I plan on moving her to the floor of the Coop. I was thinking of making it 3 and a half feet tall and fencing it completely off. So she can not get out of one area and so she dosnt get on the nest. Of course she will have feed and water. Now should I take down the fenced off area when the chicks are born? Or should I leave them in there until there old enough for no heat from their mother? If that's the case I'll need to make it pretty big.. And if I let her in there until they are old enough to survive without mothers heat, I don't even know what I'm doing I need help. Is my idea any good??
If that is the only place or pen that you have to put her then it will work. I have a broody in the hen house with her 6 babies in a small area like you are talking about, it isn't ideal but can work. If you have a place/pen where you can put her to hatch & have an area for her babies that would be the best thing to do because once they are hatched she will take them around & start teaching them but stay with them until they no longer need her warmth. Anytime to have babies with adult hens (besides the mother) they can be mean to the babies & can even kill them so keep that in mind. How long has your hen been sitting?
I keep my broodies in a box about 30 inches square with a hardware cloth gate to keep the chicks in with her. They are usually satisfied to stay in there for the first couple days. After that the hens usually take the chicks around the coop for a few days while everyone else is outside (I open the chick gates and let the mamas do as they want). A few days later they usually take them out for free-ranging. My biggest problem is that my run is made of 3x4 welded wire, so the chicks can get through but not the hens. So anytime they are in the run/coop and not allowed to freerange, I usually keep chicks and mom locked up, because otherwise the chicks walk through the wire outside the run and are exposed to danger, plus mama hen usually freaks out when that happens. I have a roo I had to pen up outside the coop, and he's found the ladies will hang out with him since he offers them tidbits and let's the chicks in and out without bothering them, so he's now becoming my babysitter now that I've moved his pen to place with good arial covering. SOMEtimes a hen will offer to peck at a chick, but it's very rare around here and the chick runs. My mamas are protective. The only chick-bashing I've seen is a couple of teenage cockerels are getting too close to one group of chicks and the chicks' mama goes after the young cockerels with a vengeance. Their mama has already left them to fend for themselves, so they manage to get in trouble at times.
so she should be able to move off her nest whenever she pleases??? No one ever said anything about that i just dont want her to go back to the wrong nest
