putting fertile eggs under hen today....questions!

[lilmama]

Hello!
I have a broody hen who is sitting on infertile eggs (we have no rooster.) I found someone who sells fertile eggs so I thought I would try and put them under her. (I can't have roosters where i live but the fertile egg seller says he will take roosters back! YAY!)
Anyway, may be a stupid question, but are the little chicks safe 3 feet up in the nesting box? How does the hen deal with that?
Thanks.

 

[Love my Critters!]

Yes they will do fine. My nest boxes are pretty high as well. I do have a board they use to walk up to the nesting boxes. You can make a nesting box on the ground if you would like, if you do move the hen at night. Also when you put her new eggs under her, make sure to do it at night time as well. If it were me, I wouldn't relocate the broody hen because I would be nervous about her abandoning the nest. I usually wait until after the eggs have hatched then I move mom and babies to a different nesting area that is on the ground. Good luck!

 

[lilmama]

and I've heard the other hens won't bug her... hope that's true! they are using the other next box which in itself is amazing. I guess nature has a way.

 

[Love my Critters!]

Just make sure the other hens are not trying to come into her nest box to lay. If that is happening you will need to separate her from everyone else so that the eggs don't get broken. I went down to central Mexico one time and the chickens there brood their eggs up in trees. The babies would have about an 8 to 10 feet fall after they were born. It's the craziest thing, but evidently it works.

 

[Chickangel79]

Don't forget to mark the fertile eggs in case she borrows some from your other hens !

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've seen hens get chicks out of a ten feet high hay loft. Mama says jump and they do. Not that I recommend putting the nests way up there just for the fun of it, but I would not worry about three feet up.

You might read through my post on this thread. It might help you. Good luck!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=522660

 

[FiveAcres]

We had the nest boxes about 3.5 feet off the ground and everything went well... and this was for free range chickens and we did not face preditor issues either...