Broody in Feb!!!??

[WOT]

my broody is at 50% four of eight with two more pipped now, go broodies! pics on another post

 

[nhnanna]

Quote:
congrats on the little fuzzy butts.

for the rest to hatch.

 

[Chicken Girl]

How is every body?

Chicken Girl

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

I am trying to find an answer but having difficulty. My babies will be three weeks old tomorrow. Today I had to clean the coop and the cage that mama & babies were in. Mama was very ready to get out of the cage and went outside the coop to dustbathe under the nearby shed. I carried the babies over to her and the other chickens did not seem to pay any mind to them at all. So I thought that maybe I would not need to put mom back in the cage. Well later I went back out to the coop and mom was on the roost, one baby was on a perch below her and the other baby was on the floor. Obviously the babies are not able to get on the roost with mom, so I put the cage back in and made mom and babies get back in. Mom was not very happy about it. What should I do? Should I let them back out and just put a heat lamp in there for the babies? Or just make mom stay in the cage a couple more weeks? I thought that the mama hen would take care of the babies longer than three weeks. Sorry to ramble but any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[boxermom]

I don't know. I thought I'd let mine out of their box after this weekend too. They will be a little over 2 weeks old. I think I may cage them up in the evening in the dogloo that was set up for the turkeys. (They aren't using it.) It would be enclosed enough to keep warm without the light if mom was still in there with them. I'm curious now to see what others say.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Quote:
That's the thing that concerns me, the mom did not want to keep them warm, how could she if she was on the roost? I thought about putting her in the area we have sectioned off but it also has roosts. She was being protective and showing the babies what to eat and such but she really wants to be up on the roost.

 

[Chicken Girl]

Last year i but mom and babies in the cage to sleep. But thats cuz i was afrad of the others hurting them. So i think it would be ok for her to sleep with them in the cage but during the day i would let her out with the others.

Chicken Girl

 

[boxermom]

The trick for me is trying to figure out a door for the dogloo. Hmmm. Ideas?

 

[Damummis]

I don't know what the temps are where everyone is, but here it has been above freezing and Belle and the kids get out every day in a sunny sheltered spot against the house for dirt baths and scratching. They are 2 weeks old today. Today was 45*. They do sleep inside in their box. Oh, and they only go out for 30 min at a time. Some days I take them out 2/3 times a day.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Today I think it got up to 38 but there is still a lot of snow on the ground. When I let the gang out they immediately go under the nearby shed to dustbathe and hang out. This was the first time the babies went out.
Boxermom, do you have any kind of screening or hardware cloth that you could use?