Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A first network coding device may determine to hand over retransmission of a packet (e.g., the task of retransmitting the packet) to a second network coding device, and the first network coding device may use the techniques described herein to perform the handover. In one aspect, the first network coding device may transmit a negative acknowledgment (NACK) to a user equipment (UE) that originally transmitted the packet, and the UE may transmit a request for any of one or more network coding devices to take over retransmission of the packet. In another aspect, the first network coding device may transmit a request for any of one or more network coding devices to take over retransmission of the packet.