Broody hen egg hatched now what?

[sonnenmn]

Do I move the hen and chick? How does the chick eat? We have a rooster I’m concerned the rooster will peck at baby.

 

[Yardmom]

Your rooster is not likely to harm a chick. Other hens could, but still not likely.
Moms usually protect them if another shows interest, but most hens ignore chicks. Personally my broodies are put back with the flock about 3 days after hatch. Others raise them for a while separately, but then have to figure out how to integrate them to the flock.

 

[Yardmom]

The chick should eat on its own. You can feed the whole flock chick food or a flock raiser crumble with shells on the side as layer food is not the best for chicks

 

[wrathsfarm]

Where is momma? What's her status in the flock? How many more eggs are still in the nest?
If she just hatched, momma shouldn't move for another day or 2 typically. She's still sitting and the baby will live off the absorbed yolk. You can add a little dish of water and chick feed.
When she decides to bring her hatch out, if the nest box is too high, the chicks may not be able to get back up. This is when I usually drop the nest box to the floor and I separate if she's low ranking and prone to bullying.

And a few pics for brooder ideas to separate if you need them. First pic I took the end off a dog cage, wrapped it in 1/4" HC and butted it up to her nest box and filled any gaps.

And 2 separate brooders under the poop boards. The nest boxes were sitting close to the doors while she was still sitting on her eggs, so I could catch both broodys with a fan on hot days in the first pic.

These 2 pics were after they hatched I moved nest boxes back in for more room. And added a led light.

 

[Altairsky]

My hen fed japanese beetles and whole stinkbugs to her 4 days old chicks. They could eat those things whole so I wouldn't be too concerned about chicks eating weird and huge things.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

The dam should care for her chick fine, and the other hens are the main thing you have to worry about. A rooster is supposed to protect the chicks, not hurt them. The hens are the ones who want to hurt the chicks because they see them as a challenge in the pecking order.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Everyone does something different and it really is dependent on what your flock environment is like. I have a “brooding room” which is a 10x10’ room with a hardware cloth door and wire on the top 4’. I keep the broody hen and chicks in there for 2 weeks. This allows the chicks to grow out of that tiny delicate stage, the moms have a chance to bond with the babies stress free and with the hardware cloth door everyone can see them to get used to them. By the time I let them out at 2 weeks old there are zero issues. The rooster knows who they are and is usually somewhat protective if anything while the other hens leave them be because they have seen them everyday for the last 2 weeks, but couldn’t get to them. The mom assimilates back into the flock without issues as well. Everyone is fed flock raiser 20% protein so there are no feed issues