Adding mom and chicks to coop , is it to late?

[karlamaria]

My coop was way to small for a floor nesting box and my chicken was so broody she wanted to sit on eggs but my egg box was way to high up. and she could never take her babies down from it, and the other gals kept laying on her and taking over her eggs. I ended up putting her in a hutch in the house and here she is almost a month later with 2 chicks. Today we got our coop increased and it's so nice and big now, my question is, can I add mama and chicks back into the coop, in the hutch , then slowly open the hutch ladder and her and babies come out? Will those babies be safe since they were not born in the coop. The pen will be worked on next so that it's not only bigger, but the chicks can not escape thru the holes. We are completely redoing the pen also. I just do not want to put them in there and the older girls kill them . What do you think, keep them separated and add them to there own little coop ( mom and babies) or add them to the big coop ?

 

[speedy2020]

Keep them with the mom for a month or two before let them run with the block.

 

[Mrs. K]

I think you might have trouble all the way around, after two months, the hen might have reintroduction issues, is she a dominant hen? I am assuming you have a rooster as you had fertile eggs. Roosters are suppose to help.

But I think the flock would see her as not part of the flock. I might try and put her in there first without the chicks and see what the status is for a couple of hours. If the flock still accepts her, and she is a strong hen, then she should protect the chicks..... but that usually is only for about 4-6 weeks. So you might be at the end of that time period. Then you would have to raise up the chicks til they are nearly same size as hens.

But I would try it sooner than later, cause you might get lucky, and you really only need a few days for the flock to get readjusted. And that way, the chicks can just be raised while with the flock. Even if it works, it is helpful to have a barrier that the chicks can get through, that a full grown hen cannot, so that there is an escape route.

MrsK

 

[karlamaria]

No rooster, and she is not the dominent one. She will be with her babies and tomorrow I'm putting her in her own coop and run . Right now she is in a hutch. I'm going to try introduction slowly over the next few weeks then her chicks .

 

[karlamaria]

Will the mama always lover her baby's or will she abandon them at a certain age? Will she harm them later on?​

 

[Mrs. K]

It is not so much that she abandons them, she just kind of loses interest, and she loses the intense desire to defend them.

That is why, I like to put the hen and chicks back with the flock as soon as possible. In my set up, I free range most of the time, and I do have enough space in my run, with numerous things and levels in the run so birds can get away from each other. Generally, mama and babies learn quickly to keep mama between them and the flock. The flock gets used to the babies, will give them a manners peck to make them give the hens space, and both learn how to live together by the time the mama hen has tired of her responsibilities.

She will not favor her own chicks later on, does not recognize them as special. However, I do think that chicks raised by a mother hen, are a bit more likely to go broody.

says the woman, hoping for a broody hen right now! mk

 

[karlamaria]

I put mama and her two chicks in the coop today, in the hutch still but in the coop. Im hoping to be able to open the hutch in a few days and let mom go in and out with her chicks and everyone get along. crossing fingers.
we are having a new pen built this week, i will be adding a small partition for mom and chicks to stay behind if things get rough.

 

[karlamaria]

today we put mama and babies in the yard with the other girls, we watched closely and for the most part all was well. One bird was insist at to go near and peck, but mama did a good job at keeping one bird away by flying at her and screaming. Here is a few pictures of mama and baby

 

[Mrs. K]

You have it made then, don't separate them. If she defends them for just a few days, the rest of the flock will get used to them, and there will be no integration issues.

 

[karlamaria]

Thank you mrs k for all the great advice, they did well again today, just not letting them in the pen together yet as I'm not home enough during the week day to watch and make sure there not harmed. But we have been letting them all out by the afternoon and letting them roam until dark. There also free roaming n the weekends to so mama will be out amonghst the girls with her babies much more. Now to add teenangers when they get here lol