What would you do?

[Lunawriter]

Well, I'm sure I have a broody hen in my small coop. I made her a cardboard nest box with golf balls in it and moved her onto it last night. This morning she was still there and I thought I could slip the eggs under her this evening and all would be good. I was also going to start some eggs in my new incubator at the same time since I have almost two dozen (received as a gift from a friendly chicken owner!) and I wanted to have experience with both processes if possible. But, I went back out there a while ago and she was back up on the shelf where she's been for days. I tried putting her back in the box but the other chickens were immediately all over her and she got out within moments. I tried to put up a plastic lid with holes drilled in it to separate her from the others and try to get her to stay in that area and she freaked out so I removed it. She went right back up on the shelf!

I'm building a hoophouse coop at the moment and it could be completed soon. I was thinking of moving the other hens to that and leave her the coop to herself, but there is still the problem of the chicks hatching on a shelf if I let her have her way. I guess I have a couple of options here. I could finish the hoophouse and move the other chickens into it by tomorrow and let her sit on the shelf to hatch the eggs and put up some kind of lip to help the chicks not fall out. I could remove the other chickens and block access to the shelf then put the nest box back in the bottom and hope she accepts it. I could put all of the eggs in the incubator today (I got them on Saturday and want to get them going asap--makes me nervous having them sitting there for so long!) and also brood them inside as well. Or I could hatch them inside and then introduce them to her and hope she accepts them as her own. Or I could start them incubating today just in case we don't get the hoophouse completed by tomorrow and then move them under her midway through the process when I'm sure she's settled?

What would you do in my situation?

 

[SilkieTime]

Try out your new incubator with your new eggs and tinker with your broody hen that will make every one happy and she will not be bothered. Then you can add the chicks later or make a broody box when they hatch depending on how your broody hen goes. As you can tell with a incubator and a broody hen there a lots of ways to go. Good luck

 

[Lunawriter]

Thanks, Silkietime!

I decided to put the majority of the eggs in the incubator. The ones that were a little too dirty, or I couldn't tell which end was the pointy side to go down (it's tough to tell on some!) I put on newspaper and shavings in the lid of a file box and just stuck it under miss broody right where she was. I guess we'll see what happens next!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sounds like you have things under control. Putting the eggs under the broody where you can't tell which is the pointy end is a great solution. I'm not sure how tall the edges of that file box lid are. I think I'd want at least four inches and preferably six to hold the eggs in the nest. I'm not sure if you have moved the other hens out or not. In either case, I'd make sure the eggs are marked that you want to hatch if they are not already. It does not hurt and could save you a lot of trouble later on. The unexpected happens all the time with chickens, at least with mine.

If you do move a broody, I think it works better if you move them at night with as little light and commotion as you can manage. If you can keep them locked in a pen so they cannot go back to the old nest, with enough room for food, water, and them to go poo but not a real big area, and have the nest they are going into to be a bit dark, sort of a safe from predator looking location, it seems to help. Do not have the new location up on wire or anything that will cool her bottom and no bright lights. Sometimes the move still breaks them from being broody, but I think this helps your odds of her staying broody.

I'm not sure you need it, but I'll give you this link. It might help.

Good Luck!!!

Isolate a Broody? Thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=213218