If you free range your flock...

[BarredBuff]

....and you get a broody. Does she brood in the coop or outdoors? If she has brooded outside did she come back with chicks? I asked this on BYC but I trust SS people more. Last spring I got a broody BR, she brooded 5 days and something got her. She came back the next day with a hurt leg. I looked for her nest but could not find it. Where are their nests usually at?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I free range and my broodies brood both in the coop and outdoors. I have a hen, Wanda, who is perpetually broody. She's brooded in the coop (successfully), then brooded outdoors(successfully), now she's back in the coop trying again though I keep taking her eggs. I also had a teeny OEG bantam hen who disappeared (never really noticed until she came back to eat one day and had that tell-tale broody attitude) and came back with 5 teensy babies. I prefer they go broody in the coop, just so I can keep an eye on them.

 

[BarredBuff]

I free range and my broodies brood both in the coop and outdoors. I have a hen, Wanda, who is perpetually broody. She's brooded in the coop (successfully), then brooded outdoors(successfully), now she's back in the coop trying again though I keep taking her eggs. I also had a teeny OEG bantam hen who disappeared (never really noticed until she came back to eat one day and had that tell-tale broody attitude) and came back with 5 teensy babies. I prefer they go broody in the coop, just so I can keep an eye on them.

Do you live in the sticks?

 

[~gd]

....and you get a broody. Does she brood in the coop or outdoors? If she has brooded outside did she come back with chicks? I asked this on BYC but I trust SS people more. Last spring I got a broody BR, she brooded 5 days and something got her. She came back the next day with a hurt leg. I looked for her nest but could not find it. Where are their nests usually at?

Well I have ducks and geese and they have the habit of laying early in the day before I let them out to free range. since they lay in the enclosed space their nests are there. During the day the enclosure is open and some birds come back to check on their nests several times during the day. when they are broody they usually only leave the nest for very short times. Being in the enclosure protects both the bird and their nests.
Muscovy ducks are hardest, if they get the ideal that you are messing with their nests, They will hide them anywhere and I do mean anywhere, often up off the ground (they nest in hallow trees in the wild) The duck up and disappears and if you are lucky she reappears with about 12 ducklings following her. If you are talking about chickens I can't help due to little experience with them.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't let mine establish nests outside unless they are sanctioned by me~ My setup isn't as hard to manage as most, as I do not border any woodline. Any eggs laid outside where the dogs roam are immediately consumed, any up high enough to escape that are found by me~either I let them keep that nest and collect from it each day or I block it.

Usually mine brood inside where they can get some peace and quiet from the dogs, sheep and cat.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

I've had them go broody both in and out of the coop. Usually out. They've usually been successful. I had one hen injured due to going broody near a prickly plant and she was infected before I found her. She didn't make it.

The nests I found were always on the ground, usually under thick bushy plants. I had several hens show up with chicks who I never did find their nests. I think too they often sit so tight and are so well hidden thay aren't discovered by predators either. Though I havehad a few hens simply disappear. They could have been brooding and got caught.

My in the coop broodies were always safe, though the first hatch I did lose two chicks. After that I learned to build them cages. They went broody in the nest box or on the floor. Wherever that particular hen usually laid her eggs.

MOST of my broodies have been silkies or other bantams. The standard size hens that have gone broody have been less succesful overall.

 

[Blackbird]

We've had them in both too, but most lay out wherever, which I prefer because it seems like they have a better chance at actually hatching their clutch. When they have a nest in the chicken house, other hens often push them off and will lay their eggs occasionally, then you have a staggered hatch which isn't any fun.

Bad thing about them having nests wherever, sometimes you never find them. We once found a nest and all the eggs were hollow because they were so old. You also have to watch for rotten eggs (then skunks), predators that might find the next, etc. But those hens are usually pretty good about concealing themselves. We've had nests in hollow logs, brush patches, once up in the crotch of a tree even.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Do you live in the sticks?

Not really. We're on a fairly main road, but no neighbors beside us for a ways. We're surrounded by farm land on 3 sides, and our only close neighbors are right across the street.

 

[lorihadams]

We had one go broody on the back side of our shed once and when she got up to go get water a snake got her eggs. We put some more eggs under her and moved her into a small tractor with her own food and water and she hatched out some babies for us. That was a Barred Rock.

My light brahma hen went broody in the coop and the other hens tried to lay eggs on top of her so we moved her to an isolation coop one night and she hatched out 13 indian runner duck babies for us. She is a big girl....had 16 duck eggs under her for the duration. One egg was a dud and 2 babies got stuck in the shell and didn't make it. The other 13 were fantastic.

If you can find a nest outside where one is broody I suggest moving them at dusk to an isolation pen/coop/tractor.

 

[Wildsky]

I don't let mine brood outdoors anywhere - they'd get eaten.

I have had a broody decide she wanted to hatch babies in the garage, so we built a little enclosure around her

My female guinea disapears every now and then, we have to hunt for her or wait till she comes for food and then follow her. We take all her eggs away - we don't want more babies.