatch out? that way the hen can tend do the first arrivals without trying to sit on the remaining eggs.

Yes you can move them to an incubator and hatch them. Keep them flat during the transfer from nest to 'bator and have the 'bator already up to temp when you do the transfer. Be sure to mark an X on one side and an O on the other (or any 2 symbols you like) so you are sure that you turn every egg twice each day. I would lay them in the 'bator and mark the side that is up with an X and turn them before bed and mark the other side with an O, so you don't lose track of which ones are marked requiring you to twist and turn the eggs unnecessarily.

Have a brooder area ready soon after the transfer because you may have chicks hatching as soon as 1 - 2 days later and they will need a place to live once they have dried off and are ready to eat and drink. Chicks like to be warm. 95 degrees for the first week or so. You can use a brooder light bulb (heat lamp bulb) or a 100 watt bulb, if you have any still around the house. (They don't make or sell 100 watt incandescent bulbs any more in the USA) Because you are going to have a "staggered hatch" you will need a large brooder area as the new chicks will want the 95 degrees and the older chicks will want space to get away from such temps. (You might be starting to see what a hassle this is going to be. It's up to you and how many chicks you need to fill out your flock is you decide to go through all this work)

With that said, and assuming an successful hatch in the incubator you are not left with having to raise these chicks to fully feathered and integrating them with the existing flock. I find all that a hassle, so I just throw out the eggs that haven't hatched by day 25. Call me callous, but I work full time. Chickens are just a hobby so dealing with integration problems is not high on my list of priorities.


OR you can just throw out any eggs left in the nest once the Broody abandons the nest and stick any chicks that wander out prematurely back under her. (wear gloves if you want all your fingers to come back out from under her. LOL)

 

[chickencrazy999]

well I think you should try taking her and putting her in a coop or shed thing were its cool and dark and not let her out until she's settled with her fertile eggs than let her out every day to poop, drink, and eat ect hope this helps

 

[Cass]

well I think you should try taking her and putting her in a coop or shed thing were its cool and dark and not let her out until she's settled with her fertile eggs than let her out every day to poop, drink, and eat ect hope this helps

It helps if you hit the "quote" button on the lower right of the post you are replying to, so the person you are directing your comments to knows they have a reply to their post. (It can take a few second/30 or so to bring up the reply box to type it, but it is worth the wait to avoid confusion with multiple questions on the same thread)

 

[chickencrazy999]

It helps if you hit the "quote" button on the lower right of the post you are replying to, so the person you are directing your comments to knows they have a reply to their post. (It can take a few second/30 or so to bring up the reply box to type it, but it is worth the wait to avoid confusion with multiple questions on the same thread)

ok thank you for your advice

 

[jenndk]

Yes you can move them to an incubator and hatch them. Keep them flat during the transfer from nest to 'bator and have the 'bator already up to temp when you do the transfer. Be sure to mark an X on one side and an O on the other (or any 2 symbols you like) so you are sure that you turn every egg twice each day. I would lay them in the 'bator and mark the side that is up with an X and turn them before bed and mark the other side with an O, so you don't lose track of which ones are marked requiring you to twist and turn the eggs unnecessarily.

Have a brooder area ready soon after the transfer because you may have chicks hatching as soon as 1 - 2 days later and they will need a place to live once they have dried off and are ready to eat and drink. Chicks like to be warm. 95 degrees for the first week or so. You can use a brooder light bulb (heat lamp bulb) or a 100 watt bulb, if you have any still around the house. (They don't make or sell 100 watt incandescent bulbs any more in the USA) Because you are going to have a "staggered hatch" you will need a large brooder area as the new chicks will want the 95 degrees and the older chicks will want space to get away from such temps. (You might be starting to see what a hassle this is going to be. It's up to you and how many chicks you need to fill out your flock is you decide to go through all this work)

With that said, and assuming an successful hatch in the incubator you are not left with having to raise these chicks to fully feathered and integrating them with the existing flock. I find all that a hassle, so I just throw out the eggs that haven't hatched by day 25. Call me callous, but I work full time. Chickens are just a hobby so dealing with integration problems is not high on my list of priorities.


OR you can just throw out any eggs left in the nest once the Broody abandons the nest and stick any chicks that wander out prematurely back under her. (wear gloves if you want all your fingers to come back out from under her. LOL)

Thanks for all the tips/advice. My son would love nothing better than to do "all the work" to get more chicks, but of course that means I will be doing most of it, LOL Well, first things first, we will get her isolated so no new eggs are added and then go from there.