Chick sleeping space

[Jojo905]

Hello I am new to this and have very little experience in raising chicken, please excuse anything that might seem obvious for you! - I am learning. I intend on creating an off ground chicken coop with free ranging dual purpose brooding chicken. Locally there are buff orpington so i am going with those.

I intend on letting the hens brood and hatch chicks in the same coop with the rest of the flock. I am placing nesting boxes at around 45 cm from the ground and roosting perches at 75cm. My questions is this: Once the chicks hatch, does the hen start sleeping on the floor with the chicks? What is their usual behaviour? And what is the best setup (given that i want to leave the hen and chicks in the same coop)?

Thank you for any advice! Appreciate the help.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. Take a look at the links below and use the BYC search function, too. Feel to post any questions that you may have on the relevant forums.

Here are some helpful links:

• Great go-to resource - Articles
• Insightful feedback on how members manage their flocks - Topic of the Week back-catalogue

ETA: here’s an example of an article I just found - https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-letting-broody-hens-hatch-and-raise-chicks.65989/

Best wishes

Pork Pie

 

[ValerieJ]

Hi! Welcome to BYC! Those are good questions! I would set up a brooder in the coop for a brooding hen, at the floor level, and move her to it. Good luck with your flock!

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[Jojo905]

Thank you for the information!

PorkPie thank you for the links! - i've read that article before posting here but unfortunately it does not detail whether hens start sleeping on the ground once the chicks hatch or more generally their behaviour is with regards to perching/sleeping whilst raising young.

Valeriej thank you for the information! - i presume that normal hen behaviour is to sleep on the ground whilst raising young chicks then? - in that case I will make a compartment to the side so that brooding hens dont get shat on by the perching flock.


Thank you for the info!

 

[TwoCrows]

Thank you for the information!

PorkPie thank you for the links! - i've read that article before posting here but unfortunately it does not detail whether hens start sleeping on the ground once the chicks hatch or more generally their behaviour is with regards to perching/sleeping whilst raising young.

Valeriej thank you for the information! - i presume that normal hen behaviour is to sleep on the ground whilst raising young chicks then? - in that case I will make a compartment to the side so that brooding hens dont get shat on by the perching flock.


Thank you for the info!

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

Try posting this question in our Chicken Behaviors section for more help here, but hens that hatch chicks will remain with the young until they are old enough to be booted from mommy's fluff.

Good luck with your flock and welcome to ours!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
I hope some of your hens go broody for you.
The hen will nest down on ground level with her chicks until she feels they are ready to join the flock on the roost.
It would help if you had built-in brooders in the coop that they can set and hatch their clutches in that have access to the rest of the coop and the run.
Mark their eggs so you can remove eggs from hens that may sneak in their nests to lay when the mothers leave for broody breaks.
Keeping the entire flock on Flock Raiser or something similar with oyster shell on the side will make feeding the entire flock much easier year round.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Hello! Welcome to BYC!! DobieLover has a beautiful set-up and explanation. Good luck on your new adventure!

 

[Jojo905]

Twocrows thank you for the welcome! I didn't know such a section existed!

Dobielover thank you for the behaviour information and coop design and nutrition! (and the pictures )

Meg-in-MT hi and thanks for the welcome!

 

[N F C]

Hi, it's nice to have you here with us! Best of luck with all your plans.