Broody Bantam, going to try letting her set...need advice

[austinhart123]

they will be fine with a 3 foot jump, thats nothing, they would be fine jumping 10 feet

 

[Sunny Side Up]

The hen will probably stay in the nest the whole day/night the chicks hatch & not get up until they've gotten dry & fluffy. You may have time to move them to their ground-floor accomodations before they attempt the jump on their own.

But I agree with the others, if they do hop down on their own they should be all right anyway. And the hen will probably find her own safe spot on the ground, not insisting that the chicks return to their former upper-story home.

You *might* want to prepare an enclosed space where the hen can stay alone with her chicks for a while. A Mama hen will usually be fiercely protective of her chicks, but some aren't as effective as others. And some chicks are more prone to wander away from their Moms' protection. All it takes is one well-aimed peck to kill or seriously injure a chick.

 

[Chooksaurus]

Update: I went out to the coop this morning and while checking things out, I caught the faint sounds of peeping! They are due to hatch tomorrow, so things seem to have gone well.

However, the hen was still moving some eggs around after she gobbled some hand-fed scratch. Is that going to cause a problem for the chicks? In an incubator, you are supposed to let them sit for the last 2 days without turning, but how will that pan out in this scenario? I'm probably being paranoid since it is my first broody and attempt at hatching, but it seems to work against incubator advice.

The brooder is set up under the lofted roost box. I put some sand down and plugged in the heat lamp to dry/warm it. Another fear is that the chicks will not be able to get to the brooder before another hen picks on them, but I'll just have to be on guard duty tomorrow and hope for the best. I have the brooder enclosed in a fence that have 2" square holes so that the chicks can come out to "momma" but the other hens cannot get in. Is this a good idea, or should I just stick her in there with them, separate them completely, or some other option?

 

[Bedste]

If I were you...... I would let the mama chicken take care of the baby chicks 100% and stay out of her way... let her turn the eggs or whatever she wants to do.... are you putting her in a brooder too? I would leave her alone and let her naturally take care of them. She will not allow the other hens to hurt the chicks. You could put her and the chicks someplace separate for a few days.... but you need to let her raise them up in the coop with the others.. as soon as possible. The other hens will respect her and stay away from the babies.

 

[Bedste]

Bantams are excellent mothers. My bantam hatched 3 RIR and raised them up to 7 weeks old. All were roosters and I gave them away --- otherwise they would still be following her around and letting her boss them no matter how much bigger they were than her. It was so cute-----

She is a little Bantam and she kept her RIR chicks safe in the midste of 13 standard size huge hens.... no one tried to mess with her babies.......twice .

 

[Chooksaurus]

Went out this morning and we have four new additions to the family! Thinking back, I put four eggs under her right away and then slipped the other three in the next morning, so by rights they should be about 12-14 hours behind the others. I am taking a big gamble and moved the other three eggs down under our second bantam that went broody, the hope being that they will be ok for the last 12 hours and if they hatch, they will break her from her broodiness as well. She has been thieving eggs from anyone that lays near her, so she took them in without question.

Picture time!

Proud Momma:

Momma and chicks:

New Baby:

Happy Little Owner:

What a great experience! I can see how this could get addicting...but I am very glad we let her set.

 

[Bedste]

How precious.... What a sweet little girl too! Congratulations!!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

All your little ladies are beautiful, thanks for sharing this happy ending! It's so much fun to watch a good Mama hen tending to her chicks. She should be able to keep them warm & safe enough.

I'm curious to find out if those other eggs will hatch under your other broody hen, & if so, will she stop brooding & accept them after such a short sit.

I wish you all great success!

 

[Chooksaurus]

Of the 3 I set under the 2nd broody, one has pipped and has a good little hole open already. She is pretty defensive with them, but I am also curious if it will break her and let her get back to laying. It was pipped at about 11am, so hopefully we will see another chick (or more) in the morning. If nothing else, I think I should be able to move the chicks back to the first hen...she is an awesome momma already.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

When the chick/s hatch under the 2nd hen it may break her broody spell, meaning she'll no longer feel the urge to set & incubate. But it may turn her dial from Broody to Mother, and she'll want to take time to tend to these chicks as if they were her own. During that time she won't lay either. But at some point, in my experience from 4-9 weeks, she'll be ready to leave the chicks and her dial will switch from Mother back to Laying Hen.

There's a chance that she'll still want to set after the chicks hatch if her dial hasn't had sufficient time to switch. She may still be on Broody. Or it may confuse her to switch back to Laying Hen.

If you decide to give these chicks back to the first hen make sure to place them under her well after dark. And watch them carefully the next morning. I know many folks have had success adding chicks to a hen's family but none of my hens have ever accepted new chicks. Even some of my really fierce & devoted Mamas, though they'd allow the chicks to sleep under their wings, by morning they'd peck the new chicks away. Even though they may be the same size and/or color. Just something about them, maybe the sound of their peeps, made these hens reject them. Maybe if I left them together for longer they'd eventually accept them, but I couldn't bear to hear those pathetic peeps.