Can I let mommy hen raise the kids instead of raised in the brooder

[Bryce Thomas]

I have an idea: I have a giant dog cage with plastic flooring and food and water and stuff, and the dog cage is in the massive pen with the roo and other hens. I have plastic wrap that goes from 0-12 inches of the bottom up of the cage, so the lower half of the cage is covered in wrap so chicks cant escape and the dog cage I have also opens from above so I dont have to cut a door or anything. I have never tried this, but I think it might work.

I have a couple of concerns. Can I use a regular waterer for mom and the chicks? And how do I have chick feed with no calcium and adult feed with calcium and the hen eats adult feed and chicks eat chick feed? I am a novice with chick raising, I am raising my first clutch of 4 silkie chicks right now. Any help would be appreciated of letting mom raise her chicks instead of brood chick raising in a brooder

In the video we can see how this woman raised her broodies with chicks in the coop, so I would do it from learning off this video, but how would I have feed and waterers? (Yes i know about having rocks in the water so chicks don't drown, but what about chick and adult feed)

 

[Rose Quartz]

Chicks need to be very young at most I'd say day old. Once they get used to light being their hear source they're unlikely to take to the mama. I've tried it's difficult. They don't tend to stay with her or act like normal babies that depend on their mom for protection.

If you've never given this hen chicks before, I suggest giving them to her at night and watching her closely Durning the first day.

Not all mama's are good mamas. Some kill their babies intentionally.

Card board and zip ties should work very well as a lower wall.

Mama can have baby feed. It's slightly higher protein than what the other adults get, but she's likely been eating less while brooding and could probably use a good boost.

She won't start laying again until she's done caring for the babies. Mine are usually finished around when the babies are 5 to 6 weeks, but some broodies care for them longer than that.

Glhf

 

[Rose Quartz]

So when the silkie chicks are 5-6 weeks and the mom stops caring for them, I let out the mama and the chicks and the rooster wont kill the chicks?

Generally I let the broodies and their chicks live with the others. The mom should defend the babies.

If they're living together then when the mom stops caring for them the others will leave them alone.

I actually find the other hens are more likely to attack them than the rooster is.

Generally chicks are difficult to add in to an adult flock and you should wait until they're 8 weeks old.

I've never tried having them in the pen but separated I'm not set up for that.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Both hen and chicks on chick feed.

I would NOT use plastic - looking at the snapshot of that video, I could imagine chicks easily climbing between the bars, then getting trapped between plastic and bars and dying from panic. Because it's stiffer, cardboard would be safer, attached very securely.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Wait so your telling me I cant just have eggs hatch under the mama and she will take care of the chicks?

No, you misunderstood. You said this:

So when the silkie chicks are 5-6 weeks and the mom stops caring for them, I let out the mama and the chicks and the rooster wont kill the chicks?

I'm advising that you plan ahead to have the mama integrate the babies for you. If you wait until AFTER she stops caring for them, she won't do that.

 

[Chicalina]

So when the silkie chicks are 5-6 weeks and the mom stops caring for them, I let out the mama and the chicks and the rooster wont kill the chicks?

You let out the mama way before she weans the chicks so they have her protection. Mostly from the other hens, not the rooster.

Silkies will often wean late too. Mine does around 3 months

 

[Lemon-Drop]

For the whole feed thing, I think you can feed the chick feed to both, and out calcium as a side supplement. The chicks might eat a bit of the calcium, but will become disinterested. I don’t know about the other stuff though. I could also be wrong about the feed.

And I’m not sure about the plastic wrap. I think the chicks could peck through, and possibly inject the plastic. Could you wrap hardware cloth around the bottom edge instead?

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

I have an idea: I have a giant dog cage with plastic flooring and food and water and stuff, and the dog cage is in the massive pen with the roo and other hens. I have plastic wrap that goes from 0-12 inches of the bottom up of the cage, so the lower half of the cage is covered in wrap so chicks cant escape and the dog cage I have also opens from above so I dont have to cut a door or anything. I have never tried this, but I think it might work.

I have a couple of concerns. Can I use a regular waterer for mom and the chicks? And how do I have chick feed with no calcium and adult feed with calcium and the hen eats adult feed and chicks eat chick feed? I am a novice with chick raising, I am raising my first clutch of 4 silkie chicks right now. Any help would be appreciated of letting mom raise her chicks instead of brood chick raising in a brooder

In the video we can see how this woman raised her broodies with chicks in the coop, so I would do it from learning off this video, but how would I have feed and waterers? (Yes i know about having rocks in the water so chicks don't drown, but what about chick and adult feed)

It should work. I don't think broodies lay while they're brooding, so you don't really have to worry about the calcium. But as @Lemon-Drop said, you can always put some to the side (free choice) if you're concerned about it.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

It should work. I don't think broodies lay while they're brooding, so you don't really have to worry about the calcium. But as @Lemon-Drop said, you can always put some to the side (free choice) if you're concerned about it.

Oh yeah, didn’t think that they wouldn’t be laying during that time... you can tell I don’t often have broody hens.

I just had remembered that when I was asking about integrating chicks some people had said that I could just give the hens the chick feed and offer calcium carbonate on the side... oops!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Really should have the hen integrate the chicks for you BEFORE she weans them, which can be anywhere from 3 weeks-ish to a few months (huge range). Otherwise you will need to handle integration as the hen will no longer care for the chicks.