Moving hen and eggs

[Tracygdot]

I have a very young hen that has been broody for 2 weeks and is sitting on four eggs. She is in one of the nesting boxes that is a couple of feet off of the ground. Should I move her and the eggs to a better location?

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

I have a very young hen that has been broody for 2 weeks and is sitting on four eggs. She is in one of the nesting boxes that is a couple of feet off of the ground. Should I move her and the eggs to a better location?

She may not like her nest moved. They tend to find a preferred nesting spot, and may keep going back even if the eggs are gone.

Did you give her the 4 eggs at the same time?

I'm not saying this is recommended, but I did have a similar situation as my nest boxes are raised.
Mine was a 2nd time broody and was used to caring for chicks. So when her eggs hatched (all on the same day) and she seemed to accept them, I carefully moved her so I could get the chicks, and then moved the chicks to the ground. She followed and took care of them. But there is a huge risk of being pecked and scratched by the broody.

I haven't tried moving a broody and nest box into a separate kennel, but it could be an option

 

[Tracygdot]

Yeah, she was broody and after a couple of days of her yelling at me collecting eggs, I just decided to let her keep the 4 that she had (laid by 4 different hens that day). We have 1 rooster and 25 hens, so my thinking was that they probably weren't fertilized. I (sort of) candled them yesterday and they definitely each looked differently than the ones sitting on my counter. Now we're two weeks in and I'm realizing she may actually hatch them. She’s in a small nesting box 3 feet off the ground so I'm concerned about the chicks hatching in there.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If your concern is the height above the coop floor, I would not try to move her. My hens hatch in nests four feet above the coop floor without problems. The hens have no problem getting the chicks to the coop floor when the hatch is over. She hops down, tells the chicks to jump, and they do. The chicks are not hurt jumping down from that height.

Obviously the chicks cannot get back up into the nest at night. Not a problem. The hen settles down on the coop floor and the chicks sleep under her. This can be really simple if you let the broody hen manage things.

 

[Tracygdot]

If your concern is the height above the coop floor, I would not try to move her. My hens hatch in nests four feet above the coop floor without problems. The hens have no problem getting the chicks to the coop floor when the hatch is over. She hops down, tells the chicks to jump, and they do. The chicks are not hurt jumping down from that height.

Obviously the chicks cannot get back up into the nest at night. Not a problem. The hen settles down on the coop floor and the chicks sleep under her. This can be really simple if you let the broody hen manage things.

Thank you. That answers my question. My concern was the chicks falling out of the nesting box and getting back in.