Broodies hatching and raising chicks? What's the go?

[Emily26]

It's not happened yet but... When/if my Silkie goes Broodies I'd be keen to let her hatch some eggs. Is it generally best practice to separate mum and chicks from the rest of the flock or can you just leave them altogether and mum will protect her babies from the other hens?

 

[Black Pirate]

I like to separate the mama from the rest of the flock so that she can take care of her chicks without any issues

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

It's not happened yet but... When/if my Silkie goes Broodies I'd be keen to let her hatch some eggs. Is it generally best practice to separate mum and chicks from the rest of the flock or can you just leave them altogether and mum will protect her babies from the other hens?

I have done it both ways and find it best to have mother hen raise her chicks within the flock. Others have different opinions.
What's your coop setup? -nest accessible to chicks, food and water nearby.
A good mother hen will protect her chicks no problem, most just stay away from her knowing she is broody .. just make sure her eggs are marked so you can take out freshly laid ones from her nest so they don't get mixed up. You don't want a staggered hatch! ..and be sure to post pics!

 

[CynthiaDown]

It's not happened yet but... When/if my Silkie goes Broodies I'd be keen to let her hatch some eggs. Is it generally best practice to separate mum and chicks from the rest of the flock or can you just leave them altogether and mum will protect her babies from the other hens?

I had one egg hatch with a broody hen a couple months ago (first time I've tried) and they did wonderful - fully within the existing coop - I just closed up the coop for a couple days and let them have their space after baby was born. Worked great! I loved how easy it was and that I wasn't dependent on electricity and all natural. So decided to do it again with more eggs (6) and another hen that went broody.... not so great. At the end of the day all 6 chicks got killed. I'm still not 100% sure what happened but have been reading A LOT about it and most likely other chickens murdered them and it probably has to do with pecking order. The first hen is near the bottom but the 2nd one I think is the bottom of the pecking order bless her sweet little heart .... that's all I can speculate why the different results. Next time I'll cage off a separate area within the coop and get the broody set up in there so they can be with the flock but safe.