Need advice on moving broody hen

[HopperVal]

Thanks everybody so much for the help!

This:

I don't think you will need to worry about this type of thing with chickens unless you are doing some serious line breeding but son to mother won't be a problem.

Makes me feel better.

We moved her back into the normal coop and she is happy as she was before, sitting on her eggs. We broke one in the move though I guess I don't mind her laying on them in there knowing about the inbreeding thing. My concern now is more for after the chicks have hatched. I know when we had a surprise chick hatch last year it fell out of the box and the others tried to attack it. I moved our RIR broody after the first chick hatched and she stayed on the nest... is this typical or not advisable?

Could I maybe move her to the brooder after all her eggs hatch?

I'm happy to see she's still sitting on the nest though.

 

[HopperVal]

She's still sitting on 3 eggs and has been all day.

We still need to figure out what to do with her & the chicks once they hatch but we have 3 weeks. Hopefully we'll come it with something before then.

Any ideas?

 

[Beekissed]

When you moved her, did you do it at night...no lights?

 

[HopperVal]

When you moved her, did you do it at night...no lights?

No we moved her during the day. I was worried she'd freak out if we did it at night. Will moving her in the dark really make a difference? It seems like it's a 50/50 thing no matter when you do it from what I've read. But if moving her in the dark drastically increases the chances of her staying on the nest then we can give it a try. I don't want to keep moving her back and forth. We broke one egg doing it last time and only have 3 left.

 

[Beekissed]

Yes, it makes a vast difference. She can't see...I even put a towel over the bodies and heads of those I move....they do not "freak out" if they cannot see where to freak TO. Same reason a possum can come in the coop and eat the breast right off a roosting chicken without her moving a muscle. She cannot see and doesn't know where to go to avoid the disruption, so she is very still and quiet.

When you move in the daylight, you have moved her whole world upside down and she will fret over this, over being separate from the flock, etc. Give her a night of darkness on her new digs and even keep her in the dark the next day and she will have forgotten the old digs and will get upset if you attempt to get her off the new nest to even view the eggs.

Done this numerous times and have found it to be 100% effective for moving a broody/eggs/chicks.

 

[HopperVal]

Ok thank you very much we'll give this a try tonight!

 

[HopperVal]

So for anyone still following: IT WORKED!

Moved her around 840 last night in the dark and she's still sitting on them this morning

And we have another egg so the total comes to 4!

Thank you soo much Beekissed and everyone for all your help it was very much appreciated!

Now we play the waiting game. May 3rd cannot get here soon enough!

 

[Beekissed]

Good luck on your hatch!!!

 

[HopperVal]

Thank you!

 

[RiverChickens]

This is my first season of having broody hens so im no expert but ive found a way to move my hens that they havent been bothered by so far. I'm not sure how successful this will be for others but it's worth a try if you can do it. In the spring I cleared out the straw and put milk crates (mine are 12" x 12" ish) in my nesting boxes and put hay in them. The hens seem to really like them and actually fight over them verse the boxes I left normal. When a hen goes full broody (pretty much never leaves the nest for 4-5 days) I simply pick up the crate containing the nest, eggs, and chicken, all in one and carefully walk her to the broody area. If one is flighty I have a chicken wire top I made and can use but I haven't had to yet. they seem to like that everything is exactly the same and they are undisturbed on their nest. When I walk across the yard with them they seem to hunker down on the nest so I dont know if I have trusting chickens or I'm just scaring them so they stay put lol but if your worried cover the nest before you move it. Hope this helps someone out there. Good Luck!