Advice on Giving Broody Chicks

[akf93]

Our chicks come out once at night to eat and drink per the coop cam, otherwise they are under momma all night. We do not have a heat lamp or brooding plate as momma keeps them nice and toasty!

Okay thanks! I can sleep in peace now.

 

[akf93]

Will week old chicks from the store know to follow mama if I give her a few more?

 

[gimmie birdies]

I had 2 broodies and they were only 9 months old. They both finally came off the nest at the same time.

 

[NatJ]

Will week old chicks from the store know to follow mama if I give her a few more?

Chicks have to learn to follow the hen.

So if you give her week-old chicks, and she accepts them, keep her penned with them in a relatively small pen for at least a few days. Do not let them out to free range right away, or you will probably lose all the new ones. (They can get left behind, lost, cold, even if no predators come along to get them.)

When I say "relatively small pen," I mean up to about 6 feet each direction. It doesn't have to be tiny, just small enough that the chicks will always be able to see and hear her, and that she can see & hear them, and it's easy for a chick or hen to get from any point to any other point quickly.

Also, check on them fairly often the first day. If you find the new chicks huddling and cold, and ignoring the hen clucking for them, tuck the chicks back under the hen. Make sure they are under her at night, too. After the first day, you should have a good idea how often you need to check the next day, which will let you predict the day after that, and so forth. I would not let them into a really big area until the chicks have at least two days of being fine without your help (so you know they've got it figured out.)

 

[Judy Todd]

At what week would you let them out of the pen?

I know this is late advise, but I move a broody to a separet pen as soon as I am sure she is serious. I built a pen in the barn for just this purpose. I do all this over a week or so, when there are chicks at the farm store> Then I slip chicks under her in the dark, with a tiny head lamp on me, wait, hoping, (oh, yes remove wooden eggs or real eggs at this time.) So far, have been doing this for 10 years with great success. My best broody was a banty cochin, who died at 9 years old. Good luck, maybe next time,move your broody to her own pen. just a thought. Oh yes, I do not move them with the other hens until they are fully feathered, mom will watch for them.

 

[akf93]

I know this is late advise, but I move a broody to a separet pen as soon as I am sure she is serious. I built a pen in the barn for just this purpose. I do all this over a week or so, when there are chicks at the farm store> Then I slip chicks under her in the dark, with a tiny head lamp on me, wait, hoping, (oh, yes remove wooden eggs or real eggs at this time.) So far, have been doing this for 10 years with great success. My best broody was a banty cochin, who died at 9 years old. Good luck, maybe next time,move your broody to her own pen. just a thought. Oh yes, I do not move them with the other hens until they are fully feathered, mom will watch for them.

What does reintegration look like with this method?

 

[Borders3]

When I have a broody I put her in one of my dog crates and leave her in the run with a fence round the crate so she can come out and dust bathe, eat and drink whenever she wants. I cover the crate in a sheet of plastic to make sure it stays dry and leave the door open all the time so she can come and go as she wants. We are in the UK so it doesn't get that cold in July. The rest of the hens can see her but cannot disturb her or the chicks. Then there is no need for reintegration. I just remove the fence erected round her. She had 7 1 week old chicks last July and reared them all. We ended up with 5 hens and 2 cocks. All the hens are now laying. The previous year when I let her sit on eggs in the nest box she would come out to bathe and eat and go back in and get in a different nest box, one of the other hens were laying in her box and she couldn't get back in. So now I will continue to make sure she is fixed on sitting then remove her as before.

 

[Debbie292d]

Alright, be real specific with me. Hoping for a good outcome this time around!

Broody is due for chicks tomorrow. She is sitting on wooden eggs now. The store got new chicks today so I have 6 sitting in a brooder now. Planning to set them under mama tonight.

I put up a board in front of the bottom of the nesting box so the chicks don’t fall out. (That happened last year and didn’t end well.) Do I need to pay extra attention to mama tomorrow/Saturday and get the chicks out when I see her out? I have a set up for her on the floor now. Tried moving her there but she was adamant to be in her box.

Any other tips/tricks/advice? Hoping mama will do the work this time around to make integration easier. We’ve been having wacky weather and I’m a little concerned about the temps dropping again.

I have a plastic tote on its side by the corner in the coop to give a little barrier. Food, water, a good nesting spot. The coop is raised maybe 2’ with a ramp. The rest of the flock contains 2 ducks, 1 Silkie rooster, 2 Silkie hens (one of them is mama), and 17 standard hens.

Our nesting boxes are 4' high, so when mommas hatch or have ones I sneak under them while they are in a nest box, they get the babies to go down the ramp. They will not go back up after that ramp for a couple of weeks, so I too have a box on the floor for her, which she used. Here's a picture of our ramp I'm talking about, when the coop was new.

 

[akf93]

If I do this again, I will have to figure something out to keep the mama and babies separate from the rest of the flock. I think two of my chicks died from getting run over by a well-intentioned duck since they are on the coop floor as well. I currently have that tote on its side near the corner as a bit of a barrier but it’s not enough to keep nosey birds from getting in and eating the chick food. Mama and her lone survivor baby seem to be doing great! Hanging out in that little corner all of the time. But I’d like better results for the future. I’d love to keep them all together but I’ll need something a little safer next time. Maybe tack up a pen with hardware cloth inside the coop or something. The runs I have are exposed to weather (which is so unpredictable) and I don’t trust as nighttime predator proof until we fix it up a bit more.

 

[Borders3]

You can get mettle runs for rabbits and guinea pigs, something of that nature that you can put in the coop to fence a section. Google have plenty of ideas.