Chicken ran away to have babies!

[Rania]

So one of my hens ran away about a month ago. I found her today in the barn with 2 baby chicks and a few more eggs. I don't know how she has been getting water and she has probably been surviving off the corn feed pile. The barn is not safe and is about 50 yards from the coop. I have a rooster (obviously) and 9 other hens that live in the coop.

She obviously doesn't want to come to the coop though. But she could easily get eaten by a number of predators. We have snakes and cats here all the time. I saw the cat run in there today actually.

What do i do? Capture them and bring them to the coop? Let them be? She is a silver spangled hamburg and in baby protection mode.

Thanks for any help! I'm new here and hi!

Rania

 

[citychickx6]

I would make a corner of the barn that she and the young can be in together. Wall it off and see if you can do a small lidded run for them. You would need to use hardware cloth on the run since the chicks are tiny.
That way they can have feed and water as well as some sun and protection.

 

[mstricer]

How old are the chicks, she should take them back to the coop when she feels it is okay to do so. You could put water and chick starter there for them. She will fight to the death protecting chicks.

 

[CheerioLounge]

How exciting to have her come back with new additions! Now that's some chicken math!

 

[partsRheavy]

Similar situation here. I put Mom and babies in a 4 x 4 cage where they receive food and water.

The transfer of Mom went OK ----- moved babies in with her immediately afterward.

 

[Rania]

After investigating some more, she is laying on about a dozen eggs. I brought her food and water as well as 2 nesting boxes, one covered with a blanket as there is major draft in that barn. She freaked out, the babies ran into another part of the barn, she tried to attack me twice. I left them, the babies came back and they went back to their nesting. The barn is chaos (out of use with big holes in the ceiling). I have no clue what i'm gonna do now. The chicks are probably only a few days old. It is cold as a mofo out there.

I guess my other question is, are chickens like birds where if you handle the babies and the eggs, will they abandon them?

Building a safe run in there is no easy task though.

 

[partsRheavy]

Do you have any sort of enclosed garage or mudroom where you could put mom and babies where there isn't a risk of one of them falling out of the nest box?

 

[citychickx6]

Quote:
Great suggestion!

 

[Rania]

Quote:
I don't. I only have the coop and the barn. I made her a cage today out of what i could pull together in the barn (an old pool table base and screen for the top and sides), brought her starter feed and water, moved her nest of eggs in there and even covered it with a blanket. The front is open at the moment for her to go into on her own. There is no way she is letting me near her. She has abandoned the eggs now and is in full protection mode of the 2 babies. I am hoping she will go into her nice enclosure soon.

She was trying to show them how to fly today. It was so cute. And the rest of her original flock came to visit her. She seems to be doing well without my help so far, but i just wanted to give her food and water. A predator could eat them up any minute though. I feel bad about her eggs. I probably shouldn't have messed with them, but i guess there are more where those come from.