babies due

[mmclaughlin]

quick question...ever have a hen hatch her chicks within the coop with all the others?? does it work?? or will they hurt the new babies??
my new momma wants nothing to do with the nursery set up for her
so chicks will be hatching in the coop on tuesday/wednesday!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It works both ways and the hen won't let anyone get near enough the chicks to hurt them.

I prefer her to have her own quarters, especially if the rest of the flock is on layer feed. The chicks need higher protein and the hen can benefit from it after being on a diet. The hen won't be laying eggs for a while so she shouldn't really be getting high calcium and the chicks definitely shouldn't have excess calcium.

 

[bobbi-j]

You can feed the whole flock starter feed, or if it doesn't matter to you if the chicks get medicated feed, you can feed the whole flock grower. That's what I did with my last batch - fed everyone grower/finisher. The babies are all still alive and healthy, and it didn't affect egg production at all. It's not a bad thing for them to be raised with the flock. When my first batch of chicks were about a month old, the hen was killed, but the babies were already integrated into the flock so it wasn't a problem for them. The other birds were used to them, and they all knew their place in the flock.