Do You Take Newborn Chicks Away From A Broody Hen??

[greenfamilyfarms]

There are just a few reasons why I would take them away from her:

1. She is not taking care of them.
2. She has too many chicks to take care of.
3. They are bantams and she is a standard (they don't do a well this way in my experience.)

 

[ams3651]

I build a broody pen inside the coop when my RIR went broody. It separated her and her nest from the other birds and It had food and water inside and when they hatched she showed them where to find food and water. After a couple weeks I let them go in and out to the rest of the coop on their own but they still had their nest. Now that they are older and momma is gone back to the flock the broody pen has become sanctuary for the smaller ones where they can get away if they are being bothered or just to eat on their own. Nice way to separate the chick starter they eat from the food the larger birds eat.

The first chicks I bought I had to take care of with the heat lamp, dust in the house and the whole deal. Letting momma do it was so much easier I would only take them from her if she was not taking care of them.

 

[cluck-addict]

hMMM<
Just when I was getting all excited about my incubator. I dont have anything laying yet. I guess I wanted and incubator so I could hatch my own eggs rather than using a hatchery all the time.



We will have to see how this all plays out now.

Thanks for all the perspectives.

 

[Little Farm]

I have two broody turkey hens that are laying on a shared nest together. The chicks should be hatching any day now. The hens wont let us near them. today they got even more "hissy" then usual. im wondering if the chicks are starting to hatch but dont know how to take them away from mom when they do as the ladies will attack us!? First timer here!!!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

There may not be any need to take the babies away from these turkey hens, especially if they show competence in doing the job well. If they're acting like that now it may mean they'll be good protectors of their poults. Why make work for yourself when you have an animal willing to do it for you?

 

[Little Farm]

We have two laying hens in the coop with them and dont want them to give the chicks diseases. Also their nest is about 3-4 feet off the ground and dont want the chicks to fall...

 

[Sunny Side Up]

So is your concern about the illnesses that chickens can pass on to turkeys? Because otherwise it shouldn't be a problem to have other visably healthy chickens in with newly-hatched chicken chicks. In fact, it can help the chicks to build natural immunities by being in contact with other chickens and their poops.

Maybe you could remove the laying hens from that coop for a few days, replace the bedding, and put some sort of ramp up to the nest. I bet that once the hens get their chicks to come down that they'll make a new nest on the ground for their chicks.

 

[Little Farm]

Would they bring the newly hatched chicks down the ramp? Im afraid they'd fall over the edge before they come down. How would they get the babies to the food and water? Ya im concerned that the chickens will give diseases to the hatching turkey chicks. Also the eggs are supposed to hatch any day now so i wouldnt want to disturb them. And the momma's will not let us near them. They hiss like crazy and puff up if we try.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I'd let Ma Nature alone to take care of this situation. Sounds like the hens are very devoted to their egglings at this point, I wouldn't try to upset that deal. If you move out the chicken hens and just put a nice layer of bedding under a ramp to the nest I bet the babies would either make it down the ramp or survive a spill.

 

[Little Farm]

ok, thanks