Chicken separator

[Nal0114]

Okay, so I have a pretty decent flock of chickens and 1 rooster named Rusty. One of my hens hatched her first baby thanksgiving week. But I believe sometime while I was at work the other chickens got to him and killed him, because he is simply just gone.

I tried the whole separate her and the baby thing she wasn’t having it, she was stressing out and becoming aggressive so I put her back for the safety of her chick.

While I know she feels comfortable being with rusty and her sisters, it’s clearly not safe for the chick. I was hoping for some ideas on ways to build a separation brooder in the chicken coop itself so the chick is away from the community but mom can still be with them.

 

[DobieLover]

Do your birds free range?
Do they have access to a very large run with lots of things in it?
Was the broody hen within eyesight of the rest of the flock while she was sitting on her nest?
I personally would not jump to the conclusion that the chick was killed by members of the flock especially if the body was gone. That is much more likely due to a predator.

 

[Nal0114]

Do your birds free range?
Do they have access to a very large run with lots of things in it?
Was the broody hen within eyesight of the rest of the flock while she was sitting on her nest?
I personally would not jump to the conclusion that the chick was killed by members of the flock especially if the body was gone. That is much more likely due to a predator.

They do not free range. She was within eyesight but her nest was raised up off the ground probably 3ft. There isn’t any in or out routes so he couldn’t have gotten out of the coop. And there is no sign of break in. Their run is pretty large yes

 

[DobieLover]

They do not free range. She was within eyesight but her nest was raised up off the ground probably 3ft. There isn’t any in or out routes so he couldn’t have gotten out of the coop. And there is no sign of break in. Their run is pretty large yes

Can you post pictures of your coop?

 

[Ridgerunner]

But I believe sometime while I was at work the other chickens got to him and killed him, because he is simply just gone.

Is it possible the other chickens had something to do with the baby being gone? Yes, it is. Is it likely since the body disappeared? Yes, but not likely. It's even possible one of the others ate it, but I'd consider that very unlikely. Some broody hens kill their own chicks, either accidentally or on purpose. About anything is possible since you are dealing with living animals.

Knowing what your area looks like and roughly where you are located so we understand your weather could help us guess at possibilities. Is it warm enough for snakes to be active, they eat a lot of chicks and can be really sneaky about getting in and out? Is it cold enough that the chick would die if it got separated from its mother? I've seen chicks get trapped somewhere and be unable to get to Mama. It would not surprise me if something like that happened and you haven't found the body yet.

While I know she feels comfortable being with rusty and her sisters, it’s clearly not safe for the chick.

Many of us have the hen raise the chicks with the flock without problems. It is possible your set-up is not safe for the hen to do that. Mama needs some room to work so she can take care of her chick. My hens regularly hatch in nests four feet above the coop floor and it is not a problem, but my nests likely look a lot different from yours. Photos of your coop, run, and nest might provide us some insight so we could respond to this better. We don't know what you have to work with.

I was hoping for some ideas on ways to build a separation brooder in the chicken coop itself so the chick is away from the community but mom can still be with them.

What does your area look like? Photos of your coop and photos of your run could help us a lot in this. So could knowing the weather when you are likely to have a broody and her chicks in this enclosure. It is quite possible building something in your run would work better than something in your coop. I assume you are talking about isolating the hen and her chicks in this enclosure from the rest of the flock, not just putting the chicks in there by themselves.

 

[Nal0114]

 

[Krugerrand]

Do you have a trail camera you could put up to keep an eye out for predators?

 

[Nal0114]

Do you have a trail camera you could put up to keep an eye out for predators?

No, tho I thought about putting cameras up back there because my property is line by trees

 

[impr3]

View attachment 3342551

Looks like your primary barrier is chicken wire? Sadly, chicken wire is primarily designed to keep chickens in rather than keep predators out. Quite a few predators can get through chicken wire, others can reach through and grab a chick. Additionally, medium to large predators have been known to pull at the wires until they loosen one of the openings into a bigger hole to let them in.

If you are aiming for a predator-proof coop, I'd recommend replacing all the chicken wire with hardware cloth which has much smaller holes and stronger wire.