Broody hen first hatch question

[Iluveggers]

My broody has successfully hatched three chicks! The first one hatched late Tuesday night. The last one hatched late yesterday. Today I removed the shells from her nest. I have her partitioned off, with about 4 feet of space and chick feed & water accessible to her & the chicks. I’ve seen the babies out from under her and eating. I have not seen her poop at all. I tried removing her from the nest (a laundry basket) twice, and she puffs out, stretches her legs, and sits right back in it. I also removed the partition, closed the coop off to the other hens (they all laid an egg yesterday and today before 4pm), and she still stayed on her nest. There are no more eggs. How long can she sit there without pooping? She does make a cute low guk guk guk sound when she eats (only when I hand feed her), and the chicks come running out to see what food she is dropping for them. She will stretch her neck to peck at fallen food from the nest. At what point will she come out? None of the hens will go near her in the coop as she makes the crazy broody BRAACH when they go near her area. She luckily has not been agressive to me when I’ve tried to help feed her or get her out of the nest for a minute.

Thanks so much, it is so cute to see her with her babies! Two chipmunk stripe and one buff/blonde.

 

[Sussex19]

Mine usually wait two, or at most three days.
I have had a broody get constipated after sitting with her chicks for too long, so now as long as all the chicks are active I take them all fully out of the nest for a short while on the second day.
One needs to take them fully out, so she can't just hop back in. After a little while, she should poop, and then I'll wait a little long and then put them back in the nest.
After that trip out, I leave it up to her as when she wants to come out full time with her chicks.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Mine went up to 3 days. But...they also basically pooped themselves in the nest by staying too long after the hatch. I took them out too, but they went right back to it because the babies wouldn't follow. So...after two days of hatch and them being stubborn for a third, of they both had an accident in the early morning and I had to clean both butts and nest boxes. Then, of course, they were willing to go out...figures. So don't let yours use mine as an example lol.

 

[Iluveggers]

Well…I had fully intended to force her out this morning once we got home for the day…and when I went out to move her, she was in the run with her chicks in tow! I did see one hen get close, and she chased her away. The other 7 hens are leaving the babies alone.

She couldn’t figure out where to nest when it looked like it was going to rain, and of course she went under the coop, so I crawled on my hands and knees (yuck), and got her and the babies out. Stuck her inside with one chick, and showed the last two how to go up the ramp.

My roofed run is hardware cloth, but I have an extended area with 1x2 welded wire that the chicks can get through. Thoughts on what to do? I locked them in the roofed part today, but i can’t leave the rest out as the nest boxes are in the coop…

 

[Mrs J]

Honestly I would let nature take its course hens are the best incubators ever, this mummy knows what she is doing she will poop when she needs to x

 

[Iluveggers]

Honestly I would let nature take its course hens are the best incubators ever, this mummy knows what she is doing she will poop when she needs to x

Oh she did! Right in the nest! Luckily it is removable and plastic so I can clean it easily.

I’m just worried about the chicks escaping the very much extended run/yard area through the welded wire. The roofed run is hardware cloth that they can’t fit through. I would assume they won’t venture too far from mom, but maybe I’m wrong?

 

[Mrs J]

Oh she did! Right in the nest! Luckily it is removable and plastic so I can clean it easily.

I’m just worried about the chicks escaping the very much extended run/yard area through the welded wire. The roofed run is hardware cloth that they can’t fit through. I would assume they won’t venture too far from mom, but maybe I’m wrong?

I don’t want to stress you, but if the chicks can fit through it, they can escape from my experience I lost a chick because of this, luckily enough, the second chick I saw running up and down crying for mum was outside the pen, so I was able to put it back

 

[Sussex19]

I’m just worried about the chicks escaping the very much extended run/yard area through the welded wire. The roofed run is hardware cloth that they can’t fit through. I would assume they won’t venture too far from mom, but maybe I’m wrong?

All my run fences aren't chick proof, and they don't go far from mum.
I have only ever lost two, (at different times) I presume a bird took them when they were on the wrong side of the fence, so mum couldn't protect them.
I think that comes down to what kind of predators you have, and if you are willing to have any kind of losses.
To keep them fully safe, you would need to keep them on the correct side of the fence.

 

[Iluveggers]

Thank you both. I’ll see if I can rig up some plastic garden fencing along the bottom maybe…and keep mama & chicks out of the extension for now.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Well…I had fully intended to force her out this morning once we got home for the day…and when I went out to move her, she was in the run with her chicks in tow! I did see one hen get close, and she chased her away. The other 7 hens are leaving the babies alone.

She couldn’t figure out where to nest when it looked like it was going to rain, and of course she went under the coop, so I crawled on my hands and knees (yuck), and got her and the babies out. Stuck her inside with one chick, and showed the last two how to go up the ramp.

My roofed run is hardware cloth, but I have an extended area with 1x2 welded wire that the chicks can get through. Thoughts on what to do? I locked them in the roofed part today, but i can’t leave the rest out as the nest boxes are in the coop…

I lined the extended run with 16" HWC, it kept all my broodies babies in. I'd just let them go about their business together as a flock, seems like your broody has things under control! Congrats on a great broody hatch!