Is she sitting on anything right now? it does help to keep them broody till fertile ones get there. and when you move her do it at night and keep her locked up for a few days with food and water of course, but be ready to put her back when you let her out she may go back to original nest box. and when you move her take bedding along, that always seems to make them feel better. Good luck and keep us updated..
Is she sitting on anything right now? it does help to keep them broody till fertile ones get there. and when you move her do it at night and keep her locked up for a few days with food and water of course, but be ready to put her back when you let her out she may go back to original nest box. and when you move her take bedding along, that always seems to make them feel better. Good luck and keep us updated..
Why would you want to keep them locked up for 6 weeks, most mamas want to get their chicks out on the ground in about 3 days, the whole point of having broodies is letting chickens do what comes natural to them from brooding to hatching to raising and all we have to do is make sure they have a safe place to do it all and enjoy the show.she is sitting on 9 unfertile eggs. we just built a nesting box and we are going to put that in a big dog crate so she will not be able to go to the other nesting box(the whole thing will be in the run but the other chickens obviously cant get in). i was planning on keeping her and the chicks in there untill the chicks are about six weeks old. Is this a good idea????? thanks for your help
How long has she been sitting? if you give her the chicks after they hatch the window is short for the chicks to bond probably a day or 2, if she has been sitting for longer than a week then I'd give her the eggs before hatch date and let her hatch them out,. she'll enjoy the experience. Chickens don't know how to read a calendar and don't count the days. but you do want to be sure is is for sure broody and has been sticking tight to the nest. Hopefully someone that has done this will chime in..
Leahs Mom just hatched out chicks under a broody in very cold climate and all are doing well so it can be done, just give broody a safe draft free space to hatch and raise it's amazing how tough those lil chicks are. Good luck
If you are going to move your broody, and know when you will have the eggs available to put under her.... I would move her a day or so early with a couple of 'dummy eggs' to make sure she sticks to the nest. If she decides to give up because she is upset by the move I would rather have my hen do it with the 'dummy eggs' than the planned hatching eggs. And you will then be able to have a couple of days to get an incubator set up if you need to.
