Broody hatched eggs —help!

[upstater]

My hen hatched 4 baby chicks this weekend . I live in upstate NY where the temps are dipping to 30F and are going to get much colder. I have another hen that went broody and they should hatch in 2 weeks. This is my first time with chickens this year.... I I decided to get chicken during the COVID-19 quarantine. I hatched eggs with my kids and decided to keep the chicks! I love it... love the eggs and love watching the chickens. I never expected this and I’m clueless what to do. Do you take the baby chicks inside? With Mom? Do I leave them in the coop? I have 11 hens and 1 Roo.... will they hurt the babies? How will the babies eat or drink if I leave them in the coop? How long can they stay under her? Should I separate them inside the coop? Does anyone have pics of what that should look like? I’ve attached pics of my coop and her .... my coop is 6x8 with an attached run that is 6 x 12. They do free range about 3/4 hours a day. Any advice would be appreciated! Sorry for being long winded!

 

[SebrightMix]

You could separate the mom with the chicks or leave them with the flock. It is entirely your choice. And the mom will take care of the chicks, give them warmth, show them where, Food and water is, and teach them to be a chicken, and also protect them from the others if you let them stay with the flock.

 

[DobieLover]

My hen hatched 4 baby chicks this weekend . I live in upstate NY where the temps are dipping to 30F and are going to get much colder. I have another hen that went broody and they should hatch in 2 weeks. This is my first time with chickens this year.... I I decided to get chicken during the COVID-19 quarantine. I hatched eggs with my kids and decided to keep the chicks! I love it... love the eggs and love watching the chickens. I never expected this and I’m clueless what to do. Do you take the baby chicks inside? With Mom? Do I leave them in the coop? I have 11 hens and 1 Roo.... will they hurt the babies? How will the babies eat or drink if I leave them in the coop? How long can they stay under her? Should I separate them inside the coop? Does anyone have pics of what that should look like? I’ve attached pics of my coop and her .... my coop is 6x8 with an attached run that is 6 x 12. They do free range about 3/4 hours a day. Any advice would be appreciated! Sorry for being long winded!

I would not separate the mothers and the chicks from the flock. They will protect their chicks. However you may want to consider breaking your broodies in the future instead of allowing them to hatch chicks. Your setup is not large enough to accommodate all of these new chickens. You're going to need a plan for what to do with those cockerels.
As for the feed, you need to switch the entire flock over to something like All Flock, Flock Raiser or a good chick starter. Put out containers of oyster shell on the side for the active layers.
How many eggs did you give each of these girls? I had a broody hatch chicks this past April. She had eight chicks to raise. When they were two weeks old we had a pretty good snow storm. She was a large Cuckoo Marans hen. She did not have trouble keeping her chicks warm.

 

[upstater]

I would not separate the mothers and the chicks from the flock. They will protect their chicks. However you may want to consider breaking your broodies in the future instead of allowing them to hatch chicks. Your setup is not large enough to accommodate all of these new chickens. You're going to need a plan for what to do with those cockerels.
As for the feed, you need to switch the entire flock over to something like All Flock, Flock Raiser or a good chick starter. Put out containers of oyster shell on the side for the active layers.
How many eggs did you give each of these girls? I had a broody hatch chicks this past April. She had eight chicks to raise. When they were two weeks old we had a pretty good snow storm. She was a large Cuckoo Marans hen. She did not have trouble keeping her chicks warm.

One hen has 6 eggs 4 hatched so far. The other has 5 eggs .... they both are Black Copper Marans. I tried to get her to stop but every time I came home from work she was sitting on a new batch of eggs. She had plucked all The feathers on her stomach and chest and Self admittedly I gave up.... not the best idea. I have a plan for the Roos so I’m not worried about that, in fact I could give all of them away. The flock is already on flockraiser with Oyster shells on the side. I totally agree this is not An ideal time or situation but now that it’s happened I feel I need to give them their best shot at survival. I actually set up a dog crate inside the coop with a nesting box and moved all the chicks and one last egg that hasn’t hatched this afternoon. I put chick starter and water inside crate for her and the babies.

 

[DobieLover]

One hen has 6 eggs 4 hatched so far. The other has 5 eggs .... they both are Black Copper Marans. I tried to get her to stop but every time I came home from work she was sitting on a new batch of eggs. She had plucked all The feathers on her stomach and chest and Self admittedly I gave up.... not the best idea. I have a plan for the Roos so I’m not worried about that, in fact I could give all of them away. The flock is already on flockraiser with Oyster shells on the side. I totally agree this is not An ideal time or situation but now that it’s happened I feel I need to give them their best shot at survival. I actually set up a dog crate inside the coop with a nesting box and moved all the chicks and one last egg that hasn’t hatched this afternoon. I put chick starter and water inside crate for her and the babies.

Did you crate them when you tried to break them? Just removing eggs or tossing them off the nest doesn't work.

 

[bobbi-j]

Did you crate them when you tried to break them? Just removing eggs or tossing them off the nest doesn't work.

It can be done that way, but it’s faster to put them in a crate. I had a broody but didn’t want chicks, so I just kept taking the eggs and tossing her off the nest. Took about 3 weeks. I guess I didn’t really break her, so much as waited until broody hormones died down.

 

[upstater]

No I kept removing her and the eggs .... I’m just moving forward with the chicks now. I can move them into my heated garage if need be but I didn’t want to separate from the flock.

 

[bobbi-j]

I would keep them with the flock. In the future, if you don’t want them to hatch, just keep removing the eggs. They’ll give up eventually.

 

[aart]

No I kept removing her and the eggs .... I’m just moving forward with the chicks now. I can move them into my heated garage if need be but I didn’t want to separate from the flock.

Leave them with the flock, she'll keep them warm.

Next time.....
If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, IMO it's best to break her broodiness promptly.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[upstater]

Leave them with the flock, she'll keep them warm.

Next time.....
If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, IMO it's best to break her broodiness promptly.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.
View attachment 2412687

Thank you