Need help with broody hen - cracked eggs

[mmkoecher]

I put 6 eggs under a broody hen earlier this week and found 2 of them broken under her this morning and one of them in an adjoining box. I'm pretty sure my other hens are the culprits and I tried moving her and the remaining eggs tonight to another location outside of the coop but she wouldn't stay. (Although I did put some food in front of her after I moved her and she ate eagerly and then proceed to immediately poop in the new box - which may have been the reason she left the new box) I really have no way of enclosing her original box to keep the other hens away from her. For the time being I've moved the eggs back in her old box, which is where she ended up after I let her back in the coop.

Should I try moving her again tomorrow?

Any suggestions as to how to handle this situation?

Thank you,
Concerned mother hen in Minnesota

 

[Kittymomma]

It works best if you move them at night. What I do is get the new spot ready, take the hen off the nest and put her head under her wing to keep her calm, I then hand her off to my dd and collect the eggs and place them in the new spot. We put the hen back onto her new nest and cover the whole thing up until the middle of the next afternoon. By then they are usually back in their broody trance and all is well.

You do need to make sure that she can't go too far from the new nest though because while she'll sit on the eggs it's very possible that the next time she gets up to eat/drink/eliminate that she'll go backk and sit in her old spot.

It's best to get them settled in before you give them eggs to hatch, but this has worked well for me when one of the little stinkers has hidden a nest someplace and has to be moved back to safety.

ETA:

 

[mmkoecher]

I'll try it. Thank you.

 

[elmo]

Next time, here's a suggestion. Plastic storage bins with lids make great nesting boxes for potential broodies, because you can lift up the whole box with hen and eggs inside and move it to where you want without disturbing the hen. Works great.

 

[mmkoecher]

I just read about plastic boxes in another post. Sounds like a way easier way to go. Where do you find such a container?

This is the 2nd year I have a hen (probably the same one) go broody in the spring and it's the 2nd year in a row I've had other hens invading her box and smashing her eggs. I think next spring I will move her as soon as she starts sitting and before I put eggs under her. It's so depressing finding smashed eggs - I'm sure my hen isn't any happier about it either.