EEK I have so many questions!

[mvinotime]

Ok...Let me start by saying I am a first time chicken owner and also let me apologize for the length of this post lol I just wanted to give some background. I only have two hens currently, no rooster. However my neighbors raise and sell chickens (HUGE chicken operation going on over there!) Well I have a six foot wood fence separating my place and theirs but for the life of me two of their hens have decided they prefer to live here. No matter how many times I tossed them back over they would be right back so I gave up lol My girls free range during the day and get locked up in their coop at night. I never locked up the two stowaways I just let them kinda do their thing. They did however take their fill of my girls water and feed each day. They both went broody within a week or so of each other. One in a portable goat feeder and one in a manger in one of my horse stalls. Since I have no rooster but would like more chicks I gathered eggs from my parents birds (they have a rooster) over a couple days for each bird and put them under them. I moved the portable goat feeder into the same stall as the bird laying in the manger and placed in an opposite corner. I did so that I could lock that stall up and keep them separate from my horse and goats and sheep worrying they would nose them out to eat etc. So exactly on schedule the fist hen to go broody hatched three of five eggs over two days. Two of the chicks are fine one was born ok but seemed weak and not as lively as other two had been and passe daway during that day. Other two chicks doing great eating medicated chick feed (hope this is ok??) and drinking from the chick waterer. My questions start here. So the other bird who currently cant see the new mama as she is nested in a very deep manger should hatch by first of next week. I am just wondering if it is ok that two birds are in the same room?? Will the hens harm each others babies? The chicks that just hatched will probably be stepping out of their goat feeder next into the enclosed stall sometime soon. Again the other hen still sitting on her eggs cant see them but my concern is once she hatches will she leave her nest (the chicks would not be able to get out of the manger area unless I took them out) and then harm the new little ones running amok in the stall? I just dont have any idea how these things usually work and could use some input from you knowledgeable folks My other question is how long should I keep all the babies in the stall before I let them out to free range and meet my other two hens? I will say that my stall has a two half doors so mama birds can fly over to eat or drink (and I had previously seen mama bird #1 do this multiple times) I would assume they need to be bigger but how big? Is there a recommended age? Thanks so much for reading all this and any advice from this point forward would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[JanO]

From what you're saying I'd go ahead and open up the stall door whenever the first set of babies come out of the nest. Mama hens are fierce protectors of their chicks and are excellent mothers. If you keep both of the hens with chicks locked in a stall they may attack each other in an attempt to protect their own chicks. They need room to free range, since they are free rangers anyway, and raise their babies. When mama hens feel the time is right they will introduce the chicks to the other hens, but first they will spend a lot of time keeping them warm and protected. In fact for the first few weeks they will find a spot on the ground keeping them warm and covered. They will bring them out to eat and drink, and in time they will take them free ranging with the other hens, but from a distance.

 

[mvinotime]

Thank you so much for the reply. I was wondering if it is different if you have a mama hen versus chicks that were incubated? I had read elsewhere to keep them separate till four mos of age? Ok good to know that the mama will take care of them even if they are out and about and free ranging. I obviously wont be able to lock them up at night like I do my girls so I will be praying a hawk or other critter wont get them. Hopefully since my other hen wont hatch until next week maybe the timing will coincide ok. Fingers crossed this all works out ok as they sure as cute little things