4 three week old chicks no mother what to do?

[luckychick105]

Yesterday my broody hen was taken by a fox and now her 4 three week old chicks are orphans!! I've tried to get another chicken to foster them but it's not working what should I do?

 

[Pork Pie]

Seems like you are going to have to set up a brooder. At that age, assuming the brooder is indoors, there should not be any need for heat (but a dark place to settle under will be important), but they will make a lot of noise as they will be confused by momma not being around. These links may help:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-and-raising-chicks

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-your-baby-chicks

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/h...ks-the-first-60-days-of-raising-baby-chickens

 

[elaineinspain]

Yesterday my broody hen was taken by a fox and now her 4 three week old chicks are orphans!! I've tried to get another chicken to foster them but it's not working what should I do?

as CTKen says, bring them inside into a brooder box. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. A large cardboard box with wood shavings on the floor. Remember to put water and food for them, and put the water in a shallow bowl with plenty of marbles or little stones in, so they can scoop the water into their beaks, but not drown if they fall in. (show them where the food and water is by dipping their beaks into the water carefully, enough to see them swallow) Have the brooder near a radiator or wood stove, so you know they are warm enough. At 3 weeks they need to be in surroundings around 80ºF/ 25ºC. Good luck! And if you have a cat or a dog, put some hardware cloth over the box so the chicks are out of harms way.

 

[azygous]

Bringing the "orphans" indoors to finish brooding might appear to be the most convenient thing for you, but not really the best thing for the chicks.

Unless you had the chicks with their broody segregated from the flock since they hatched, these chicks have already been integrated into their flock and are accepted. To remove them now, and to re-introduce them later, will created strangers of the chicks as they will be much larger when they return, setting them up for challenges from the adults. They will also lose their adaptation to cooler temps and would need to re-acclimatize later.

In my opinion, the best course would be to rig a nighttime heat source for the chicks and keep them right where they've been all the past three weeks of their lives. A heating pad cave would simulate the security and comfort of their missing broody, and the chicks could continue to develop as members of their flock in the most natural manner available.

This would end up being even more convenient for you, too. Bonus!