When should I move my hen and the nest?

[Nicole01]

My hen is not in an ideal area to raise the babies in the coop in her current spot. She's sitting in the lower left nest box(I have 4 nest boxes altogether) and they are not all going to hatch the same day. I'm praying she sits on all until they all hatch.

I have a dog kennel in the coop ready for her to be transferred. I was thinking of finding a box and cutting 3 sides today and putting the clutch in there. I don't want her giving up now since I should have chicks soon and she's doing so well sitting. The dog kennel has a water and food station inside and is brooder ready.

Do I move her now? Or do I wait until that first egg hatches? Right now where she's at, she needs to get up and walk outside to get water. I have to pick her up off the nest to do so, she does not want to leave her eggs at all. I must shut the coop door, so she will drink and then she walks outside to poop and clean her feathers. I think it's funny she won't even poop in the run. Her poops are massive huge and stinky too! Whew!

I'm only keeping 1 chick myself for her to raise. The rest go back to my neighbor, who gave me the fertile eggs.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Nicole, you should know my answer will be that you have a lot of options. There is no one answer that works for all of us. We all have different goals and different set-ups. I let mine hatch with the flock, isolate them in a prepared place for a couple of days after she brings them off the nest so the chicks get used to eating and drinking without interference from the older hens, then just turn them loose with the flock. Mama sometimes takes them to a low nest at night but usually she takes them to a corner of the coop to sleep on the coop floor.

Any time you move a broody hen, you take a chance on breaking her from being broody. Lots of people do it a lot without problems. Just because something can happen does not mean it absolutely will happen.

I hate interferring with a broody, especially during hatch, but that is exactly when others move a broody, after the first one hatches. We are all different.

If I felt I had to move her, I'd personally do it at night using as little light and commotion as possible. I'd prepare a place I could lock her in that had room for the nest, some food and water, and room for her to go poop. If you are going to isolate her and the chicks from the flock while she raises them (something I don't do) I'd move her to this place. I'd make the nest as dark as I could and I would lock her in the nest so she could not leave the nest itself for practically all the next day. As you have noticed, they spend a lot of time in the nest anyway. This is not cruel. I would have the crate or space locked so she could not go back to her old nest.

Good luck with it. I know it is a stressful time.

 

[Sazbaby]

Just speaking from personal experience here, our nesting boxes are raised quite high, so when we've left them in there, the first time the hen leaves the nest after hatching, the chicks fall out and can't get back in, so she doesn't go back to finish incubating the remaining eggs. So we started moving them for the most part. We've always moved them somewhere in mid-gestation and never had a problem- our hens seem to be pretty determined about brooding and we've never had one decide to give up on the eggs when we've moved them to the ground level cage. I've never moved them after the chicks have started hatching- I try not to move the eggs since the hen doesn't move them herself for the last week or so to let the chicks orient themselves prior to pipping. You'd probably be fine to move them now, although every hen is different! Maybe some more experienced people will chime in for you too... good luck with your hatch, I've got one setting now on eggs that are due to hatch 3 or 4 days apart and am hoping she stays with them long enough after the first ones hatch... guess we'll see what happens!!

 

[Nicole01]

Thank you! Maybe I'll move her today. I'll have to find a box though, so it feels more confined for her. Moving to an XL dog kennel might me intimidating with all that space, plus it's freshly cleaned and disinfected.

Okay maybe not. LOL. I'm so confused and I want to do the right thing. I want this to go really well like it has all along. My cochin has never been happier.

 

[Nicole01]

Nicole, you should know my answer will be that you have a lot of options. There is no one answer that works for all of us. We all have different goals and different set-ups. I let mine hatch with the flock, isolate them in a prepared place for a couple of days after she brings them off the nest so the chicks get used to eating and drinking without interference from the older hens, then just turn them loose with the flock. Mama sometimes takes them to a low nest at night but usually she takes them to a corner of the coop to sleep on the coop floor.

Any time you move a broody hen, you take a chance on breaking her from being broody. Lots of people do it a lot without problems. Just because something can happen does not mean it absolutely will happen.

I hate interferring with a broody, especially during hatch, but that is exactly when others move a broody, after the first one hatches. We are all different.

If I felt I had to move her, I'd personally do it at night using as little light and commotion as possible. I'd prepare a place I could lock her in that had room for the nest, some food and water, and room for her to go poop. If you are going to isolate her and the chicks from the flock while she raises them (something I don't do) I'd move her to this place. I'd make the nest as dark as I could and I would lock her in the nest so she could not leave the nest itself for practically all the next day. As you have noticed, they spend a lot of time in the nest anyway. This is not cruel. I would have the crate or space locked so she could not go back to her old nest.

Good luck with it. I know it is a stressful time.

I do not want her breaking the brood. Yes, she will be locked or she'll be bothered by the other curious hens.

After re reading your post, maybe I'll keep her in the current nest. Its dark, small and cozy. I'll keep the dog kennel in there just in case she's picked on once they hatch. She's only raising one chick, the rest are going to the neighbor.

My Cochin is low in the pecking order, but we are keeping an EE/barred rock mix, so maybe the little chick will have more spunk. I'll defiantly be keeping a watchful eye.

 

[Nicole01]

My eggs are such a big difference in hatching rates! My neighbor is terrible at collecting her eggs and gave one to me 10 to 14 days developed by accident. The air cell today tripled in size! OMG! Some of the others have a ways to go. I might be buying an emergency incubator if she won't sit on the rest. Yikes. I think I might move her to the kennel, I still don't know. Maybe I can build a water station that butts up to the nest that won't spill. We have plenty blocks of wood cut that would work. I feed her inside the nest box.

I think I'm in a panic now. It's not pipping yet, so I might have a day or two.

 

[mstricer]

Just leave her. I won't feed her in the nesting box though. She may poop on the eggs. I am like ridgerunner, mine brood in the coop and my nesting boxes are 2 feet from the ground. As soon as the eggs start hatching I place a 2 inch strip of cardboard across the bottom of the nesting box, no one falls out. Are saying some will hatch 14 days before the others? If so, she will not set on the others. Mine hens have their babies out by 3 days, on the ground, outside free ranging. Good Luck, let us know how it turns out.

 

[Nicole01]

Amazingly, she does not poop in the box, coop or even the run. She walks all the way outside to poop!

I'm looking for an incubator in between my housework in case of an emergency and she gets off the other eggs. They are all viable at this point!

 

[mstricer]

Yeah I glad to hear that. I have 2 broody's right now one has 4 eggs (new to it) and the other has 9. Candle little Porcia eggs and all 4 are going and look like they are ready to hatch. Ms. Cruella isn't due till next week, speaking of which I should go check on her, she gets confused is she gets up and sits on the nearest eggs. Congrates I hope everything goes well, but just in case I would get an incubator.

 

[MEchickenfarmer33]

i tried moving a broody around day 17 and she just stopped setting when i moved her to a safer environment. I would just deal with where she is now. Its not worth risking her becoming non-broody