Moving a setting hen?

[Dylon]

She really is a good mom, and went through a lot during incubation. She would only get of to eat every two days. That's rough ... She teaches them really well.so I really hate to just take them from her.

 

[LAChickens]

I'd leave them with her then. It sounds like she's protecting them. Occasionally one of my hens will step on a chick, never intentionally, but it does happen. They are pretty resilient for being so tiny. Hopefully, she will get used to you bringing food / water / treats as the chicks age and will mellow out. Do you have them in a pen or a cage? If in a cage, it might help to cover it and to use the dimness to change out food and water, then uncover one side it to give them some light...would that work? How many chicks do you have? What breeds? Pix?

 

[ant1]

ok. Somewhat new at this but in the same situation. My hen is about 18 mo old - and she is brooding/setting right where all the others lay their eggs. I've labelled 4 eggs and make a point of bringing her water and food. I never see her eat but I assume she must.
I've now seen the other hens lay right next to her and the eggs end up under her, so I suspect she beaks them over under her chest.

Something I noticed: one day one of the eggs was in the other box - visibly pushed over. I put it back under her. Is that normal? Is that her telling me that egg is a dud?

Also - I'm worried about the height. the box is pretty high - about 5 feet. I have a lot of straw but that concerns me. I do have another coop with a small run that is not used at all. Should I move her there? Should I move her with chicks (assuming they hatch?) once they do? Would heat be an issue? We're getting into the warm period in Michigan and should I just let mama bird do her magic?

 

[MadabtChickens]

I had to move my broody OEGB mix both times she was setting. The first time she was not getting up to eat and drink. The second time she was getting kicked out of the nest by the more dominant hens. She did much better in my xl dog crate in the garage. When the chicks were 3 to 4 weeks old I moved them out to the coop with their mom. I always give it a few days and keep a close watch. I don't move them unless there's issues.

 

[chickens2000]

i have a hen setting but the nest is about 5 feet in the air and when the chicks hatch im afraid they will get hurt geting out of the nest and how do they get back in

 

[Dylon]

i have a hen setting but the nest is about 5 feet in the air and when the chicks hatch im afraid they will get hurt geting out of the nest and how do they get back in

With mine, the hen will call them down out of the nest, and at night she will find a place for them on the ground

 

[ant1]

Is it normal for my flock to produce less once a hen goes broody? I went from 12 to about 7 as soon as one went broody on me. I was expecting she would stop laying as frequently but not the others.

 

[adgcountrygirl]

I have moved a broody hen successfully twice. The first time I went in the coop at night, put the eggs in the nest I made in the "Broody Box" (A Rabbit Hutch) picked the hen up and sat her on the nest. This time, I used a taller rabbit hutch as the "broody box" as the broody box which also had the advantage of not having her original nest and 2 others stacked on top of it. I picked up the whole nest (which was a cat litter box with a lid) and placed it in the "broody box" She has her own food and water which other hens can not mess with and she has her original nest which other hens can not lay eggs in or in any other way bother her.

 

[walbarbsa]

In the past, I've moved a setting hen; I do it after dark, fluff up her hay nest, add the eggs, and she seemed none the wiser next AM. She went on to hatch most of them, mothering them well.

 

[acsinos]

Just had an OEG bantam who went broody with 8 eggs up in the TOP of a stacked lumber wood pile...i had to stand on a chair to see her eye to eye! She laid eggs in between boards, not even in anything soft. TERRIBLE PLACE. The chicks would have NEVER made it down. I don't even know how Mama was keeping the eggs warm, since they were lodged all which a way in the boards.

I went in at night and added hay under her, making a nest, and discovered 3 of the eggs were already cracked (probably from being turned on hard boards). I let her sit the rest out and as soon as I saw the first peep out, i moved her and the remaining eggs to a brood box in our basement. Of the 5 remaining eggs, we had 4 hatch (#5 did not even pip, even though mama kept sitting it - i took it at day 23).

I kept mama and chicks in the brooder for a week and now they are in an outside pen doing great (will be 3 weeks old this weekend).

She is the 4th mama i have dealt with this year that i have let hatch eggs and raise the babies. All have been really feisty until there were peeps and then they are sweet...still protective, but just more mellow. I guess after 21 days of me harassing them (candling and making sure everything was ok) they were used to me being around.

One thing to watch - i tried to have one of my mamas surrogate some chicks i got from a friend. They were less than two days different in age. Mama hen was ok with them the first day, but day two, she killed two and injured one. I had to remove them to a brooder. Mama never touched her chicks, just the "foreign" ones. I have heard both success and horror stories about letting a mama raise her chicks in a run with other hens. I always just move my mamas to their own run, where they can enjoy motherhood alone.