Need ideas for how to keep baby chickens when they hatch

[Georgetownchick]

I had a hen go broody. She is sitting on 26 eggs that should hatch at the end of this week. She built a nest pretty far from the coop. I was told to leave her and the eggs alone until they hatch. What do I do with the baby chickens when they hatch? I can not leave them where they are because she built the nest by our swimming pool equipment and I am afraid the chicks will wander into the pool and drown. She also built the nest outside where predators could easily get the chicks. Our chickens are free range during the day and then they go into the coop at night. We live in Texas so it is warm right now. Should we build a small run attached to the coop for the babies and the mama? Should the Mama be free ranging during the day? I have no clue what to do with these babies. Should we put the babies back in our coop? Will the other hens and our rooster peck at them? Please help!

I have attached a picture of our current coop. Please give me ideas. Thank you!

 

[SobbaChickens]

26 eggs? Holy cow!

I have no experience hatching eggs so I really can't help but I'm sure you'll get some great responses on here. Are you wanting the hen to keep the chicks or do you want to put them into a brooder?

 

[Georgetownchick]

Hi!

Thank you for your reply. I have only hatched eggs one time and that was in an incubator with no mother hen. We kept the babies in the house since it was during the winter. We kept them in a little brooder box. I only had six though, not 26. I would prefer the mother hen keep them with her outside. I don't have a brooder box big enough and I don't want that many chicks in the house

 

[SobbaChickens]

lol I don't blame you! That's a lot of chicks

 

[av8torcrj]

First off, if I may be direct, whoever told you to leave her alone especially if you didn't want baby chicks was a nut. Not only do you now have unwanted birds but the mother hen was left vulnerable for 21 days. Put her in the pen with the others, she'll do her best to protect them and put an ad on craigslist for free baby chickens. In the future if you don't want more birds don't let a broody hen set. A little imagination goes a long way.

 

[Bawc]

I am not sure what the hatching rate will be however your coop is not big enough and overcrowding will promote problems quickly. Moving the new family into a protected area would be best but you need to decide how many chicks you want to keep or find new homes for, if there is no demand for males in you area you may have a problem.

 

[Georgetownchick]

First off, if I may be direct, whoever told you to leave her alone especially if you didn't want baby chicks was a nut. Not only do you now have unwanted birds but the mother hen was left vulnerable for 21 days. Put her in the pen with the others, she'll do her best to protect them and put an ad on craigslist for free baby chickens. In the future if you don't want more birds don't let a broody hen set. A little imagination goes a long way.

I never said I didn't want babies. I was told that if I moved the unhatched eggs that she would no longer sit on them. I might not have let her sit if I had known she was. She built her nest behind our pool equipment and I didn't know she was sitting for about a week. When I would go to put the chickens up at night she was not there and when I let them out in the morning I would see her eating and getting a drink of water. I did not know where she was going at night nor did I know she was sitting on so many eggs. I have only had chickens since last November and I am learning. I also check on the mother hen 3-4 times during the night. I do care about her and I do worry about her.

 

[Georgetownchick]

I am not sure what the hatching rate will be however your coop is not big enough and overcrowding will promote problems quickly. Moving the new family into a protected area would be best but you need to decide how many chicks you want to keep or find new homes for, if there is no demand for males in you area you may have a problem.

Thank you for your reply. I know my coop is not big enough. I posted a picture of it to hopefully get some ideas on how to add on to it or build maybe a run or something to it to put the babies and the mother in. We built this coop from a plan and we have only had chickens since last November so I am learning. I do not know much about construction so I am hoping somebody can give me some ideas.

 

[Bawc]

It all depends on how many chickens you ultimately keep. The general size rule for coops seems to be a minimum of 4 square feet of space per chicken and 10 square feet for a run. As far as coop & run design take a look at the coop section on this site for some ideas. I think that the quickest thing to do right now would be to build a cage inside the run, looking at your picture the area right of the door could be used while you build another coop.