What to do with Chicks from School?

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gwill23

gwill23

Songster
9 Years
Mar 14, 2010
118
2
109
Grangeville Idaho
My daughter's class is hatching out 24 eggs I gave them. When they are done what can I do with them. I really don't want to keep them in the house and baby them until they are bigger.

I would love to get one of my hens to mother them. Has anyone ever gotten that to work? I have Buff Orphingtons, Bard Rocks, and RIRs.
 
anytime I've tried to socialize my younger chicks with the girls, they peck at them, because they're an established flock. I tried to put one of my sweetest hens in with the babies in the run, and she started attacking them! I think if you want to keep them, you're best bet will be to do it with a brooder.
 
I think it would be very unlikely that a hen would feel motherly towards new chicks unless she were already broody, in that mood where they want to stay on the nest & incubate eggs. Sometimes you can put new chicks under their wings at night and they'll be willing to adopt them. But if the hen isn't already broody she won't want anything to do with any chicks, except peck at them.

Place an ad with your local Craigslist or at your feed store, someone might be willing to buy the whole clutch for a dollar or two per chick. Or offer them to another BYCer in Idaho!
 
I'm with gonzo -- sit your brooder in with the rest of the hens where they can see each other all day long. Later, when you're feeling comfortable, try letting them out; at first they'll get harrassed but later, they'll figure out their place in the pecking order....it has worked for me through several clutches of chicks or those brought in from someone else's broody.

Barb
 
You can also see wich students can have the chicks have them take home permision slips and then divid the chickens among them...
 
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If you do not want to brooder them, someone else will need to do so. Call in some favors!
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Ok so I took someones advise and I put my nicest chicken in a dog crate with food, water, and a next box and put 5 golf balls in the box. I then covered it with a black material that I have to keep the light out. When I checked her yesterday she was on the nest all day. She didn't make any sounds when I tried to pet her but she is always the one who runs up for the kids and I to pick her up anyway so I don't know if she will get grumpy.

I am hoping that she will take the chicks when they hatch in 2 weeks. Although if all of them hatch I am now thinking 24 chicks might be too many.

So, do you think this will work?
Am I MADDDD?
Will 24 be too many for one hen?
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SUCCESS!

I moved the hen I had in confinment to the main coop today and put a cage around her so they others can't bother her. First thing she did was lay an egg ????
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and then she got up and started being very agressive to the other chickens in the coop as they came in to lay.

But after she settled down (20 min) she wen't back to the nest and stayed there for the rest of the time I was there. Growling every time someone came to the nieghboring nest. So she is now incubating 5 golf balls until the babies from the class arrive.
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As for 24 being too many I will wait until my chicks hatch from the hen I have sitting right now. They are due anytime now. Some of the other hens are showing signs of wanting to be broody so I'll see if they deside to be broody naturally. I am out of dog cages
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.

I am building a new coop for everyone and I should be done with it soon. That will make it easier I can put them in the boody coop and they can be left alone.
 
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