We have a broody! ... somewhere

[Shadrach]

Well, I came out today about 30 min earlier than I spotted her yesterday and waited about an hour. She didn’t show up and I got hungry. So I will try again tomorrow.

It can be a time consuming business.
I'm going to try out some hardware cloth built portable shelters this year. The idea is, once the hens location is found I'll fix these shelters over the nest by driving stakes into the ground and zip tie the weldmesh to the stakes.
I don't mind them sitting outside. In the past they have all returned with their chicks to the tribe coop at some point. I do want them to be safe if possible though.
The hatch success has so far been better when they've dug their own nests than it has when they've sat in the coops.

 

[Dr.Dale]

I'm going to try out some hardware cloth built portable shelters this year. The idea is, once the hens location is found I'll fix these shelters over the nest by driving stakes into the ground and zip tie the weldmesh to the stakes.

That sounds like a great idea!

 

[Dr.Dale]

Well, I decided to shift my search later rather than earlier today. Partly because I can’t go later during the work week and partly because any excuse to sleep in a bit is a good excuse!

I found it. We have some low growing juniper bushes for erosion control. They are on the opposite side of the driveway from where I have previously spotted her, but I guess the driveway is more of a boundary in my mind than it is in hers. Anyway, she has a beautifully hidden nest in amongst the juniper bushes.

I don’t think that she can effectively cover all these eggs. There are about two dozen in there. I would like to let her hatch them out, but I suspect she is sitting on a nest of dead embryos.

 

[50-45-1]

You might be supprised. Do you have an incubator?
Id put them in and give it a try.

 

[Dr.Dale]

You might be supprised. Do you have an incubator?
Id put them in and give it a try.

I do have an incubator, but it is currently full of a batch of duck eggs. I think if she wants these babies she will need to do it. I can only help her.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Have you tried candling to see in any are viable?

 

[Criticalicious]

That many eggs, suggests she's been at this for a good long while!

 

[Shadrach]

Well, I decided to shift my search later rather than earlier today. Partly because I can’t go later during the work week and partly because any excuse to sleep in a bit is a good excuse!

I found it. We have some low growing juniper bushes for erosion control. They are on the opposite side of the driveway from where I have previously spotted her, but I guess the driveway is more of a boundary in my mind than it is in hers. Anyway, she has a beautifully hidden nest in amongst the juniper bushes.

View attachment 1704661

I don’t think that she can effectively cover all these eggs. There are about two dozen in there. I would like to let her hatch them out, but I suspect she is sitting on a nest of dead embryos.

I've seen a few like that.
In that nest she'll hatch a lot more than one might think.
It's a self evident advantage to the hard floor nest boxes. The hollow she's dug prevents the eggs rolling away from her and she can control the eggs.
This helps explain a bit about it.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...e-make-a-sitting-hens-job-so-difficult.74389/
The last one I found like that I moved to the maternity unit shown in the article above.
I confiscated 8 eggs and left 6 which she sat on and hatched 5.

 

[123RedBeard]

If/when you move her and nest ... candle those eggs ... of the "good ones" give her about eight or so back in new location ... she may need to be "locked up" until she settles in to her new nest ...

Either she has been laying there longer than you thought, or she is stealing eggs from the other hens ...

 

[Morrigan]

I read a story on this forum where someone's buff disappeared, and they assumed a fox got her. Then one morning they see her coming through the Spring snow with 24 chicks in tow. A good buff can cover a lot of eggs.