broody hen

[carolineholding]

one of my hens seems to have gone broody, which is exciting, but awkward because she's being broody in a nesting box a way off the ground, I'm going to build a ground based 'broody coup' and attempt to move her and her clutch of eggs into it later this evening. Assuming that she doesn't then abandon her eggs I have a few questions. Do mum and chicks need a seperate run? if so how long to I need to keep them separate from the other hens and cockerel? oh and any tips for ensuring the move runs smoothly?

thanks in advance

Caroline

[Scarlet]

Best move her while its dark and as quickly as possible, ideally to a quiet area and a separate run from the others. My young birds are always kept in a separate run until they're off their growers pellets around 20weeks although you can introduce earlier, keeping the food separate is difficult as the hens prefer the growers pellets. Mine run in a separate run next to the older ones so that it is easy to introduce them. I wouldn't advise putting them in with the older ones until they can stand up for themselves, there will be lots of bickering when you do introduce them.
Mum can go back when the chicks have their feathers which is a couple of months after they have hatched. It will probably be obvious to you that she isn't as interested in them any more.
Introduce her back to the others during the evening, pecking order will start again!

[Linzy]

Although most the the chickens on my dads farm run about and have a free roam any broody hens he has he puts them each into a little run bout 1.5mtr sq on the grass where they stay with there eggs and bout two weeks after the eggs have hatched. Normally the first week of hatching mummy chicken and babies don't do a great deal i guess cause they are only small and get warn out quickly. After couple of weeks he open the hutch and they sometimes sleep at night in it but more often than not they will find a cosy spot in the barn somewhere to live.