Bear in mind that I don’t confine broody hens. If I want them to sit then I’ll put in a few hours getting them settled if necessary, but if they change their mind then I don’t interfere. I think you should understand this given every hen went broody at least once a year and there could be up to 20 of them.
Go and collect the eggs. A two hour drive is nothing when one considers the investment you are expecting your broody to make and the distress when it all goes wrong. In short, if you're not prepared to spend a few hours making sure you get the right eggs safely home then don't bother with any of it.
I found there were lots of advantages in leaving them open to come and go in daylight hours. The main disadvantage is other hens would lay their eggs in with the broody. So, you need to mark the original eggs and remove any others if you leave them open.
Leaving them open also means they can and will more often then not get off the nest once a day and sort themselves out regarding eating, bathing, pooping and socialisation. You can’t beat this when it works out. Most get the idea even if you have to jump start those who don’t get the idea straight away.
A further advantage if you would rather they didn’t sit is quite a lot of the time the more senior hens in the tribe would drive the junior hens who they didn’t think should be sitting off the nests. This helps to give you some idea of who the chickens think should and shouldn’t be sitting. They’re usually right.
A hen that won’t/can’t defend her nest is likely to have problems with the other hens when it comes to integration and competing for resources.
In general I’ve found the senior hens have fewer problems overall when they sit. They also get almost immediate rooster attention and this helps the chick survival rate.
If a hen decides to sit on a nest in the coop then in general they’re confident about defending their eggs. It’s usually the juniors and the more feral hens that will make nests away from the coop. There are many reasons for this and for the junior hens these reasons are outlined above. The more feral hens ime and keeping circumstances seem to know they can make better nests and cover and control more eggs in natural nests.
So, whatever the circumstances one of the most important factors is the nest site. An almost nest site in the hens eyes is more likely to be abandoned than a good one.
In your case you will want the broody hen to sit and hatch if you’ve bought eggs for her.
In such a case, if she’s nested outside, I would wait until night and move the hen and her eggs to the location you want her to sit at. This is where a maternity unit such as I have built and used comes in very handy. (see my articles)
Sometimes but it’s been rare, the hen will go back to the original site and just sit there with no eggs. I’ve found that if you collect the hen and place her back on the eggs; it may take a few goes, she get the idea and stays where the eggs are. What helps here is to provide as an attractive site as possible, secure, decent base, preferably earth, or deep bedding with a hollow made in the middle and contained in such a way that the nesting material doesn’t get easily spread out and the nest holds its shape. The better the nest site the more likely it is she will stay and sit.
I’ve moved lots of hens both at day and at night. It’s very rare that with a bit of encouragement they wont sit at a new site.
Six eggs is what I’ve tended to let hens sit on. However, bantams will quite happily sit on more as long as they can control the eggs in the nest. I favoured six because even if a couple don’t hatch she is still likely to have some chicks. Too many chicks hatch and mum has a major task feeding and teaching and keeping an eye on them all. The weaker ones inevitably don’t get the same amount of food or attention.
If you are going to provide a nest box in the main coop then it’s a good idea to make a wire front you can put up after roost time. It’s not so much to keep the broody hen in as to keep the others out. You want to avoid the situation of arriving in the morning to find your broody and her sister/friend have decided that it would be cool if they sat together. It also helps to stop early morning egg breakages when the curious, jealous or just plain clumsy invade the nest site. I take any night protection down after the rest have left the coop in the mornings.
A couple of do nots.
Don’t leave food and water at the nest site. You want the hen to leave the site to access these things. It’s better for hygiene and better for the hens health.
Don’t play with the eggs. Yes I know lots of people do. It’s just plain stupid. Mrs broody sets the eggs a certain way and that is how they should stay. Moving the eggs to candle often ends up in breakages, bacteria transferred to the egg and stress to the sitting hen.
Remember if you have to lift the hen off the eggs to encourage her to go and look for food etc to make sure she is fully out of the broody trance. I’m happy they are fully awake when I see them jump up and screech and run off. Most do this ime.
Remember that they will eat something as soon as they are awake but make sure there is still food available when they return to the nest, but away from the nest site. Most hens top up on food before they go back to sitting.
