My hen lost her BFF a few months ago and has been living by herself every since. She is very tame and thinks she is a dog most of the time. Anyway my husband brought home five 3wk old chicks last night from his bosses. We kept the chicks in a medium size cage last night with a standard house lamp on them inside the semi climate controlled garage. This morning I moved the cage to the hen yard/coop area. My hen was curious and went right into the cage and ate/drank water with the chicks. I did see her a few time give small pecks to the chicks but nothing out of hand or what not. After leaving the chicks free to go in and out of the cage into the hen yard for a over an hour I decided to move the chicks into the coop to see what they would do and see what my hen would do. So my question is this- Is it safe to leave them there during the day and possibly tonight? How do I know if my hen will turn on them? I live in Milton Fl which is in North Florida and the temps are dropping at night. Do the chicks still need some sort of heat lamp at night?
Your hen sounds like she is doing quite well with them but I still might play it safe for a couple of weeks and put the chicks back in the cage in the coop when not supervised. It wouldn't hurt to have a lamp in one corner for a bit longer if you have an extension cord. They can move under it if they are cold and move away if they are not.
I just went out to check on them and the chicks were all snuggled up in my hens nest where she lays her eggs......Is this normal or should I move them back to the nesting box I had put them in? I know they can jump around in there so maybe they will end up back in the hens nest.
to the BYC With no competition there is no threat to the older hen and she is going to be just fine with them. It sounds like she already has taken the mommy position in the pecking order. I had a similar situation when my girls were all killed by a predator but 1. We put the new babies in with her and she was so happy. A couple of pecks here and there and then next they were all cuddled up against her. I was blown away at how they become so..... motherly when there is no pressure to hold a place in the pecking order. You doing just perfect and great luck to you with the kids and hen
