When to move broody

[tlynnus]

I have a broody hen that has been sitting on 2 eggs for the past 14 days. Right now she is sitting on them in her nesting box. I am nervous about letting them hatch in there because I'm concerned that the other 24 chickens might hurt them. I have a dog kennel set up as a nursery in the chicken run but am concerned that she might give up sitting on them if I move her. When would you move her or would you leave her where she is?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I generally am on hand during hatch day and I move the hen when all have hatched or most have hatched and we reached the end of the day.

 

[chickens really]

I always move my Broody Chicken hens with great success.
I set up the crate or Brooder pen with feed and water. Build a nest and add in the eggs. I then walk away till the Hen settles back on the eggs.

 

[Mvan42]

I moved mine a few days after beginning to set.(only one broody for me). I put her in a separate pen, she wasn’t happy at first but by the end of the day(a few hours) she went back to setting.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

It's all very dependant on your hen. Some hens just want to sit on eggs and they don't seem to care where they are, other hens will have full-blown meltdowns if they can't be in the spot they selected for themselves and will abandon the eggs trying to return to an empty spot. To play it safe, I personally only move broodies early if they're still on fake eggs so I can be sure they're going to settle in before giving them the fertilized eggs. I've had good success doing what @oldhenlikesdogs suggested and moving them after the chicks hatch. A good broody will be focused on caring for her chicks at that point. Now I just make sure there is food and water really close to their box of choice and let them raise the chicks with the rest of the flock. I haven't had any issues doing this yet but if she's your first broody in the flock I would supervise for a while to see how they react the first time around.
My entire flock seems desensitized to newcomers at this point. I have THREE MORE broodies right now playing musical nest boxes. I was so excited when I had my first broody, now my non-broody hens are laying eggs in the corner of the coop because they can't get to the boxes with all the grumpy broodies.