Broody Hen hatched a chick....what do I do????

[DottieMarie]

I had a broody hen sitting on some eggs and typically I collect the eggs and life goes on. Well, I was out of town when she started and when I returned I found the nest in the corner of the coop on the floor. I was afraid of throwing them out in case there were chicks in any of them. Well, yesterday I went in to clean and add feed and there it was....a black chick with white on it's head just standing there peeping away. Mom came and gave me the warning attack, rounded him/her back up to the corner with the rest of the eggs and sat on him.
What do I do?????
Will the other chickens try to kill him? Should I fence off that area in the coop and give them their own food and water? I would hate for anything to happen to him/her and there may be more on the way. If I move the Mom and baby and eggs, will that make her stop sitting on the rest of the eggs and possibly her baby?

Please send your comments/suggestions; I need to do something quickly if the baby is in danger.

Thanks!!!

 

[ailurophile23]

Congratualtions! I'm no expert on this by any means but if it is easy enough and you have enough room to "fence off" the mom and baby, that seems like the best option. It will protect the baby and any others that might hatch. Good luck!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Congratulations on the hatch! It's been one of the most rewarding aspects of keeping chickens for us, watching Mama hens tend to their chicks.

There's lots of ways to do this, but I think it's ideal to keep Mom & chicks separate, at least for the first few weeks. She may be able to keep her chick safe, the others may be tolerant, but better safe than the other. Go ahead & keep them in the same place for another day or two, but if Mom already has a chick to tend she may not want to return to the nest to continue incubating the rest of the eggs. You can try to hatch them in an incubator or just bury them under a bush.

Then you can set them up in a place more convenient for you if you wish. They can both eat chick starter. The hen may lose interest in her chick long before it's fully grown, you may need to keep it separate until then, or keep them with the rest of the flock and feed everyone starter (with a side dish of oyster shell for the layers).

Have fffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Judy]

When I tried separating mama and chicks, they wanted out so badly that I just opened the pen. never had a problem (this is 6 or 7 broodies) with the others harming the chicks. This way, when mama stops mothering at 4 or 5 weeks, the chicks are already accepted as part of the flock. They are low on the pecking order and hang around together, but they don't get harmed and get enough to eat/drink.

 

[cmom]

Good luck and have fun...

 

[hcarlsonlewis]

My broody hatched 2 last week. I did not separate her from the flock, but I do only have a total of 3 hens. She has done a wonderful job at protecting her babies but she is also my Alpha chicken and I felt confident the others would not have a chance of picking on the babies and that has turned out to be true this week. Momma hen lets one of the other girls get close to the babies because she causes no threat, my other girl on the other hand is a total trouble maker and momma hen has had no problem telling her who's boss and not to mess with her babies. This is so much easier than trying to intergrate them into the flock in a month or two... If you think your broody can handle the flock I would leave them all together. I really think it depends on the personality of your broody and how friendly your flock is..

 

[queenbeezz]

We left them alone, Mom protected them and kept them safe. After several weeks she cut them loose and stopped looking after them. They are now an accepted members of the flock and watched over by the roosters.

 

[featherz]

I have two broodies with a total of 13 chicks, all in the coop with 11 other hens and a roo. They all do fine - they do free range during the day, which helps, but mamas will puff up if anyone else gets too close and so far we've had no problems. I didn't have room to separate them out so decided to try it and see what happened. Moms have each picked a corner on the floor they like to sleep in and all is harmonious. So far.