Young broody pullet - a question about moving her nest

[Tatiana110]

I have a 6 months young Light Sussex pullet that went broody 2-3 days ago. She sits on 2 eggs right now, and refuses to move. I tried to move her (with the nest) into a different location, as the nest is the favorite nest for other 4-5 pullets, and everything was OK until she got up to poop and eat, and then she returned to the original spot and sat there, even there were NO EGGS there. Then another pullet came and laid an egg there, and the broody gently rolled the new egg under her and continued to sit, more content.

Any suggestions how I can move her so she stays in the nest in the new location? I cannot move her out of the coop and run area, as anything else is not predator proof. So she needs to be moved into a different corner of the run under the coop. The place where I moved her last night was as dark as a secluded and the original, but it was a different corner, and she did not come back there.

 

[Judy]

It has worked best for me to have a separate broody pen for the setting phase, then when the chicks leave the nest on the 2nd or 3rd day, mix the in with the rest of the flock. Some people do let their hens hatch in the same area as the rest of the flock, but you have already seen some of the things that can go wrong with this. If you do it this way, it's best to mark the eggs you want hatched with a Sharpie, then put the same eggs back under her as needed during incubation. I've also hatched a few chicks this way, but never the whole clutch of eggs.

 

[donrae]

In my experience, what you're wanting to do won't work. she'll go back to the original spot every time. Your options are....

Block off the area she's in so the other birds can't get to it.

Make a separate area for her in another enclosure. If you move her like this, she's likely to get off the nest for a day or so before she decides to set again, so you'll probably have to re-set eggs after she's been in the new area a day or two.

Let her set where she is and just check under her and remove additional eggs. I do this a lot and it does work, but you do chance broken eggs from the other hens climbing in the nest.


I agree with Judy you want to mark the eggs you want her to hatch with a sharpie and don't let her keep adding to the nest. A hen usually stays on the nest a day or so after the first chick hatches. If you let her keep adding eggs, you'll have chicks that aren't hatched but mostly developed when she leaves the nest. If you want, let her set on the two she has for a few days while you collect the amount you want her to hatch, get her settled where you want her, then put the eggs you want hatched under her and take out the first two. Mark your calendar for 21 days and enjoy!

 

[Tatiana110]

In my experience, what you're wanting to do won't work. she'll go back to the original spot every time. Your options are....

Block off the area she's in so the other birds can't get to it.

Make a separate area for her in another enclosure. If you move her like this, she's likely to get off the nest for a day or so before she decides to set again, so you'll probably have to re-set eggs after she's been in the new area a day or two.

Let her set where she is and just check under her and remove additional eggs. I do this a lot and it does work, but you do chance broken eggs from the other hens climbing in the nest.


I agree with Judy you want to mark the eggs you want her to hatch with a sharpie and don't let her keep adding to the nest. A hen usually stays on the nest a day or so after the first chick hatches. If you let her keep adding eggs, you'll have chicks that aren't hatched but mostly developed when she leaves the nest. If you want, let her set on the two she has for a few days while you collect the amount you want her to hatch, get her settled where you want her, then put the eggs you want hatched under her and take out the first two. Mark your calendar for 21 days and enjoy!

Thank you so much!

Yes, she keeps coming back to the old spot, so I let her be there.

What I have done is I spent pretty much the whole day today encouraging the other hens to so to the other nest, where I wanted the broody be. I made it quite attractive for most of them, so they laid eggs there, except one pullet, who added her egg to the broody.

I marked all eggs and added 10 more to her to set on, she was happy to take them and tacked them carefully under her belly and spread the wings to cover them up. The 10 I added were from today and yesterday, so hopefully they are good and fertile. The countdown started!

She only came out of the nest twice today, to eat and drink, and to take a dust bath, spent about 10-15 minutes in the run and went back to the eggs. So far so good, I am keeping my fingers crossed for her.

The only issue is that most of the eggs that she now sits on are from young pullets like herself. They are smallish, 49-55 grams each. I have not had any experience with hatching pullet eggs. Only 3 are from a mature 2 year old hen.

Worst case, if the pullets eggs do not hatch, we can get some day old chicks or pre-incubated eggs from a local breeder. Assuming she continues to be a good broody.

Still worried about all the stress from the other pullets visiting her nest and hope she would not quit.