Moving a setting hen?

[brairgirl]

I have had 2 chicks, from 2 different hatches, disappear off the face of the earth from a coop that a MOUSE can't get in. It's predator proof. I strongly suspect that the chickens killed those 2 and ate them. Both of them were the runts of the hatch...so they may have died of natural causes and then been eaten. No way to know.

I hope you get that snake, just cuz it might have eaten your chick....but don't kill them all or you will be overrun with rodents and chicken feed draws rodents, so you don't want that.

I know I have snakes around here and I just leave them alone, hoping they will eat any mice that are trying to get into my coop. (I have hardware cloth covered with dirt as the bottom of my run so they can't even burrow in.)

The chicks were finding way out! They were trying to escape.. When ever chickens die the others don't eat them. No really worried about mice, we have 9 cats of our own and at least 2 strays that we never see anymore. They are all pretty good mousers. And as long as the snakes leave us and our critters alone, we will leave them alone.

 

[Cass]

Ok I am over thinking this . I just want to be a good chicken mama. Thank you for your advice it has helped.

You are being a good chicken mama by asking questions and trying to get answers to your concerns. And I did not mean my comment about over thinking in a harsh way. (Hard to tell tone in a typed word) Sometimes new chicken owners worry about things that nature has under control, so relax and enjoy your flock. You and Mother nature have things totally under control.

 

[AVintageLife]

This is a great thread, thanks to everyone for the great questions and all the answers from the experienced flock masters.

 

[NMbirds]

Yes, I would move her to another location in her own box with eggs. She will most likely stay with the eggs as that is what she wants to do, hatch them. Good luck!

 

[dpuleo]

N

You are being a good chicken mama by asking questions and trying to get answers to your concerns.   And I did not mean my comment about over thinking in a harsh way.  (Hard to tell tone in a typed word)  Sometimes new chicken owners worry about things that nature has under control, so relax and enjoy your flock.  You and Mother nature have things totally under control.

No worries, I did not take it in a harsh way. I needed to hear someone. Now I just pray they are not Roos! Have a great weekend.

 

[Lady Quiltz]

Buffs are my absolute favorites, they make the best mommys !!!! I just took one out of my pen and set her on some eggs that were not hers and she sat them, with no problem....all hens are different, but I think you are perfectly safe to move her and nest to a safe please...enjoy!!!

 

[kort soojian]

yes it will kill them

 

[Cass]

yes it will kill them

Huh?

 

[bobbi-j]

I haven't read the entire thread, but I will share my experiences with leaving a broody with the flock, and moving two different broodies. I've never had good luck leaving a broody where the others can get into the nest. Other hens lay in the nest, so I have to bother the broody every day to get the extra eggs out, and the broody's eggs always get broken. No matter where they've sat, the eggs would all disappear within a couple of weeks. I have moved two broodies within the past few years. Both got moved at night, with their eggs. I moved a bantam cochin who was sitting for 4 or 5 days, she didn't seem to care at all. She stayed with her nest for 25 days, trying to hatch undeveloped eggs (We had a rooster who was with the flock so I figured they were developed - I didn't candle. I ended up buying her some babies at the feed store.) A year later, my buff orpington disappeared and I found her a week later sitting on 13 eggs. She was in a place where she would easily have been picked off by a predator, and it was not possible to secure it. So, I moved her and her eggs at night. When I went to check on her in the morning, she was off the nest, agitated, in a completely different part of the shed, and several of the eggs were broken. I don't know if she flipped out about being moved or something got in there, scared her off and ate the eggs. That was the only time she went broody. This year's broody decided to sit in a place where I could just block her off from the other hens. Good luck! I'd be interested in knowing what you decide to do and how it turns out.

 

[hobbytown chick]

We just literally moved from one house to another and had a setting hen with 15 eggs..she was a light brahma and we had her in a portable nest(5 gallon bucket upside down with side cut out) so we had to move her to a completely new coop that she had never been in just a few days before she hatched.. so we cut small holes in the side of another 5 gallon bucket and slid it over the origial bucket and gently loaded her into our truck and moved her to the new house into her new coop..which was set up so she could be away from all the other hens.. and guess what...within just a few days of moving her she hatched every one of the eggs and had 15 healthy baby chicks and she did very good with it all.. we tried to make it as stress free as possible but she was a very dedicated momma hen and I dont think anything could have made her come off that nest.. we rarely saw her off the nest.. good luck on yours transition!! ;0)