I have a one year old broody girl, Winnie, who I was unable to break after 2 weeks of gentle attempts (no cold water dunks or broody jail), and so this past Friday I gave her 3 babies from the local farm supply store. (Chicken math is for real.) I feel like she accepted the three babies, and I moved them from a nesting box to a bigger but fenced off area within the coop. She has room to move around, but hasn't been doing that much. It's been in the 40s and 50s, so perhaps she knows she just has to do that to keep them warm enough. She does seem to be sweet to her babies other than a couple times when she has moved I find myself hoping they get out the way because she doesn't seem to look out for them. I thought it was going great, until this evening I moved the fence to tidy their area, and she quickly went into her old nesting box which had a few eggs in it and promptly sat on the eggs and started tucking them under her! She did allow the babies to join the eggs under her, didn't peck at me when I removed the eggs, and overall was fairly agreeable to being put back into her fenced area in the coop. Here are the things I'm wondering, if anyone could weigh in:
1. Is she still broody?? (I thought once they have babies to care for, that signals an end to the desire to sit on eggs.)
2. Is that a sign that she might abandon or harm the babies to try to just sit on eggs again? At what point can you trust that mama is dedicated?
3. Should I not be fencing mama and babies off from the other chickens? I actually fear that the babies could get through the fencing holes anyway, potentially creating a situation where babies could go out but not mama... but it also keeps the other four hens away from them for now which I thought was the safe way to go. I also now see that it keeps mama out of the nesting boxes with eggs.
4. When do mamas typically start taking babies out into the run or yard? I can't imagine these little ones making it down the ramp safely so I'm not sure if I should try to prevent mama from doing this, or just trust she'll know when the time is right.
Thanks for reading! Pictures for fun!
1. Is she still broody?? (I thought once they have babies to care for, that signals an end to the desire to sit on eggs.)
2. Is that a sign that she might abandon or harm the babies to try to just sit on eggs again? At what point can you trust that mama is dedicated?
3. Should I not be fencing mama and babies off from the other chickens? I actually fear that the babies could get through the fencing holes anyway, potentially creating a situation where babies could go out but not mama... but it also keeps the other four hens away from them for now which I thought was the safe way to go. I also now see that it keeps mama out of the nesting boxes with eggs.
4. When do mamas typically start taking babies out into the run or yard? I can't imagine these little ones making it down the ramp safely so I'm not sure if I should try to prevent mama from doing this, or just trust she'll know when the time is right.
Thanks for reading! Pictures for fun!
