My broody house chicken

[jkcove08]

I had this lovely little hen out in with some other chickens that I have been trying to get blue NN americanas from. I wanted to keep her in a warmer and safer room the out in the coop with the gang. She was constantly broody last year and she is started up already..lol There wasnt enough room with the other chickens to give her a nice area to be left alone so I did the next best thing. As you can see in the pic she is in the house on my back porch. I have a second computer back there so at night she always has a night light so any house sounds wont scare her. She has been there for 4 days now. I think I am going to take the eggs that are under her and place them in the bator and take a bunch that going t hatch next week and put those under her so she can hatch them. I have duck and chicken eggs set, I am not sure which ones I am going to do, might put in both..lol I wish I could leave them with her but my cats are to sneaky and will jump at the hens with thier chicks to scatter the chicks and then grab and kill them. I have given up on letting the hens keep thier chicks. Even after she hatches a batch of chicks she will go right back to being broody. She is such a great hatcher!!! Jenn

 

[tfpets]

That is so cute! I have a little Mille Fleur D'Uccle hen that gets broody like that but she wont let me relocate her, and she choses to roost/nest in the pigeon roost. The pigeons are very accepting of her being there, but it's rough on the chick babies dropping to the floor from the top of the barn even though theres so much straw and they bounce!

I had to take them away as soon as they hatched! This year I'm just getting the eggs daily so she doesnt hatch any. Hope your little lady hatches some babies you can reach soon!

 

[jkcove08]

I actually have 3 or 4 broodies that will let me relocate them with out much problems. I have 3 rabbit hutches that I will move them to in the summer. There is enough air flow to keep them comfortable but it is totally enclosed so they are safe. I keep water and food within reach so they are always comfy. There is also enough room for them to walk around some and poo in a corner. I will get them all ready and place a few eggs in a nest area. Then I put the hen in and if she hunkers down I know she it truely broody. Then I leave her on those eggs for a day and then switch with the eggs that I really want hatched. The others I will usually feed to the chickens. I actually have 3 other hens in the main coop that are going broody but it is to cold to put them in the hutches yet and I cant separate them the way I like in the main coop. The one really pecked the heck out of my hand yesterday when I was collecting eggs. I might have to set up a couple dog kennels so that they will have something to keep the other hens from laying in the nests. I will probably try to set something up tonight since I have 6 sets of eggs that will hatch in the next 3 weeks. I would be nice to not have to keep an eye on all of those..LOL Jenn