Broody Hen Thread!

[SIMZ]

Hi everyone! Question here......

My hen's chicks are about 6 weeks old now and they're in a small coop of their own with their own section of run within the big run. The last week I've been opening up the fence and letting her take her chicks out with the main flock. Tonight she went into the main coop with the flock to roost and had one of the babies with her. One wouldn't go in and stood outside peeping. When I went back to check she had both babies back into their little coop.

My question is what to do if she takes them into the big coop to roost again. I suspect she's starting to quit on them and it doesn't seem safe to leave them with the big chickens on their own at this age.
Any advice?

 

[TeaChick]

If you don't want them in the main coop with the big chickens, then I would just check every night to make sure that all of them are in the small coop "of their own" you mentioned that she's been in with them, and if they're not all in there, then check the main coop and remove any that think they want to sleep with momma.
That's just my practical thoughts on the matter; I have no real broody chicken knowledge at all. I'm on the thread to learn about broody chicken stuff.
I do hope that everything works out well for them and her!!! =)

 

[fisherlady]

Hi everyone!  Question here...... 

My hen's chicks are about 6 weeks old now and they're in a small coop of their own with their own section of run within the big run.  The last week I've been opening up the fence and letting her take her chicks out with the main flock.  Tonight she went into the main coop with the flock to roost and had one of the babies with her.  One wouldn't go in and stood outside peeping.  When I went back to check she had both babies back into their little coop. 

My question is what to do if she takes them into the big coop to roost again.  I suspect she's starting to quit on them and it doesn't seem safe to leave them with the big chickens on their own at this age.  
Any advice? 

It sounds like she is starting to try to integrate them into the flock before kicking them loose. That is normal behavior in my experience. Our hens will often have their chicks up on the big bird roost from 3 to 4 weeks of age.
If she has them mixed with the flock during the day without problems then roosting with them at night is her next logical step.
You can either assist her by coaxing the little ones to be in the big bird coop with her or if he want them separate you will probably be to move them for the broody coop each night.

Each flock is different, for ours I have found it easier to let the broody do the integration when the chicks were little but that set up doesn't work for everyone.

 

[fisherlady]

A couple of our broody hens teaching their little ones to roost earlier this year.

 

[Rhandi74]

I've been so busy following that it dawned on me - I haven't done an another update on Scout and Agatha now that she's teaching him to be a chicken. She took him outside for the first time today. He wasn't at all sure he was ready for it!




Edited to add: If you look at the top of his head in the first picture you can see the little star there. Can't see it in the bottom picture, though. He has to be standing just right.

Oh My...I sure do love Scout's star.

 

[calichicken]

A couple of our broody hens teaching their little ones to roost earlier this year.

Adorable

 

[chicksurreal]

Adorable

X2!

 

[AmyP716]

So my silkie hen has gone broody again. She has three eggs. They are due to hatch thursday. The problem is I live in MI and its getting pretty cold now. This broody has hatched eggs before but in the summer when it was warm. Do you guys think these chicks will be ok or should I take them from her and bring them in the house. I just don't know why she would decide to hatch eggs now, but I guess she knows what she is doing right?

 

[fisherlady]

So my silkie hen has gone broody again. She has three eggs. They are due to hatch thursday. The problem is I live in MI and its getting pretty cold now. This broody has hatched eggs before but in the summer when it was warm. Do you guys think these chicks will be ok or should I take them from her and bring them in the house. I just don't know why she would decide to hatch eggs now, but I guess she knows what she is doing right?

If your coop is dry and relatively draft free then she should do fine with just some basic precautions.
...make sure that the nest allows the chicks to get back into it easily in case they stray out from under mama too soon
...make sure any water available for the broody and chicks is kept thawed. for our cold weather hatches I place a chick waterer close to the nest and put a ceramic heat bulb over it to prevent freezing.
...check on the new family frequently the first couple of days to make sure all is well.

 

[Blooie]

I was worried about Scout with the severe cold weather coming by the end of today. He's the only chick so he has no siblings to cuddle up with if Mom is off the nest for a bit. So I added more clean dry straw to the nest, took out the broody box (the rest of the flock is doing very well with him and Mama quickly "corrects" any that get too close) and then spent yesterday getting him ready. We put a heater in the 5 gallon waterer. He's quite accustomed to using a horizontal poultry nipple because I had a small jug with one hanging in the broody pen. It was easy to put a brick on one side of the flock waterer. I picked him up (Agatha was NOT happy about that) and put him on the brick, then tapped the nipple with his little beak. He drank. A little while later we saw him hop up on the brick by himself and drink again. Yipppeee! He has free access to unfrozen, clean water. Then I put a brick under one side of the feeder and did the same thing. Same success. So at least I'm no longer concerned that he won't be able to eat or drink.

Taking out the broody pen was a little scary but we didn't do it until she'd had him out of the nest periodically over the past week, and then for an entire day yesterday, in among the flock. She's had him outside in the grass with her, and taken him back and forth between the coop and the run. The run is protected with heavy greenhouse plastic, insulating leaves packed 2 feet high around the outside bottom of it, and good deep litter. In the broody pen his food dish was constantly full of straw from Aggie frantically scratching the bottom of their pen. I'm not sure he was even eating as much as he should in there. His little water jug was frozen. Mom was so over the confinement after being allowed out a little bit every day! And now our highs are supposed to be around 19 with lows below zero! I hope I haven't made a mistake. I checked on them about 10 last night and the girls were all up on the roost but Agatha was still snuggled in the straw nest with Scout tucked warmly under him. I may go out and partially cover the nest to hold in her body heat a bit since she's not roosting close to the other chickens for combined warmth. Anything else? I don't want to use a heat lamp of any kind in the coop if I can possibly avoid it.