Month old chicks and mom won't use hen house

RheaKay1

Chirping
5 Years
Oct 23, 2015
9
0
55
This is the first year for raising chickens. I started out with 4 babies, on of which turned out to be a rooster! Needless to say one of my hens went broody and hatched 10 little chicks on Sept. 21. I would have taken her hidden eggs away if I could have gotten to them!!! Anyway, we put the hen and her new little bundles of love in a separate pen. Mom has the ability to get into one of the hen houses but she chooses to lay on a bed of straw on the ground with her babies snuggled under her. The temperature here in Eastern WA is dropping with our first heavy frost just 2 days ago. The chicks are now well over 1 month old and they all barely fit under Mom. I'm concerned about the time the hen decides to not be a Mom any more and here these little guys are without her for warmth. I guess I'll just have to round them up and put them in the separate hen house and close the door at night. Hopefully they will get the idea and start using the hen house. Any other ideas out there on what would work for these chicks?
 
Hi,

The mother will not leave the chicks until she is sure that they can provide warmth themselves, so don't worry about it. My hen typically leaves the chicks at 6 weeks - a point at which they have no choice but to roost with mum (with the rest of the flock). I currently have 9 chicks that are 22 days old and the mother is already getting cheesed off when it comes to trying to keep them all under her, so i am guessing she may make the decision to go and roost a little earlier than normal (for her) but i will see.

Either way, mum knows best so leave it for her to decide would be my suggestion.

CT
 
Hello!
400

Welcome to BYC and the coop! There's a lot of great peeps here! Feel free to ask lots of questions. But most of all, make yourself at home. I'm so glad you decided to joined the BYC family. I look forward to seeing you around BYC.
 
Thanks for your response. I just am so new at raising chickens and was so totally unprepared for all these new chicks. Guess I shouldn't have been as surprised as my rooster loves his hens!!!!
 
This is the first year for raising chickens. I started out with 4 babies, on of which turned out to be a rooster! Needless to say one of my hens went broody and hatched 10 little chicks on Sept. 21. I would have taken her hidden eggs away if I could have gotten to them!!! Anyway, we put the hen and her new little bundles of love in a separate pen. Mom has the ability to get into one of the hen houses but she chooses to lay on a bed of straw on the ground with her babies snuggled under her. The temperature here in Eastern WA is dropping with our first heavy frost just 2 days ago. The chicks are now well over 1 month old and they all barely fit under Mom. I'm concerned about the time the hen decides to not be a Mom any more and here these little guys are without her for warmth. I guess I'll just have to round them up and put them in the separate hen house and close the door at night. Hopefully they will get the idea and start using the hen house. Any other ideas out there on what would work for these chicks?

Alright
welcome-byc.gif
great to have you joining the BYC flock
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Sounds all normal to me and what is cold to you is not so bad for them as the body heat of a chicken is 106 F degrees plus the feathers so the chicks are just fine all you need to do is make sure the baby's do not get wet as this is a whole new problem ..
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welcome-byc.gif


Lol, your flock certainly grew didn't it? It sounds like your girl is a good mama and taking care of the little ones well. CTKen has done a good job answering your question, so I'll just say thanks for joining us!
 

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