Need advice on my RB hen.

[Duckles]

I have one pet RB hen who is very friendly, I love her a lot but I'm afraid of what will happen when she goes broody. She usually comes when called except at night, and she won't go into the coop on her own. So at bedtime my husband either calls her or finds her and carries her to the coop (she's usually perched in one of two places). I'm so worried about her having a nest in some ridiculous place and getting eaten up on the first night of setting. We have a lot of wild turkeys around our yard so I'm thinking any nest she has could be fertile.

Can we train her to go into her coop at night? She shares it with 2 ducks and 2 geese who she spends some of her time with, the rest of the time she spends wandering around with our barn cat. Or should we just try and find her nest and take her eggs? We're getting a couple of poults in May, I don't know if that will encourage her to go somewhere safer at night.

Does anyone have any experience keeping free range hens safe during breeding season? Thanks!!


hehe... see why I love her?

 

[jackietheturkeylover]

if u find her nest and take her eggs she'll find out (yes, turkeys are that smart) & she will hide her nest in another place (possibly a more dangerous place). I'm not exactly sure if this'll help but make a nest out of hay or straw in a corner of the barn, it seemed to work for my turkey. i also trained my turkey (and ducks) or go to bed at night so they naturally do it on their own.
hope i helped!