Broody got trapped off of nest... eggs dead?

[basicliving]

Quote:
I open the brooder pens at week 2 and just leave them open from that point forward. The mamas immediately begin taking the chicks out into the coop and chicken run. This last hatch one of the mamas had her biddies out in the woods the first day I opened her brooder pen. The first few nights after that, mama and babies return to the brooder pen to sleep at night, but within a few short days, the mama starts going up to the roost to sleep, and the babies follow her. That is really cute, by the way, because the babies still try to get UNDER her on the roost. Every one of them. She allows that for a few days, but quickly tires of sleeping on tip toes

I should note that if I don't have a new mama with brood to go into the brooder pen at that point, I close the brooder pen up. It seems WAY too tempting for others to make a cozy nest and lay eggs in

Hope that helps.

Penny

 

[chickenfever]

Quote:
I open the brooder pens at week 2 and just leave them open from that point forward. The mamas immediately begin taking the chicks out into the coop and chicken run. This last hatch one of the mamas had her biddies out in the woods the first day I opened her brooder pen. The first few nights after that, mama and babies return to the brooder pen to sleep at night, but within a few short days, the mama starts going up to the roost to sleep, and the babies follow her. That is really cute, by the way, because the babies still try to get UNDER her on the roost. Every one of them. She allows that for a few days, but quickly tires of sleeping on tip toes

I should note that if I don't have a new mama with brood to go into the brooder pen at that point, I close the brooder pen up. It seems WAY too tempting for others to make a cozy nest and lay eggs in

Hope that helps.

Penny

Yes, that's very helpful thankyou. I'm still confused about the other chickens though. I'm assuming you're letting mama and babies out with other chickens. Do they bother the babies? How do you keep the babies from eating layer feed vs starter?

 

[gocrow77]

Yay!! So there IS hope in the world still!! Hope the OP has the same luck!

 

[basicliving]

Quote:
When I open the brooder pens and the babies come out, I sit in there for 15 - 20 minutes and make sure everyone is going to get along. Sometimes a hen will come in to lay and see the babies and check them out, and sometimes the mama will jump on them, and sometimes not. I've never had an issue with the other hens/roosters and the babies. They check them out, but don't mess with them other than an occasional inquisitive peck - and usually mama is all over them before they even know what happened.

I feed everyone Purina Flock Raiser for a few weeks after I let the babies out. But mine free range, and really don't eat much chicken feed. But the babies and mamas hang around the chicken run for a couple of weeks and do eat the feed, so I just put out Flock Raiser. I leave oyster shell down free choice - and put the container on bricks so the babies can't reach it, but the hens can. After about 5 - 6 weeks, I put layer feed out again. The babies eat it too, but like I said, they all free range and at that point the babies are more independent and free range as well, so none of them eat much feed anyway.

This is just what I do because it is easiest and seems to work for me. If you search the subject, you'll find many posts about it. Then you can decide what you think will work for you. Mainly, I just try not to over complicate things. They are amazingly resilient little buggers!

zowieyellowflame - please let us know when your hatch date is and how things turn out! I hope things are going well.

Penny