Can you move a broody chicken

You can move a chicken that is sitting on eggs, but it can be a touchy and challenging process. When a hen is broody, she wants to stay sitting on her clutch of eggs until they hatch. A broody hen is driven by pure instinct to the point where she may even sit on golf balls or anything that looks like an egg. If you are planning on moving your broody hen anytime soon, keep in mind that your hen will be determined to stay where she currently is.

The full incubation process for chicken eggs takes about twenty-one days to complete. So, your broody hen will be prepared to sit on her clutch of eggs for three to four weeks before the clutch hatches. Your broody hen will try to do everything in her power to not be removed. Make sure the area you relocate your broody hen to is a stress-free or a low-stress environment. Broody hens enjoy being in peaceful, quiet spaces. Once a hen becomes broody, all she wants to do is be alone and take care of her eggs.

You also want to check on the number of eggs. Depending on how large your hen is, she can only sit on a certain amount of eggs. This will depend largely on the breed of your hen. That results in new eggs being laid, and previously incubated eggs being taken out of the clutch. You may also have the problem of two or three hens trying to access the same laying box. If a hen finds another hen in her favorite spot, she might make a lot of noise until she gets her box back.

Also, keep an eye out for any bullying hens. Chickens can fight ferociously with each other. When a hen is busy keeping a clutch warm, she might get pecked by other hens. If a hen gets pecked often, she might wind up with sores and infections, so keep an eye on this behavior. Make sure your broody hen has her eggs and nest in a safe area.

Sometimes your hen might leave the chicken yard if she is trying to find a quiet, safe place. A broody hen on occasion feels like her clutch will be better off away from the other chickens so she can be left alone. Moving a hen at night is exponentially more likely to be successful than a daytime move, but it will require planning in advance. Ideally, a nighttime move goes so smoothly that the hen falls back asleep without noticing anything has changed.

I like to move hens hours after sundown or occasionally in the wee hours of the morning. And also not kidding! The towel blocks light and if she attempts to peck your hands the towel should add an extra layer of protection.

Darkness under the towel while you move her will help keep her calm. The key to success is for the hen to be moved and settled into a new nest before she ever wakes up and darkness helps a lot. The first half dozen or so time I did this, I carried the hen by lifting her gently out of the nest, supporting her legs, and gently holding her wings down under the towel as I carried her. These attempts had a reasonable success rate, but my success rate went up when I started moving her in a tub.

Instead of carrying hens from point A to point B, I used a shallow flexible bucket or, later, a plastic bus tub that I would leave her in once I relocated her. Using a carry-able container to move her meant instead of going from Point A to Point B being held by a human very stressful! Having well-protected arms is a big help if and when they get defensive. If the move is very successful and your chicken settles back to sleep, you may have a docile and willing new nest occupant, as she wakes up the next morning in the new digs and thinks she must have fallen asleep there and the nighttime excursion was just a dream!

Waking up in a new and strange location, they may want to flee- breaking their brood in the process. They were all hatched May 11, She has white, green, brown and chocolate eggs so she has adopted all the eggs she can get.

How do we get the other hens to use a different nest they have 4 nobody uses? You can try moving the eggs to the empty nests, and leaving them there until the hens take notice and start laying in them. We took away all the eggs because some hatched and they killed them. We got an incubator to put them in and they had over 4 dozen in the nest with three hens.

Now three have hatched and we are putting them in a smaller hen house away from the grown fowl. What can we do with dozens of baby chicks? I have 2 8 month old hens of different breeds, one is unknown and the other is definitely an Orpington and the Orpington has stopped laying eggs completely this October. The other has continued laying. I caught the Orpington sleeping in the nesting box last night. Thank you Linda! Is that an additional behavior of broody hens?

Yes, broody hens can become quite bitchy! Hormonal issues, I guess. The information is wonderful to know and share. There are many people who raise chickens in harsh winter climates, but they take extra measures to ensure their flock stays safe and healthy. If my chickens are stil laying every day but spending almost all day in the nesting box does this mean they are broody? Their behaviour is normal in the morning and late afternoon but spending hours inside the nesting box. They have both only been laying for 1 and 2 weeks.

Make sure you collect all of their eggs at least once or twice a day, and try to lure them out with treats if you find them spending too much time in the nest. I LOVE to read your blog entries.

You break broodies by using a wire dog crate and nothing more. It may take up to a week and you may need to repeat the process but you treat your chickens humanely at all times.

My broody settles right into her cold water bath without putting up a fuss. As always, use your best judgment. Totally disagree with you! Not inhumane at all!! Of course never in cold weather but most broodys go broddy in the warmer months anyway.

Thank you for your detailed information re: broody hens. Hi there, your article is very informative. We have a sweet hen and she had been laying eggs up until 3 days ago when she started having these broody behaviors. She laid her last egg that day. I put on gloves. Tonight she roosted on her own but now in her normal shelf. We took it up and she missed it terribly at first. Today she seemed more back to herself. Today she went out on her own. What a timely post! So glad to hear Iman is back to her sweet self.

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And looking like our chicken had been constipated for days. What does it mean when a chicken is broody? What are the risks of a hen staying broody? Method 2: Give your broody hen a gentle! Method 3: Lock your broody hen out of the coop. Method 4: Chicken jail.

Do you know what happens to a naughty chicken that stays broody? Chicken jail. This post updated from an article that originally appeared on June 12, Mindy Fournier July 10, at pm. Thanks Reply. Erika Barratt March 11, at am. Maggie Parker May 6, at am. Ione Howell-Douglas January 16, at pm. Debbie May 11, at am. Malene July 22, at am. Jesse Lippman June 20, at pm. Linda from Garden Betty June 21, at am.

Laura Pascoe January 27, at pm. Linda from Garden Betty March 1, at am. Harold Glatzer May 20, at pm. Linda from Garden Betty May 23, at am. Linda Ly of Garden Betty December 30, at am.

Viola Brignoni November 12, at pm. I followed your instruction and they worked perfectly!! Thank you so much. Linda Ly of Garden Betty November 15, at am.

Happy to help! Tessa September 16, at pm. I meant to say 3 or 4 days. Linda Ly of Garden Betty October 15, at am. They can be so stubborn sometimes, huh? David June 15, at pm.