Adding Chicks to the Flock

[OneLuckeyWife]

Our chickens our almost a year old; in April and May.

As none of the hens were broody I hatched the eggs in an incubator. 3 our of 5 hatched. Once they were big enough I put them in the coop. The chickens never use the coop but it’s right next to where we feed them so I thought if they ate by the babies they would eventually think of them as the flock.

One hen had been over mated so we put her in the coop until her feathers could grow back. She never tried to kill the babies. Even protected them from a hen that tried to kill them when I left the door open while cleaning.

The hen in the coop became broody and had accepted the babies. She didn’t want to leave the coop when I tried to make her rejoin the flock.

However, yesterday we came home to one dead and one with a broken neck. I suspect that they tried to lay with her eggs and she killed them. Two would lay in one of other nesting boxes. I brought the chick that was unharmed back into the house until she gets lots bigger. I’m going to incubate another set of eggs so that she’ll have a friend to join the flock with.

The coop is now open again to all but the only one who uses it is the now broody hen.

What is a good way to add new pullets to an existing flock? Is there a way to keep the broody hen from attacking other chickens if they touch her eggs?

 

[Cryss]

I' keep the chicks separate from all hens until they are bigger. I' use the coop you mentioned only for the chicks and not let a hen go bloody if you need the coop for a bloody hen. If you must leave the bloody one in there get a small coop to add in the run just for the chicks. I have 6 week old chicks in a wire dog cage in my run. I use a tarp to cover the back half of it for shelter. The front half lets my 21 week old gals see them and even pe k a tiny bit inside it. I put scratch along the perimeter so they " eat together". At night another tarp closes up the cage for sleep. You can get a bit of an idea of it from videos I posted on my thread " New chicks added to the flock! Is video overkill?"

 

[azygous]

The first rule with chickens is not to assume too much from the circumstantial evidence. What you think you know about the individuals in your flock may not be accurate. And when a death of a chick occurs, you should always consider a predator as an equal possibility. In fact, a predator is far more likely, even though you may be correct in assuming one of the adult hens killed the chicks since they had no safe place in which to go.

In any case, chicks need protection unless they've been hatched under the broody that will be caring for them. Brooding in the coop or run is highly beneficial in so many ways, I wrote them all up in an article. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/r...rooder-and-start-raising-your-chicks-outdoors It keeps the chicks safe while they learn the different temperaments of the adults.

This is what I advise you do with the surviving chick. Rig a safe pen in the coop, and maybe one in the run for daytime, and let her grow up alongside the others. Opening small entrances to this pen, after she has time to observe and learn about the adults, will let her learn to deal with the pecking order while having a safe haven where she doesn't have to compete for food and water since you'll have hers inside her panic room. Four and one half inch by seven inch openings will accommodate her until she's ten weeks old. You can brood your new chicks in this same way when they hatch, and by age two weeks, you can open entrances for them to mingle safely with the others. All integration using the panic room method is automatic and safe, and it's accomplished in just a few weeks.

 

[Cryss]

The first rule with chickens is not to assume too much from the circumstantial evidence. What you think you know about the individuals in your flock may not be accurate. And when a death of a chick occurs, you should always consider a predator as an equal possibility. In fact, a predator is far more likely, even though you may be correct in assuming one of the adult hens killed the chicks since they had no safe place in which to go.

In any case, chicks need protection unless they've been hatched under the broody that will be caring for them. Brooding in the coop or run is highly beneficial in so many ways, I wrote them all up in an article. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/r...rooder-and-start-raising-your-chicks-outdoors It keeps the chicks safe while they learn the different temperaments of the adults.

This is what I advise you do with the surviving chick. Rig a safe pen in the coop, and maybe one in the run for daytime, and let her grow up alongside the others. Opening small entrances to this pen, after she has time to observe and learn about the adults, will let her learn to deal with the pecking order while having a safe haven where she doesn't have to compete for food and water since you'll have hers inside her panic room. Four and one half inch by seven inch openings will accommodate her until she's ten weeks old. You can brood your new chicks in this same way when they hatch, and by age two weeks, you can open entrances for them to mingle safely with the others. All integration using the panic room method is automatic and safe, and it's accomplished in just a few weeks.

Once again, excellent post and article. I've toyed with the idea of acquiring fertile eggs when one of my hens goes broody, which I'm sure will happen with my Orpingtons. So now to figure out a safe house option in my "still in my imagination" bigger coop.