Possible Broody Hen

[Evadig]

Good morning y'all,

One of my hens looks like she's thinking about going broody and I just want some advice/validation on what I plan to do.

She’s been in the nesting box almost 24 hours, clucks sharply if you come near, and puffs up. She hasn’t pulled any feathers out.

She shares the run with three other hens and there's only one nesting box. I am going to put a cardboard box with some straw in the run so the others have somewhere else to lay. However, they will still try to go lay in Jen's box, and I don't want them upsetting her.

So how would you go about keeping them out? I am thinking about putting some netting across the opening.

However, the coop is at least three feet off the ground and seven feet away from the food. Should I put some food and water in the nest with Jen or make her come down and get it?

Thanks!

 

[sourland]

Do not put food and water in the nest site. She needs to leave the nest so that she does not defecate there. Also the exercise is needed. Do you plan on getting fertile eggs for her?

 

[Evadig]

Do not put food and water in the nest site. She needs to leave the nest so that she does not defecate there. Also the exercise is needed. Do you plan on getting fertile eggs for her?

She has fertilized eggs, yes. But Viv (another hen) got in the box so Jen got out. Viv turned into a big puffball and tried to peck me.

Does a hen think about going broody before making a commitment? Do they try it and give up?

Reason I ask is because one of the turkeys decided to sit on duck eggs for almost a week, and one began to develop. Then she got off.

I don’t mind if they sit but I want to know if they’re going to keep it up or not. Otherwise I’m just going to collect the eggs. I suppose there’s no way to tell whether they’ll carry through?

 

[sourland]

Some birds are dedicated mothers and some are not. Generally in my experience, once chicken hens have bonded to the nest site for 48 hours, they complete the task. The only to know the good mothers for sure is to give them a chance. Other birds having access to the nest can result in the broody bird breaking in addition to broken eggs.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Your situation is a lot different form mine so I won't go through what I do. I don't know how big that nest is, it looks more like a community nest box than one for an individual hen. You probably do have enough room in there to block it off so she cannot get out and others cannot get in and put food and water in there. I can think of three possible options for you.

How big is that nest, in feet/inches since you are in the US. If it is big enough you could enclose the front so you lock that hen in there until she hatches. Provide food and water. She needs enough room to get off if the nest to poop, a broody hen should know by instinct not to poop in the nest. Some have better instincts than others, if she poops in the nest just break her, you are not going to be successful. That nest looks pretty tight for that but it might work. The other hens will lay somewhere but I have no idea where. Typically when people do something like this they need to add a pen to hold food, water, and room for her to poop since the nest isn't big enough. In a nest like that I agree to not put food or water in the nest. You need to have room outside of the nest.

A second option is to build a pen big enough to hold the nest, food, water, and for her to poop. Move her to that area and let the other hens have their nest back. There is a risk in her breaking from being broody if you move her but most of the time you can manage that successfully. Wherever she goes needs to be predator proof.

The third option is to let her incubate and hatch with the flock. That's how I do it. Some broodies don't allow other hens in the nest with them but practically all of mine do. I mark the eggs with a black Sharpie so I know which ones are hers and check after the others have laid for the day and remove the new ones.

There are risks with any of these. Different ones of us are successful using these methods. Good luck.

 

[Evadig]

Your situation is a lot different form mine so I won't go through what I do. I don't know how big that nest is, it looks more like a community nest box than one for an individual hen. You probably do have enough room in there to block it off so she cannot get out and others cannot get in and put food and water in there. I can think of three possible options for you.

How big is that nest, in feet/inches since you are in the US. If it is big enough you could enclose the front so you lock that hen in there until she hatches. Provide food and water. She needs enough room to get off if the nest to poop, a broody hen should know by instinct not to poop in the nest. Some have better instincts than others, if she poops in the nest just break her, you are not going to be successful. That nest looks pretty tight for that but it might work. The other hens will lay somewhere but I have no idea where. Typically when people do something like this they need to add a pen to hold food, water, and room for her to poop since the nest isn't big enough. In a nest like that I agree to not put food or water in the nest. You need to have room outside of the nest.

A second option is to build a pen big enough to hold the nest, food, water, and for her to poop. Move her to that area and let the other hens have their nest back. There is a risk in her breaking from being broody if you move her but most of the time you can manage that successfully. Wherever she goes needs to be predator proof.

The third option is to let her incubate and hatch with the flock. That's how I do it. Some broodies don't allow other hens in the nest with them but practically all of mine do. I mark the eggs with a black Sharpie so I know which ones are hers and check after the others have laid for the day and remove the new ones.

There are risks with any of these. Different ones of us are successful using these methods. Good luck.

Thank you ! Nest box is 24 inches long by 15 inches wide. If she wanted to poop out of her box she could just get up on the ledge and poop down, onto the ground.
She's up now, but hanging out near the nest. If she does end up sitting again I'll block her in there and rig up a place to put food and water where it's not in the nest but close to it.

 

[Evadig]

Okay...she's sitting again so I locked her roommates out. I also have better pictures of the setup.

I was also thinking I could put the eight week old chicks in the run with her, because they don't use the nesting box. They pretty much stay on the ground except at night, when they go to roost. Then the other hens can be in a run where they still have access to a nesting box.

I can't build anything because of time constraints, and there's no guarantee she'll keep on sitting.

Like I said before, I can also just block the coop off and screw a base on so as to have a place to put food and water.

The three white eggs are fake.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't think that is enough room for food and water in with her. I would not try that.

My test to see if a hen is a committed broody is that she has to spend two consecutive nights on the nests. There are a lot of signs that they may be considering going broody or even might already be broody but the only one I trust is two consecutive nights on the nest.

 

[Evadig]

I'm going to give her three nights to make sure! Though my turkey sat for three nights and then gave up. But maybe they're different.
For now I'm going to block off the coop so at least she won't be kicked out of the nest again and leave it at that.
I'll update tomorrow morning on whether she sat through the night.

 

[Evadig]

Just to let you know, Jen's still sitting...
I ended up putting the eight-week-olds in with her because they won't need the nesting box and they stay out of it. She doesn't seem to mind their presence on the roost. Her roommates got moved to the chicks' run.
It is 90F out, and she seems a bit hot. Do you think she would appreciate a fan? Would that be a fire hazard? The coop is completely open air (except for the roof of course), so there's plenty of ventilation.