Recent content by grettasurfergirl

Thanks so much for the advice, I will see what I can do. How long should I wait with them just near each other in different pens before letting them interact a bit? Like a week? I wish I had known about separating the chicks and mama from the flock, that was a terrible idea looking back. Our...

I totally agree, debacle sums it up perfectly! I’m not sure if I can ever make this right and I thought about the rooster idea but we’re not allowed to have them where we live. Thanks though!!

Thank you so much for all of this great information!! Very helpful. I didn’t separate the chicks from the mamas but had moved them all out together and had a dog crate and small outdoor area for them. So the Silkie stayed with her chicks separated from the EE with her chicks. And now I’m just...

I should add they all got along fine before the chicks!

We hatched some new chicks with 2 different broody hens and I separated mama and chicks at first but now am trying to put everyone back together. So I have one lone EE that’s been in the coop/run while the others were gone with chicks, one Silkie with 2 chicks almost 7 weeks old, and one EE with...

If you separated your broody and chicks from the flock into a “maternity ward” type area with a separate run, how and when do I put the broody and chicks (or maybe just broody?) back into the regular coop and run? We only have one EE in the main coop area now but one surrogate mama is a Silkie...

Any other advice on separating chicks? Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback. How old were the chicks when you put all of them in with the rest of the flock? Wondering if I could do that now or if almost 4 weeks is too little to go up to the “big coop” Thank you

Thank you for sharing! You made a good point that I could probably have the silky and older chicks up with the single hen and she would protect them from her if anything happened. Unfortunately silkies don’t roost but her chicks will so I guess they got kind of a bad mama for that sort of thing...

Hello! We just had two broody hens both hatch fertile eggs I bought elsewhere about 3.5 weeks apart from each other. Now that the new chicks just hatched I am wondering about the older chicks (almost 4 weeks old) and when they can be separated from mama hen. It’s been pretty warm so I’m not sure...

Thank you for your help and advice!! Appreciate it! Sorry, you’re right, I’ve forgotten to post photos of the cute new chicks! Welcome Violet and Iris! They were supposed to be lavender ameraucana but I think a half black half lavender laid these eggs. Can’t wait to let these cuties have a...

Thank you.... it does seem a little cruel for them. How long does it take to imprint? I’m not sure I can tell if they are but when we held a chick yesterday she pretty much freaked out.

Thank you! Does anyone know about a 5th option of just taking the chicks out and putting them in a brooder on their own? It’s been a pain having the mama hen in the brooder with them. She is so protective so I can’t even add food or change the water without getting pecked and the poops are just...

So you let the chicks out with your other hens when they were pretty young? I’m wondering when the chicks can be exposed to the two other hens. If the chicks went in the run with the mama maybe they would be okay but the Silkie is of course smaller than the two EE. Thank you so much for sharing...

This is so interesting!!! Thank you for sharing your experience and such great info to have! I might get her a couple more fertile eggs if she really wants to set but I’m not sure an EE would be as good of a mama as the Silkie is right now!