After they have hatched, what now?

[Squirtchy2009]

I have 3 hens each laying on 6 eggs each, and lets say that all 18 eggs hatch, then what, do the mothers take care of everything, or do i have to split them up into 3 diferent runs, do i keep them at certains temps?

I need the lowdown on looking after day old chicks?

Sorry i cant be more specific lol

 

[Break an Egg]

For the most part, the mom will take care of the chicks, you just need to keep the mom away from the rest of the flock, the males will peck baby chicks in the head.

The moms will most likely do good together in an enclosed area.

 

[Squirtchy2009]

so shall i continue feeding them chicken feed and laying pellets or is there special food a chick should eat?

 

[eggsrcool]

A chick should eat starter crumbles or chick crumbs. The mother hen will eat it too.

 

[busylizzie]

I have my little ones (now almost 2 weeks old) in a separate sectioned of part of the main run.......i give them chick crumbs and water in a special chick water holder (if too big they can drown or get wet and cold).....the mummy hed does the teaching and the keeping warm....it is very cute!

I would definately separate them as one of my day old chicks managed to squeeze through the wire into the main run and the other hens were immediately on it pecking it viciously.....i screamed bloody murder and managed to get the little one away!

I am now not sure what happens next.....when to reintroduce them back into the main group.....maybe in a few weeks - wait and see.

Good luck! County neighbour!

 

[Squirtchy2009]

haha nice to see a familiar face (or person close to me) should i say

I think what im going to do is raise them with there mum in an old rabbit run ive had for years, and give them and old rabbit hutch in there for shelter and with the fooding advice ive had all should be well

 

[busylizzie]

Yeah rabbit hutches make good brooders for mum and chicks.......I would moved her to it now to give her (dorothy is it!) some peace and quiet - without other hens trying to muscle in.....love the online vids and you telling the other hen off!

It would be even better if the rabbit hutch has a little run for mum and chicks to use in the early weeks.....that or you could put some wire in a circle (pegged down and using stakes) around it to give them a little space.

When is your hatch date?

 

[Squirtchy2009]

hehe glad you like the vids, my hatch date is the 12th of september which happens to be a saturday (which means no college)

Now i have to move the ducks out of the hutch and into a new home... hmmmm..

yes i also have a rabbit run which is attached on it for the ducks atm !

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll give you a link that talks about mama raising chicks with a flock. I'll admit it does tilt my way, but it does give you different opinions.

Raise with flock? thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=215937&p=1

I disagree that a rooster will definitely peck a chicken on the head. A good rooster will protect all members of his flock. Not all roosters are good, but there have been many posts where roosters have protected chicks from hens and have really helped the chicks when mama abandons them too early. And a good mama will keep a bad rooster away from her chicks. I can't guarantee you that bad things won't happen as yo are dealing with living animals, but nature's way is for a hen to raise the chicks with the flock.

A young chick definitely needs a mama to protect it from the rest of the flock. Any young chick is in danger if it does not have mama to protect it. Read the integration threads.

If mama is taking care of the chicks, you do not need to worry about temperature. She will take care of that. Hens raise chicks outside in freezing weather without problems. When the chicks get cold, mama warms them back up.

I do see a potential problem however. If you have 3 hens that are all hatching at the same time, there is a reasonable chance that one mama will want to take all the chicks to raise. If that happens, the hens will fight, possibly causing serious injury to one. Sometimes chicks in the area are accidently injured or killed in these fights. Another thing that can go wrong is that a broody will kill the other hen's chicks, either as they hatch or maybe a week later. I guess she sees them as competition for hers. If I had multiple broodies, which I will not allow to happen, I would separate them before the eggs start to hatch and raise them separately or give all the chicks to one hen to raise and break the other broody if the chicks are close enough to the same age.