Broody hatching advice

[ravensravelry]

Hello! I have a silkie hen that has been broody over a clutch for just over a week now. I'm checking every day to make sure no one has hatched(I know hatch date is 21-26 days but I'm making sure ), but this leads me to my question; when they do hatch, is it better to take them out into a brooder or leave them with mama? I have 4 silkies in this coop including a rooster and I plan on removing the babies once they hatch regardless because I don't want the flock to have a chance to pick at them, but do I take them with the mom or by themselves? If I remove chicks after they hatch will she be discouraged from sitting on the rest? I have so many questions about if it's better to pull them when they hatch or leave them with the hen, does anyone have any pros vs. cons?

 

[CuriousAmateur]

Hi hello, I am a newbie on chicken hatching and brooding but just thought hop on the bandwagon. Though do take my advice with a pinch of salt.

I would say leave the eggs and chicks with the mother hen and avoid handling on days 19 and onwards if possible.

The reason for this is the more handling, the less likely the eggs are going to hatch due to disturbance.

The hen and chicks bond a couple days before hatching as chicks do chirp in the egg after they internally pip, and the hen often responds to their chicks to encourage them.

Along with this, the mother hen gives heat. Teaches the chicks what to eat and what not to eat. How to perch and roost instead of sleeping and pooping in the nest boxes. Overall I would say that the chicks don't make your ears bleed because it has it's mother.

When the first hatches, they don't need food for about 2 or 3 days so don't worry about feeding them. Until all the eggs that are able to have hatched, I would leave them unless they absolutely need food and water. Plus a chicks chirping helps it's siblings hatch too.

However moving the hen too much may discourage her from sitting on her eggs that still have yet to hatch.

I would agree that it would be wise to take the hen and chicks out of the main coop and run. And I would further suggest that you put them in a separate coop and run somewhat near the main coop, ensuring that they can see each other.

My reason for this is, for some reason a hen of ours has been out of the coop for about 2 weeks and when she was put back in with her previous coop. An all out brawl happened between her and the 3 other hens.

If you do plan on removing the hen and chicks completely, I would recommend slowly reintroducing them to each other.

Good luck and I hope some of this information helped a bit !

 

[ravensravelry]

Hi hello, I am a newbie on chicken hatching and brooding but just thought hop on the bandwagon. Though do take my advice with a pinch of salt.

I would say leave the eggs and chicks with the mother hen and avoid handling on days 19 and onwards if possible.

The reason for this is the more handling, the less likely the eggs are going to hatch due to disturbance.

The hen and chicks bond a couple days before hatching as chicks do chirp in the egg after they internally pip, and the hen often responds to their chicks to encourage them.

Along with this, the mother hen gives heat. Teaches the chicks what to eat and what not to eat. How to perch and roost instead of sleeping and pooping in the nest boxes. Overall I would say that the chicks don't make your ears bleed because it has it's mother.

When the first hatches, they don't need food for about 2 or 3 days so don't worry about feeding them. Until all the eggs that are able to have hatched, I would leave them unless they absolutely need food and water. Plus a chicks chirping helps it's siblings hatch too.

However moving the hen too much may discourage her from sitting on her eggs that still have yet to hatch.

I would agree that it would be wise to take the hen and chicks out of the main coop and run. And I would further suggest that you put them in a separate coop and run somewhat near the main coop, ensuring that they can see each other.

My reason for this is, for some reason a hen of ours has been out of the coop for about 2 weeks and when she was put back in with her previous coop. An all out brawl happened between her and the 3 other hens.

If you do plan on removing the hen and chicks completely, I would recommend slowly reintroducing them to each other.

Good luck and I hope some of this information helped a bit !

Thank you so much for the advice! I haven't messed with her eggs at all because I'm scared to make her abandon the nest lol, I've debated candling a few on the 2 week mark but ultimately might not because honestly it's to satiate my own curiosity, it doesn't help the babies any. That's super interesting that the chick and mom can communicate like that, I had no idea! I think that I'd like to keep her with the babies until they reach a certain age (monitor her and make sure she takes to them and isn't aggressive towards them), but I would love people's experiences/feedback, I feel like cons could be her potentially stepping on/trampling any chicks by accident? But I have no experience here. I might block her off from the rest of the coop when the chicks start to hatch and the remove her and the babies all at once. And I completely understand what you're talking about! I've introduced new hens to my main flock and up until a certain age they integrated with no outside help, no problem! But around 5 months old any newbies were bullied on sight and had to be removed, in my experience I've learned if you add multiple chickens instead of just one then they're a lot less likely to be aggressive because they don't know who to target, and a big dog crate being used inside the coop to get them acclimated can help too. Again, thank you so much! If/when anybody hatches I'll update

 

[junior67]

Everyone does their own thing. I let my broodys)mamas raise chicks with my flock last year. I had other hens, a rooster and teens in there. Mama protected them and they grew up a part of the flock. It worked great

 

[ravensravelry]

Everyone does their own thing. I let my broodys)mamas raise chicks with my flock last year. I had other hens, a rooster and teens in there. Mama protected them and they grew up a part of the flock. It worked great

Valid! I'm so glad that this worked for you, it sounds like a great option because you don't even have to integrate anybody, since they're raised straight with the flock. Though this option makes me nervous , because in my very first flock I had a mixed flock with a silkie that hatched a single chick and a big girl pecked at it on the back and it didn't make it, but with this flock being only being good tempered silkies it might make a difference. Thank you so much for your input!

 

[ravensravelry]

Update: original broody hen is to the left, the girl on the right is free loading off of her nest . I hope that this is a good thing and not a bad thing? This pen has these two girls as well as one hen and one roo. Could them both sitting on the same nest make integration easier? Or could this cause problems?

 

[ravensravelry]

Update: Day 22 no hatch yet, but I can see shadowing in one of the eggs and so far everyone looks good . Just wanted to throw in that the girls are swapping eggs and made it a bit confusing for me, I know for a fact the black silkie laid eggs first and went broody first and the white silkie is sitting on the one shadowing

 

[ravensravelry]

First baby of the batch!

 

[junior67]

First baby of the batch!

Congrats!!!!

 

[ravensravelry]

Congrats!!!!

Thank you so much!!! Two more are freshly pipped, I'm so hype about it