Do broodies abandon their chicks?

[Ebony Rose]

Some momma hens ween their chicks starting about 3 weeks, some hold onto their babies to nearly adulthood. It all depends upon the hen. Her "job" is to bring them into life, give them a crash-course on life and how to remain alive, and coax them into independence. For some, this happens sooner than for others.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

Some momma hens ween their chicks starting about 3 weeks, some hold onto their babies to nearly adulthood. It all depends upon the hen. Her "job" is to bring them into life, give them a crash-course on life and how to remain alive, and coax them into independence. For some, this happens sooner than for others.

Yeah, and also up to the chicks, i guess some will want to be more independant earlier, so both together will make a difference.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Yes, i did the same. I didn't do it until our broody hen started hatching eggs, the original fence is too easy for chicks to get through.

So at the end I have totally 3 layers to prevent them from going outside the run. But this morning a toad showed up inside the run, ehhh? I still have no idea how it comes in

I have one broody at the moment. If she hatches anything, I'm going to have this problem all over again. I also have 12 eggs in the incubator. I was going to give them to a broody but now I'm thinking I may just put them in the Silkie pen too....

 

[TJAnonymous]

ACK!
I put up 2' of 1/2 HC on the inside of my run for just this reason.
Also allowed me to use deeper bedding(coarse wood chippings) in the run.

I did the same thing around my Silkie pen which is much smaller than my main run. My main chicken yard is 135' x 32'. That's just too big of a yard to wrap the bottom in HC. Especially when HC is ungodly expensive right now.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Some momma hens ween their chicks starting about 3 weeks, some hold onto their babies to nearly adulthood. It all depends upon the hen. Her "job" is to bring them into life, give them a crash-course on life and how to remain alive, and coax them into independence. For some, this happens sooner than for others.

Yep....mine weaned these at around 3 1/2 to 4 weeks old.

 

[3KillerBs]

That's just too big of a yard to wrap the bottom in HC. Especially when HC is ungodly expensive right now.

That's why I used the cheap, plastic hardware cloth for the inner curtain. It doesn't have to contain or exclude anything other than chicks.

 

[TJAnonymous]

That's why I used the cheap, plastic hardware cloth for the inner curtain. It doesn't have to contain or exclude anything other than chicks.

Even the plastic stuff is still around $42 for a 24" x 25ft roll. I would need 250 ft minimum.

Definitely a good long term investment but not something I can afford to do right now.

 

[aart]

Even the plastic stuff is still around $42 for a 24" x 25ft roll. I would need 250 ft minimum.

All plastic or plastic coated metal?

 

[3KillerBs]

Even the plastic stuff is still around $42 for a 24" x 25ft roll. I would need 250 ft minimum.

Definitely a good long term investment but not something I can afford to do right now.

I got mine from Walmart's garden center for around $20 last year, but I can't find it on Walmart.com.

Here's a comparable product from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Origin-Point...61612011&rnid=2661611011&s=lawn-garden&sr=1-2

And this one is a little cheaper: https://www.amazon.com/YARDGARD-889...1612011&rnid=2661611011&s=lawn-garden&sr=1-19