Chicks

[ClareScifi]

If my hen does hatch eggs, can I just leave the chicks under her, or do I have to rig up a box with a heat lamp for them? It is to be about 76 F here today, with temps in the 70s and 80s for the rest of this week.

I have the hen's food and water on a cement block in front of her nesting box.

What is the likelihood the chicks may jump up on the edge of the nesting box, fall off onto the cement block and hurt themselves or die? And how soon could they jump like this? The nesting box is maybe 10" tall? Do I need to remove the chicks from the nest and put them on the ground myself, after the eggs are hatched, so they don't fall out of the box onto the ground and hurt themselves? Would the mother hen get inside a big box with them, or will she want to stay in the nesting box with the chicks? How soon after they are hatched will she want to get out of the nesting box and into the run?

Clare

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Chicks can stay with mom, but realize the other hens may attack them if they are in the open. Chicks are adventurous and will wonder, so yes they could fall out of the nest box. If you want mom to hatch and raise you should make a safe broody area that is separate from the rest of the flock. Also if your run fence is too large they can and will slip out and sometimes not go back in.

 

[ClareScifi]

I have only one chicken.

I will buy 2 big bales of pine shavings and put where the cement block is now. If they jump out, at least they'll have a safe landing.