Very high nest questions

[_sonshine_]

My broody has been on her nest for over a week and she is way up in my hay storage area.....so when her babies hatch will she push them off to fall about 8 feet?? then will she make a new nest in the floor or should I do something. Sorry for all the ? never had a broody before.

 

[MakNat]

Amazingly the babies will plop right down when the hen is ready and yes if there are things that eat little chicks you'll have to make a safe place to lock them up at night. Hens are really smart when you show them these places. Or if it is a 'safe' place I'd just leave it to yer hen and before ya know it you'll have a bunch a chickens!!!

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I'm using my imagination to see what the area looks like and how much space is available at the current location. And I'm also thinking on if it would be feasible to baracade them in. Just so she can leave but the chicks couldn't make it out. Then all you would have to do is make sure there is water and a feeder. Maybe they would be fine with an 8 ft fall, but I'd be concerned.

 

[mulia24]

well, that's quite dangerous for the chicks, their legs could swollen/break if fall that high.

better to move the nest silently and gently at dark night to make sure she didn't break broody.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

You might be able to do that, but I have never been able to convince a hen to brood anywhere but where she planned on doing it. Its hard to explain to something that doesn't speak human tongues that they aren't at a safe place. I'm not going to say its not possible, but if it is, I haven't figured it out yet and I'm all ears, because problems always seem to resurface. I preferred to brood in a brooder if I could get them interested in it. My next choice was always a nesting box or one of the shelves in the shed and then I had portable cages to place on top of the silly ones that insisted on the ground ( mainly the cochin bantams ). I had one little barred cochin hen that figured out a way to not be bothered by any other chickens or people. I thought she was dead. She brooded in a cestpool. She came out of there one day, followed by 11 of her own chicks.......one looked red somehow........probably sex-linked.

 

[PortageGirl]

Watch, watch watch her. When they're peeping and getting ready to hatch, just keep an eye on her, she won't move them till most, though possibly not all have hatched. Once they're almost all hatched, she may well push any unhatched eggs out from the nest and sort of 'concentrate' on the little peeps. Once they've all fluffed up, dried out and seem 'settled', she will have sort of nestled them in and gotten comfortable with them. Anywhere from 6 to 36 hours I'd say, and this is not a hard science, it sounds like you know this hen's temperment... I want to say at that point she's mostly 'bonded' with them, but I'm not sure chickens actually bond. But that's the safest time to move her and them. Get help to do this, even if it's someone down below to hold her in a dog crate so you can slip the chicks into it with her.. yes, she's going to freak out, but you move them all into a safe spot and all will be well.

If worse comes to worst, and she does 'boot' them out of the loft, chicks sort of *Poof* to the ground amazingly well. They can actually handle it quite well and I wouldn't freak out over it.

//edit to add// this is only what I would do. I've never had one nest quite that high, though I've had them up about 4.5 to 5 feet. I would put some extra loose hay or straw below the area just in case if possible, though that may not be practical. I have seen them poof down amazingly lightly, so I'd advise you not to panic!