so...... now what do i do?? they are a silkie hen and a frizzle hen, they both were sitting on the nest, now i have the cutest little fluffy butts!! , but they stay under the hens, she doesn't bring them out to eat or walk around, is that normal? they hatched Friday, can i move the hens & check on the babies? i need all the advice i can get.........thanks! ohh, also the daddy silkie is in there too, is that ok?
I would take the chicks from the nest. They will be a bit upset, but they will get over it. Put the chicks in a cardboard box with small animal litter (walmart), a 100 watt light bulb source, a waterer and a shallow pan for starter. MAKE SURE the light source is regulated to a distance that gives you about 90 degrees F at the bottom of the box directly under the light. Too much and you will cook the chick, too little and you will lose it from cold. You can put the chicks beak in the water (not too deep !!) and get em to drink. You can peck the pan with your fingers and they will start to eat (when they are ready) . The wife does this and clucks like a hen. She is pretty good at it and they usually start eating in a day. As far as I know, a hen will not feed a chick with food from her crop. I my be wrong, as they are incredible creatures. My large parrots do this with thier young and us when they like us, yuck. We had a silkie mom with 6 chicks. We put her and the chicks in a separate encloser with food and water. The mom did a great job of keeping her babies warm, but it was a lot warmer then. I would sorta worry about the daddy though. After about 3 weeks she started to lay eggs. We took the chicks and put them in the nursery and let the hen out to free range again.
If they are being good mamas there is NO need to move them or take them. Mama hens will teach them what they need to know, and yes its normal for a hen to wait a few days in till she takes them out. You should have chick food and water near her and the babies. If you want to look under her to check the babies that is fine just watch out that you dont get pecked. Once she starts taking them out you will see how cute it is to see a mama raise her babies !! ETA: Just keep an eye on daddy, but mama hen will protect them from any other chickens. Ive never had a prob with chicks in my silkie flock. But like I said just keep and eye on him/them.
