I have one hen who insists on being free. She flies in/out of the chicken yard (I've clipped her wings but she is a very small and light bird) and has lately been laying in an alternate nest site. I finally found her clutch of eggs because she is now setting on them and chirped at me when I got too close. I'd like to move her into the main coop for safety, but am wondering how to best do this. I tried this once before with a different hen a year or so ago and she abandoned the clutch after I moved them. Is there a trick to doing so? Her current nest site is on the floor of the barn in a dark corner under a bench. I've provided her with food and water about 8' away from her nest, but worry about attracting predators. Alternatively, I could try to kind of fence off her nest of choice. But then, how/when could I move her and the chicks into the coop? Near as I can tell, she just started setting a day or two ago. To add to the mix, we are going to be out of town most of next week, so she'll pretty much be on her own. I have a small window to either interfere or leave her to her own devices. Ideas?

This has seemed to resolve itself. Since her initial nest was on the floor, she slowly but surely lost all her eggs to either the neighbor dog or another egg-loving animal. Once she was down to no eggs, she flew back into the main chicken yard and lo and behold found a whole 'nother clutch of eggs compliments of the other hens. She is now happily setting on those. I shoed her off this morning and marked a bakers dozen for her to try to hatch out. Either I'll get little chickies sometime or the other, or she will unbroody herself. Either way is fine with me.

My nest box is a double seater, plenty of room for two hens. So, hopefully the other hens will continue laying and the broody hen can do whatever she feels like. I do plan to check eggs and not let her amass more than the 13 I've marked.

Good deal! Let us know how things progress.

13 is a lot of eggs for a small hen to cover. I usually limit mine to 9 or 10 for a large hen.

Good to know - I'll take a few more out. I did notice the ones on the outer edges were not as toasty warm. I forget how many my prior 'sister-hens' jointly brooded, but they only hatched out four.