Broody hen raising chicks/ do I need a nursery?

[sueche]

My silkie is sitting on eggs to hatch. One just hatched this morning. She is in the nesting box with the flock. ( small coop, we live in the city).
Should I build a separate nursery for mom and babies?
Should it be inside the coop or run? Or next to it?
Thanks

 

[nchls school]

My silkie is sitting on eggs to hatch. One just hatched this morning. She is in the nesting box with the flock. ( small coop, we live in the city).
Should I build a separate nursery for mom and babies?
Should it be inside the coop or run? Or next to it?
Thanks

In or out of the coop doesn't really matter as long as there's room and it's protected. Hen and chicks should be kept by themselves where other the chicken will not interfere. I would not put them in the run. They will need protection from the elements.

 

[sueche]

Great. I may attach a new small coop box an littke run to the outside with one wall connected to the other run. I read the hens needs to keep contact with other hens

 

[Ridgerunner]

A lot depends on how much room you have, but if you don’t have enough room for a Mama hen to raise chicks with the flock, how do you plan on integrating them later? That normally takes even more room than a Mama and chicks. It can get a bit rough with limited space.

Broody hens have been raising chicks with the flock since there have been chickens. Ancient Egyptians were incubating eggs and then raising the chicks in a brooder thousands of years ago. I don’t know when people started isolating broody hens and their chicks from the flock but that has probably been thousands of years too. There is no right way or wrong way to do this, just the way we choose.

There are benefits and risks any way you go about it. I like a broody hen to raise them with the flock so she can handle integration. That benefit outweighs any risk I see. After she weans them they have to handle their pecking order issues by themselves but if you have sufficient room, this is not a big problem. If space is tight, it can get rough.

What normally happens with mine is that Mama brings them off the nest a day or two after the hatch is over. Sometimes that is only 24 hours after the first chick hatches, sometimes it can be three days. Mama knows when the hatch is over, she will handle that for you. I have food and water where the chicks can reach it after they come off the nest.

Mama normally keeps them in the coop a day or two after she brings them off. Then she takes them out of the pop door to the run. After that, they spend practically all of the day outside. At night, she brings them back into the coop where they go to a corner to sleep on the floor. Of course there are some variations to this but it’s pretty typical.

My main coop is 8’x12’, my main run is 12’x 32’, and I have an area 35’ x 90’ feet in electric netting they can roam in. Room is not a problem with my flock. I’ve never lost a chick to another adult flock member.

If you decide to isolate the broody and chicks, which many people do, be careful picking the broody up. I once crushed a chick that had crawled up under a hen’s wing when I picked the hen up.

Good luck!

 

[sueche]

So do you think its better just to bring the chick inside to my garage brooder/plastic bin?

 

[centrarchid]

Consider making to hen is isolated from physical contact with balance of flock but able to see and communicate vocally with them. In some of my setups chicks can move freely through the pens so all parties get used to each other yet chicks can avoid adults when they want to. They can go to mother when the need to stay warm and dry. Integration is not all that difficult and generally not as important a concern as disease management that can be hampered by broody hens kept in too close proximity with the adult flock. Keeping hens with chicks near adults has only become practical relatively recently with the advent of complete feeds for chicks. Prior to that chicks had to do a lot of free-ranging and during first couple weeks at least they needed to have mamma around for protection.

 

[sueche]

What if we blocked off an area under the coop? Can I let chicks be with the adults and the silkie rooster?

 

[centrarchid]

If rooster fully mature I would expect no problems. Hens and older subadults can be more problematic, therefore chicks need to be able to get away from those parties, especially if mother can not operate on the chicks' behalf.

 

[nchls school]

What if we blocked off an area under the coop? Can I let chicks be with the adults and the silkie rooster?

There are many ideas on this subject and, really, no one is completely right or wrong. When I lived in the country and on the farm I did not isolate broody hens and chicks; there was no need as there was lots of room for the hen and chicks to go off by themselves when they wanted to. Now my home is in town and room is very limited like you. And I know that without a doubt chicks would be killed, lost, or injured if I didn't isolate them somewhat. My birds are also silkie and, while they are great broodies and mothers, they are also overprotective. Overprotective to the point of being dangerous to others and their chicks. One hen, the white one in my avatar, viciously attacks anything that moves; other chickens , any bird that flies to close, and me, if I should make a chick peep too loud. She's flown at me a number of times, made my hand bleed like a stuck pig, and leave scratches up and down my arm-and then the fool thing turns around and eats out of my hand. Another silkie hen with chicks has no protective bone in her body, very laid back and lets me do anything with he chicks-the brown hen in my avatar-she just stands there twisting her head this way and that watching every move I make.

For me, it is better to be safe than sorry; while in town I'll keep separating hens with chicks.

Whatever you decide, just do it carefully. Best wishes and good luck.

 

[gertpacu]

We just had 9 eggs hatch about a month and a half or two months ago. 8 of them lived. The first few days we kept them inside the chicken house and put up a 2x4 in front of the doggy door so other chicks could get in but the babies couldn't get out. After about three or four days they were jumping it and out on the ground with the mother and the 7 hens and 1 rooster. They didn't bother them at all but the little ones could have got out of the chain link fence so we ended up locking them in the second chamber of the coop which is about 5ft by 12ft and we kept them in there for about 5 weeks until they were too big to fit through the chain link fence. Since then they have been mixed with the others and other than some of the older hens pecking them if they do something the hens don't like it's been very nice! They all seem to get a long wonderfully.

The older hens habits are even rubbing off on the chicks now and they have went from not being able to pick any up to flying up and jumping on my arm like a hawk and letting me pet them. The roosters in the bunch (think there is 4) are a bit more timid though.