Bertha has been sitting on 6 eggs for just at 2 weeks today. I have a wire dog crate rigged so the other chickens can't bother her--get in the nest with her or eat her food and so I can check if she's pooping. In the evening, I open the crate door so she can get out to dust bathe, etc, even though she's only done that a time or two that I've seen. I want to let her hatch and raise the chicks in the coop with the other birds and am not planning to move her to a more isolated area, although I could make a wall high enough for mama to hop over but contain the tiny chicks if that's a good idea.
My plan is to remove the wire crate at day 19 or 20 after the rest have gone to roost. I already feed fermented flock raiser, so chicks can eat the same food, right? Should I still make an area for the chicks that the older birds can't get into, like a safety cave? Mama will take them in and out of the coop within several days, right? My chicken yard is goat fencing and chicks can get through it--should I line the bottom with bird netting or smaller mesh? Will they come to mama when she calls? I use a hay-type bedding, cut into small pieces, is this okay for babies? Will she teach them to drink from the nipple waterer? the horizontal kind that comes out of the bucket sides, not bottom?
I'm going out of town the week after hatch date for 4 days and need to get everything set up ahead of time. DD and grands will come and tend them while I'm gone, but I want everything as secure and foolproof as I can make it. Please give me any suggestions you can think of.
My plan is to remove the wire crate at day 19 or 20 after the rest have gone to roost. I already feed fermented flock raiser, so chicks can eat the same food, right? Should I still make an area for the chicks that the older birds can't get into, like a safety cave? Mama will take them in and out of the coop within several days, right? My chicken yard is goat fencing and chicks can get through it--should I line the bottom with bird netting or smaller mesh? Will they come to mama when she calls? I use a hay-type bedding, cut into small pieces, is this okay for babies? Will she teach them to drink from the nipple waterer? the horizontal kind that comes out of the bucket sides, not bottom?
I'm going out of town the week after hatch date for 4 days and need to get everything set up ahead of time. DD and grands will come and tend them while I'm gone, but I want everything as secure and foolproof as I can make it. Please give me any suggestions you can think of.
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