Complicated chick situation

[JGreifzu]

Well in the end we hatched 6 babies. 4 within a few days of each other and then a week later 2 more. The complicated part is that i had two hens that contributed to this lil brood and both were sharing the role as Momma. The day the last two chicks were found i also found one of my hens dead. i believe she just wasnt eating enough and went into shock. Well the one female seemed to be doing quite well with the original four so i took the two new ones (which were shivering and crying) away. The group in the coop free ranges and are getting big fast. the two i have inside are still about 33% smaller but strong and starting to fly a bit. i want to move them to the coop with the hen and their siblings. i was going to introduce them tomorrow during the day to see how they do. my big question is do i let them sleep in the coop or should they just get day outings for a few days before i love them 100%? to add to the confusion we have a chicken that we always thought was a hen but she is very verbal and has pointed tail feathers and what appears to be a comb and waddle. it is very friendly and even gets along with the babies. not to mention we found it on the eggs once or twice. we recently found mystery eggs and think it might have started laying but we're just not sure that its really a hen. its about 8 months old and we havent a clue as to its pedigree.

 

[Judy]

My approach would have been to keep them all together in the first place, and let nature take its course. But then, I want a strong flock that can manage its own babies.

 

[Mahonri]

If they are not all together now, you are probably going to have to brood the younger ones until they are at least 16 weeks and then try to introduce them.

 

[JGreifzu]

i'll blame it all on my own pregnancy hormones. i just felt so bad that my favorite hen died that i scooped the lil ones up and brought them in. lesson learned. i dont think theyre intergrating any time soon. i tried a bit this morning and my hen wasnt mean but wasnt friendly and the unknown rooster/hen chicken was swarming them. i left them in a large wire dog cage in the yard though so they could get some sunshine , fresh air, and see the other chickens.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If the other mother hen is going to mother them, she'll let you know while they are in the cage. She'll either hang around trying to get them to come to her or she will ignore them. I think you will have to brood them.

I once heard a University of Arkansas Ag Professor say thet roost mites kill more broody hens than anything else. Have you recently checked your flock for the roost mites? These are the ones that hide during the day and only attack the chickens at night so you'd need to check after dark. It's always something I think of when I read about a broody dying.

It is not unknown for a rooster to help raise chicks, but I would not leave the job to him alone. The hormones are just not quite right. It is nice when a rooster protects all members of his flock though. You might post a picture and some expert on here could probably tell you the gender of your mystery chicken.

Good luck with your new additions.