Hello-- my husband and I just picked up 5 baby chicks hatched today
at a neighbors and are trying to decide if we should put them under our very broody hen (we have 7 total hens in a 8 x 10 coop with attached outdoor run--they are totally free during the day though in our yard) or keep them under a heat lamp with us inside. We live in Ohio and the nights are around 55, but the coop is well insulated and I would think being under a hen would be very warm Could anyone shed any light on this decision for us? Would a broody hen even sit on newborn chicks that aren't hers?
Would they be in danger from the other hens? (sorry if its a stupid question--we are relatively new to this.) We want the chicks to be friendly with our 3 little girls and so like the idea of handling them alot and keeping them inside...but also would like the poor broody hen to get to be an adoptive mama at some point
(we have no rooster yet so her eggs she has been sitting on are sterile...) Hope this makes sense and someone could help us out--we know we don't have long to make the decision to put them under her or not. We were thinking it would be best to put them under her tonight if we were to attempt this. Any comments would be well received!