change of plans

[LoSmith]

Our brahma hen became broody this year so we decided to let her go ahead and hatch a few chicks as our flock is very small (two hens, one sexlink and the one brahma, and one rooster) thanks to a recent day-time raccoon attack. She has been a wonderful mom, protective of her eggs, but also taking a few min. here and there to take care of herself. Today when she left the nesting box to eat, our first egg hatched, and the sexlink hen immediately killed the chick. We don't have a second coop, or area to separate the adults if they are not ill, so we removed the eggs and placed them in an incubator. Should we plan to try and re-introduce the chicks to our brahma (with supervision) once they hatch or just raise them in a brooder and re-introduce once they are old enough to take care of themselves? If we keep them in a brooder, is there any difference in caring for new born chicks vs older chicks like we have purchased from our feed store before. Also, is there anything I can do to help our hen stop her broodiness since it's not safe to leave eggs unsupervised in the coop? Any advise is greatly appreciated!

 

[SilverBirds]

Very sorry about your one chick. That has happened to me before.

Is mama still acting broody or sitting on the nest? If you have a dog kennel you can move her their with the eggs. If you can't separate them, then I'd raise them inside. The ones you buy from the feed store online hatcheries are typically day olds. When they hatch, leave them in the incubator for a few hours until they are dried off. Then you can move them to the brooder. She may be confused since she's been sitting so long and since one chick did hatch. She'll call for her chicks to come eat or to gather under her for warmth. You can't really break that part, it just has to fade.

 

[Tonyroo]

Move them to the incubator, the sexlink will kill another chick if she sees more.

Once the chick hatches make sure there 1/2 to 3/4 dry before placing them in the brooder. Have the brooder setup ready and going.

You will need to teach them where the food and water is located. Make sure new born chicks have 99 to 102F warmth for 3 to 4 days, they will sleep a lot. Then you can drop the temp a little as they get past a week old.