Broody hen hatched chick....what do I do?

[DottieMarie]

Long story but my hen was sitting on some eggs and i was afraid to throw them out because she had been on them for a while. Anyway, she had a nest in the corner of the coop on the floor and yesterday when I went in to clean and feed, I found a little black chick with white on his/her head standing there peeping away. Well, Mom gave me the warning charge and rounded him/her back to the rest of the eggs and sat on him.

What do I do???? Will the other chickens kill him? Should I fence off that area in the coop with a seperate waterer and feeder? If I move the Mom, chick and remaining eggs will she stop sitting on the nest and maybe the baby too?

Please send your comments/suggestions; I need to do something soon if he/she is in danger.

Thanks!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Sounds like the momma hen is doing a fine job protecting the chick. Just put food and water out at chick level - she'll do the rest.

 

[DottieMarie]

So I don't need to worry about the other chickens hurting him?

 

[bantyshanty]

The mama should be fine protecting the one chick. Don't move her & her eggs just before hatch, that would disturb her. If all her chicks hatch & she has a lot, you might want to move them for a couple weeks to their own quarters. It depends on the aggressiveness of the other chickens & the mama's level of protectiveness.
BTW, I'm from Lake Orion originally, where are you?

 

[DottieMarie]

Thank you Happy Chooks and BantyShanty for your input. I will keep an eye on the other chickens to see if they try to go near the chick and nest. The problem is that when all these eggs were being collected in this nest, I was traveling for work for 2 weeks. Hubby would go in and feed and water but didn't notice the nest, these eggs were laid over a 2 week period. At what point should I pull them out of there?

BantyShanty...I'm in Milford, just moved from White Lake. Not sure when you moved away but Lake Orion is really building up, if you haven't been back in a while you'd be surprised but it's still a very nice area.

 

[Spires6]

Leave them be. She will take care of her baby. Just make sure baby can reach water and food.

 

[creekrats]

I'm no expert, but, my broody just hatched 7 babies Wednesday and Wednesday night. There were nine eggs in the nest and when we check the next yesterday, she had left the nest with her seven and left two eggs. I know that at least one of my other hens got in the nest and laid at least one egg (so I assume that is where the other came from as well).

I'd suggest just leaving her on the nest. When she thinks the eggs are finished hatching, I think she'll leave the nest and then you can discard the eggs that haven't hatched. As long as she's sitting on the nest, I'd leave her there.

 

[DottieMarie]

Thanks Creekrats, I wasn't sure what I should do with all those eggs. I did notice yesterday that 2 of the eggs that were in the pile are now pushed aside....hmmm. Maybe she moved them or they got moved during the hatching of Number 1. I hope she does leave the nest once they are done just so i know when I can remove the rest.
I'm hoping to find a couple more chicks when I get home today; it's very exciting but since I've never had chicks hatch, I'm a little nervous for them.
We'll get food and water near the nest today...hopefully she'll let me get close enough or I'll have to use a broom or something to push it her way.

Now I get to play the guessing game, we have so many different breeds, who knows what we'll get. the first one is eithe part barred rock or part maran because it's black with some white although I didn't get a very good look at it. Maybe today she'll let me get a peek.

Thanks again!