Seeking feedback: possible solution to portable outdoor chicken tractor causing non-broody hens

[Hondo7]

Our setup: We’ve had chickens for over 10 years now. We typically keep 15-20 hens + 2 roosters, a mix of breeds (Black Australorp & Buff Orpington) that are good layers of larger eggs, are cold- & heat-hardy (NE Ohio), do well in both confinement and free range, and are considered to be good (but not great) brooders. We have a 10’x10’ coop with nesting boxes, and an 8’x16’ portable chicken tractor that we relocate to fresh grass daily. We “migrate” the chickens twice daily (coop-to-tractor and tractor-to-coop). The hens lay some eggs in the coop (usually but not always in the nesting boxes) and some in the tractor in the grass. Despite that fact that we live back in the woods with a wide variety of air and ground predators, we’ve only had predator casualties when one of the chickens decides to run off during one of the twice-daily migrations.

The problem: We can’t seem to “grow our own,” so we end up buying a new batch of chicks from the hatchery every 2 years. We have probably had a total of nearly 100 hens over the years, but none of them has ever successfully hatched a clutch of eggs. When on occasion a hen chooses to stay in the closed-up coop to brood, she only does it for a few days and then abandons the job, opting instead to leave with the rest of the flock in its twice-daily migration.

We’ve read up on ways to encourage hens to brood, and none of the ideas have worked to-date. We are thinking that a big part of the issue might be that the hens don’t have a “stable” home. Because the flock is shuttled between the coop and tractor each day, when a hen starts to brood in the coop, though she has food and water she is isolated the entire day until we bring the flock back for the night.

We considered nixing the portable chicken tractor and building a fixed run attached to the coop, but we know that will soon result in bare dirt instead of yummy/buggy vegetation. So, we are thinking of building a series of 8’x28’ runs, where at any one point in time all but one of the runs is closed (giving the grass time to recover), but with that one open run having full in/out access to the coop the entire day. So, a brooding hen would not be completely isolated from the flock during the day, hopefully encouraging her to stay with her eggs.

Because of the construction time & expense, we thought we should get input from the chicken community here. Does this sound like it might work?

 

[3KillerBs]

There's no guarantee about any kind of chicken going broody.

I've got broody Australorps and Javas, but can't seem to get them to graft to the safe nest in the "maternity ward" when I take them out of my regular nests.

Have you considered an incubator?

 

[Hondo7]

Thanks! We did consider an incubator, but are trying to find solutions that are SHTF-compliant. Our meat rabbit "farm" never had problems making more rabbits.

 

[NatJ]

When on occasion a hen chooses to stay in the closed-up coop to brood, she only does it for a few days and then abandons the job, opting instead to leave with the rest of the flock in its twice-daily migration.

It is normal and healthy for a broody hen to get off the nest each day, to eat and drink and defecate and maybe have a dust bath too. Then she goes back to the nest. Given your setup, I'm not surprised that the hen tries to go along with the rest of the flock to the tractor.

Have you tried putting such a hen back in the coop after she's had a half hour in the tractor? She might be ready to go back to sitting at that point. If that works, putting her back each day for 3 weeks is probably much less work than any of your other ideas.

We considered nixing the portable chicken tractor and building a fixed run attached to the coop, but we know that will soon result in bare dirt instead of yummy/buggy vegetation.

You could build a run, and keep the flock confined to that run when a hen is broody.
You could still move the chickens to the tractor when there are no broodies.
So you would get some of the benefit of each, instead of having to choose just one or the other.

So, we are thinking of building a series of 8’x28’ runs, where at any one point in time all but one of the runs is closed (giving the grass time to recover), but with that one open run having full in/out access to the coop the entire day. So, a brooding hen would not be completely isolated from the flock during the day, hopefully encouraging her to stay with her eggs.

Because of the construction time & expense, we thought we should get input from the chicken community here. Does this sound like it might work?

For the broodies, it might work.

For having plenty of grass for the entire flock, as a permanent situation, probably not. Given the size areas, the number of areas, and the number of chickens, I think the grass will get killed faster than it can grow back.

Like your single-run idea, you could do this and still use your current tractor sometimes, to give some of the benefits of each.

 

[Hondo7]

It is normal and healthy for a broody hen to get off the nest each day, to eat and drink and defecate and maybe have a dust bath too. Then she goes back to the nest. Given your setup, I'm not surprised that the hen tries to go along with the rest of the flock to the tractor.

Have you tried putting such a hen back in the coop after she's had a half hour in the tractor? She might be ready to go back to sitting at that point. If that works, putting her back each day for 3 weeks is probably much less work than any of your other ideas.


You could build a run, and keep the flock confined to that run when a hen is broody.
You could still move the chickens to the tractor when there are no broodies.
So you would get some of the benefit of each, instead of having to choose just one or the other.


For the broodies, it might work.

For having plenty of grass for the entire flock, as a permanent situation, probably not. Given the size areas, the number of areas, and the number of chickens, I think the grass will get killed faster than it can grow back.

Like your single-run idea, you could do this and still use your current tractor sometimes, to give some of the benefits of each.

Hello NatJ! Sorry for the late reply. I just now saw this. Good information. Thank you!

We did build the chicken paddocks with a modified (50% larger) version of the design initially posted (see attached). We also acquired two "experienced" hens who had already hatched chicks. We paid two young men to do the work as a side job and in their spare time, so the thing wound up being more expensive than planned.

BUT, it worked!! Four different hens brooded a clutch of eggs, three of them successfully, and we now have four new young birds in the flock.

I am still going to get a batch of chicks in the spring, but that is mainly to introduce a new breed (Wyandotte) that hopefully will lay more when it gets cold. And we will be putting lighting into the coop for the wee hours of the morning to also encourage extending the laying (and hatching) season (though we plan to keep the lights off from mid-December through February to give the ladies a rest).

Obviously, now we have to get an education about how to help the hens better to get a higher success rate.

 

[NatJ]

Hello NatJ! Sorry for the late reply. I just now saw this. Good information. Thank you!

We did build the chicken paddocks with a modified (50% larger) version of the design initially posted (see attached). We also acquired two "experienced" hens who had already hatched chicks. We paid two young men to do the work as a side job and in their spare time, so the thing wound up being more expensive than planned.

BUT, it worked!! Four different hens brooded a clutch of eggs, three of them successfully, and we now have four new young birds in the flock.

I am still going to get a batch of chicks in the spring, but that is mainly to introduce a new breed (Wyandotte) that hopefully will lay more when it gets cold. And we will be putting lighting into the coop for the wee hours of the morning to also encourage extending the laying (and hatching) season (though we plan to keep the lights off from mid-December through February to give the ladies a rest).

Obviously, now we have to get an education about how to help the hens better to get a higher success rate.

Glad to hear it went well, and hopefully next year will be even better!
Thanks for updating!