Chicks hatching before I expected - what do I do?

[LilacLes]

Hi all,

I'm caught a little off-guard by the sudden (to me) hatching of some eggs. I've had a hen sitting on them for a few weeks, and I'm a little unprepared. She's in a raised box, so my questions:

1. What do I do about the hatching babies who are in the raised bed? Do I move them? They should be with the mom, right?

2. Should I move the whole lot of them? The momma would be very unhappy about being handled like that.

I guess those are my main questions. I thought I had another week to prepare! That would have been really nice especially considering we just got a shipment of chicks from MPC!

Thanks!

 

[LilacLes]

... no one has any advice?

 

[Zootopia]

Got a med or large dog crate? Or even just a loop of chicken wire? Put her and the chicks somewhere quiet , they dont need much room for now, they arent going far. A jar lid with some chick starter and water (careful if you dont have something shallow put marbles or small rocks in it to keep chicks from drowning. You can leave them foe a week or so if need be. That should be plenty of time to set up a broody pen for her to safely raise them.