Clutch under hen due to crack in two days!

[littlekit]

In need of advice- chicks may be coming soon!

We have one roo two mature hens and 5 pullets, all free range. They live in the barn tack room (9x14), hereafter called the coop. At this moment, Henny Penny is setting on a clutch of five eggs. Thursday will be 21 days. The eggs are brown and I had no success in candling them. Henny is setting in a pile of straw in the corner of the coop and is being a very dutiful mama. I have another coop with two levels that I could move her into. Been reading about whether or not to move her and when. Gotten lots of different info and was hoping some folks here can advise. Some specific ??s below.

Should we move her? She seems pretty happy and everyone gets along well. Also the second coop has a ramp and I fear the babies won't be able to get back up?

I'm told Never give layer ration to chicks? How do I prevent that? I give layer pellets to all my chickens now, plus oats cracked corn, flax seed, and table scraps.
I got the med. starter. and I have the waterer with marbles. We raised the chickens we have now from babies, but we've never had them hatch the natural way.

Any advise is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Mahonri]

Once mama is completely through with hatch, THEN you can move her to safer/separate quarters and have chick starter available.

 

[chicks4kids]

You could easily just leave her there until after the chicks hatch...she'll keep them tucked safely away under her. For now you could use some chicken wire or old baby gates and sort of section off the area if you feel the others will intrude. This will also make it so that you can monitor what feed she and the babies are getting.

Good luck on your hatch!!

 

[elmo]

The hen will come off the nest when she's done with the hatch, and that's a good time to move her. That's what I just did with my first broody. I replaced her nestbox because the front lip was too high for the chicks to be able to get in and out. And I also wanted to replace the bedding because I'm worried about mites.

I'm not going to let the dominant hen with her chicks in the same pen with the subordinate hens and their chicks until all the chicks are much bigger. Right now, the two subordinate hens are sitting on clutches in the same pen and it's working because they're both just sitting there on their eggs all day and night. But when chicks start hatching, I'm going to enclose one of the hens in a small portable pen inside the run just for a week or so, and watch how things go.

 

[littlekit]

Hmmm, an idea? I have a large dog crate that I can put Henny and babies in once they hatch. Then I can keep them in the same coop.
I don't know. It seems silly to me to separate them just the reintegrate them later, when, if they do well, I can just keep them together.
I guess I'm asking why separate them? To keep the older one's away? Or to keep the chicks with Mama so they won't catch cold or get lost?

Thanks!

 

[littlekit]

Also, do I feed the medicated chick starter to Henny, too, or should I try to give her some pellets?

 

[chicks4kids]

If the chicks get seperated from the mama, the other adults will peck them...possibly to death if the chick can't find it's way back to mama.

 

[Cackling Hen]

Hi my first cluch of chicks and Mama I left in the coop with the big girls..... I will never do it again. The next few days mama takes her babies for a walk around the coop and the poor baby chicks got pecked so hard on the head 1 didnt make it. I would seperate her and babies. I always do it when I see the first pip I use a dog crate move mama and eggs into dog crate then 2-3 days after they are born I have these big rabbit hutches that they live in until about 6 weeks old. Good luck

 

[littlekit]

Ah, okay! Good to know! Thanks so much.
I'll go take a pic of the portable coop I have and ask if this is okay quarters for the mama and chicks once they are all hatched.
My concern again is the ramp.

 

[littlekit]

Here's a pic of the second coop. Any thoughts. I'm thinking take ramp out and keep all in lower area?