Need Advice. Chicken broody under the house.

[jeannie3]

I let my chickens out every morning. One of them, I discoverd this morning trying to jump the fence. I put her in the run where she became anxious. Good Gawd, I knew then that she had a nest somewhere so I let her out.
I followed her and sure enough. The problem is that she jumped up into our duct work under the house. I can't see the eggs, but I know we have a situation

I plan to move the eggs to a secure place where she will still have privacy, but away from predators. Will she accept the move or abandon the eggs? I plan to separate her and the eggs from the other chickens but am still concerned about her accepting all this.

Obviously we can't let her stay where she is. Will making another "spot" for her work?

We do have a roo, but honestly, she is large and the roo is small. We never thought he could "hit the mark" so to speak. Could she be broody with unfertilized eggs?



The other question I have is this: She always comes home to roost at night leaving her eggs. Will the eggs be viable still?

 

[xmonster0]

if she leaves her eggs for the night she is not broody, sitting on them part of the day will not hatch a single egg, id just collect them

now if you notice her not leaving the eggs ever, and i mean just long enough to get a drink and eat very very briefly and spending every other waking moment on them then she is broody

sounds like you just have a loner hen. i had 2 like that , 1 got eaten (i assume) she wandered off and never came back, and the other was just hiding eggs all over the place for us to find

 

[jeannie3]

Thank you. I kept her in the run today... she was so anxious, so sad to watch. I hope, in time she'll learn to stick close to home. Thanks again.

 

[jeannie3]

Thank you. I kept her in the run today... she was so anxious, so sad to watch. I hope, in time she'll learn to stick close to home. Thanks again.

 

[xmonster0]

what i did a while back when some of my hens were wandering to lay

is i kept them in the run for a couple weeks and it will retrain them to nest at home

every once in a while you will have to remind them where they live