Moving a setting hen?

[atira]

I am still new to chickens, but I had all 5 of my hens go broody within a ten day period and only had 2 nesting boxes. I gave them a third box which no matter what I did they ignored. My hens shared the other two boxes and worked as a team. There was never a time that the eggs were left alone. Someone was always on one of the two nests. Sometimes three hens shared a nest along with the rooster who decided that he might as well help. The older hens were dominant but not aggressive towards the younger two hens. They are all sharing the parenting of the eleven chicks which hatched. Very cool and fun to watch. Good luck with your hen.

 

[glochis]

My first time hatching with a broody hen has been an adventure. She was sitting tight, but I would check 4 or 5 times a day to make sure she was still setting. On day 11, I was out cleaning the coop and discovered one hen was tormenting her. A Speckled Sussex would not leave her alone and ended up breaking one of the eggs. I moved the broody hen into my shed in the middle of the day and hoped for the best. She seems grateful for the privacy and enjoying her solitude. One more week to go, hoping things go smoothly now.

 

[fingbob]

I am still new to chickens, but I had all 5 of my hens go broody within a ten day period and only had 2 nesting boxes. I gave them a third box which no matter what I did they ignored. My hens shared the other two boxes and worked as a team. There was never a time that the eggs were left alone. Someone was always on one of the two nests. Sometimes three hens shared a nest along with the rooster who decided that he might as well help. The older hens were dominant but not aggressive towards the younger two hens. They are all sharing the parenting of the eleven chicks which hatched. Very cool and fun to watch. Good luck with your hen.

That is hilarious. I can just imagine three hens and a rooster piled in a nesting box! lol that nesting box would definitely need to be bigger than our 12x12 boxes.

 

[themadchicken]

We have a 1-year-old Buff Orpington who is broody. On Wednesday we put a dozen fertilized eggs under her. She is very content to stay on them with almost no break. We are looking forward to seeing her care for some chicks in 3 weeks.

Unfortunately, she started brooding in the nesting box in the small coop she shares with 3 other hens. We now have a place we can move her to be alone and where we won't have to worry for her chicks when they hatch. However, we are concerned that she won't like the new location and will not stay on the eggs.

What do the experienced chicken raisers recommend? Should we wait? Is it safe to move her? (The nesting box she is in portable, so we don't have to handle the eggs.) Should we move the other hens on day 20 (they won't be very happy about that), and then relocate the mother and chicks after they hatch?

Suggestions, please!

i had the same thing happen last December. i left the hen in the small coop with two other hens. Once the chicks hatched they lived for about 2 days then i found them dead. I don't know if it was the cold or the other hens killed the ckicks. I gave her more eggs and 5 days before hatch i moved her into the house into the brooder. 2 out of 3 eggs hatched and she didn't leave the nest even with all the kids talking to her and watching her. since then i have always moved my broodys into a safe place and they have never broke from their broodyness.

 

[Brookliner]

I had 2 bantams nesting side by side in separate nests. When the first eggs hatched the hens fought over the chicks and the chicks were the losers. Since then I always move my broody hens. I do it at night. All my nest boxes are portable so I move hen, eggs and nest all together. I have also put day old chicks under my broody hens when I didn't want them to sit on their own eggs I . I have never had a problem doing this. I do this at night also.

 

[Chicken Rox]

I had a hen go broody and decided to let her hatch out the eggs. Last year we did not move her from the hen house and the other hens kept laying eggs in her spot! This year we moved her into the top half of a chicken tractor. She had a large covered nest all to herself and a good size space to get out and get a drink and eat. We moved the eggs over when she was out taking a break then we just picked her up and carried her to the new spot.As soon as she saw her eggs she quit complaining and settled right in. She hatched out 10 from the 14 eggs. The chicks stayed in the nest the first day and on day two were out following mama around. They are on wire covered with cardboard and a few inches of pine shavings. We usually leave them in that space (about18 sq feet) until they are big enough to go up and down the ramp. As far as being aggressive, she is not, but she sure fluffs out, squawks and will occasionally peck at me if I try bother her. She is very caring and tender with the chicks. I once tried to force a broody hen to accept some day old incubator chicks and she was not having it. She tried to bite them and actually drew blood. So you do have to watch out for that and adjust accordingly.

 

[LAChickens]

@Acsinos - Thanks for sharing your experience with foreign chicks. I have had success in the past adding purchased day (or two) old chicks to the newly hatched chicks with no harm to the birds, but I have always done so within 48 hours of hatch, and then hold my breath. I have heard that the opposite can happen as well, as in your case. I am expecting hatched chicks on June 3, and have an order of day old chicks arriving on June 4. I was going to try and pawn some of the hatchery chicks off on the new mama since she's already signedo n for the job . I may rethink this since she can't take them all in and I will need to run a light for some of them anyway.

In the past I have I separated out my setting hen in a rabbit pen - 8'x4'x4' and let her raise the chicks until she's finished -- 6 -10 weeks. Then I add them to the immediate flock which is a half dozen Nankin bantams. They bully, but I haven't had a lot of drama, and no injuries, so far. Might be dumb luck. Shifting around stock is always stressful on the birds (and me!). I don't introduce the growing chicks to the entire flock until they are pert near grown. What has your experience been with this?

 

[Dylon]

@Acsinos - Thanks for sharing your experience with foreign chicks. I have had success in the past adding purchased day (or two) old chicks to the newly hatched chicks with no harm to the birds, but I have always done so within 48 hours of hatch, and then hold my breath. I have heard that the opposite can happen as well, as in your case. I am expecting hatched chicks on June 3, and have an order of day old chicks arriving on June 4. I was going to try and pawn some of the hatchery chicks off on the new mama since she's already signedo n for the job . I may rethink this since she can't take them all in and I will need to run a light for some of them anyway.

In the past I have I separated out my setting hen in a rabbit pen - 8'x4'x4' and let her raise the chicks until she's finished -- 6 -10 weeks. Then I add them to the immediate flock which is a half dozen Nankin bantams. They bully, but I haven't had a lot of drama, and no injuries, so far. Might be dumb luck. Shifting around stock is always stressful on the birds (and me!). I don't introduce the growing chicks to the entire flock until they are pert near grown. What has your experience been with this?

I throw my chicks in with the grown one's once they are big enough to not to be able to get out of the pen, fully feathered and strong enough to take a good peck from the full grown birds. They then eat pellets, scratch, and table scraps. I don't baby them as long as most... Especially if it's summer time and don't have to worry about them getting cold

 

[Dylon]

Also, they first go into the bantam pen, where the grown chickens aren't as big.

 

[A Chicken Owner]

When my ISA Brown went broody, she stayed in the nesting box (it wasn't much of a problem because I only had one other hen at the time). My broody ISA and leghorn were cooperating. Whenever my Leghorn needed to lay, my ISA jumped out of the nesting box and went to eat, drink and defecate. My Leghorn sat on top of the eggs while she was laying making sure she sat on each one of them. After my Leghorn finished laying, she would continue to sit on the eggs for another hour or two just to give my ISA a break. When my Leghorn had enough time in the box, my ISA would jump straight back in and continue to sit on the eggs.