Fall brooding? Story and questions

[Scratchychiken]

Motherhen I had a Cochin bantam go broody during winter and hatched out some chicks, one of which I still have. It seems fairly normal.

Regarding the broody train; I have heard that sometimes when a hen goes broody, other hens 'catch' the broodiness and become broody, never happened to mine, but it can happen. Hope this helps.

Also don't worry about the chicks intergrating, The others will know that the mother will beat the tar out of them if they touch her chicks, and depending on your rooster's age and personality, he may help the mother with her chicks by feeding them or keeping them warm. Hope this helps.

 

[lazy gardener]

So you reintegrate the new chicks with your flock fairly quickly? Are there ever issues with the chicks getting picked on when they're that young? I'm most concerned about my rooster causing issues. But so far wandering around the yard the rooster has pretty much ignored them.

Good luck as well with your missing broody! I hope the predators leave her be. I'm Curtis to see what you end up with in a couple of weeks.

Better to integrate chicks into the flock early while Mama broody's hormones are in full swing. They tend to start to wane after the first 2 weeks. She will protect the babies, so integration should be seamless, as long as she's not a wimp at the bottom of the pecking order. As for a roo: Most roos will protect the broody and her babies from harrassment. My roo LOVES his babies. IMO, any roo who shows baby or hen aggression belongs in the crock pot.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I let my hens hatch with the flock and raise the chicks with the flock from the start. My roosters sometimes help Mama with the chicks but mostly they ignore them. If a dominant rooster is introduced to the chicks when they are at a fairly young age they assume they are theirs regardless of color. There is no evolutionary advantage for a rooster to kill his offspring. If you have multiple roosters this might be an issue with non-dominant ones, but normally Mama or the dominant rooster take care of that.

The other hens are more of a risk, but generally Mama is extremely protective of her babies. If the chicks get separated so Mama can't protect them it's possible another adult hen could be a risk, but Mama's protective fury is so great another hen doesn't stand much of a chance. You are dealing with living animals so it is possible you may find a broody hen that isn't that protective but that is really rare. Another important part is that you have lots of room. If they are shoehorned into a tiny space it becomes more of an issue.

I have never lost a chick to another adult in the flock when I let them range with the flock.

 

[MotherHen2017]

Hmmm. So I'm thinking I should probably move my mama and 3 week old chicks back into the flock soon while they're still able to get outside and they can establish pecking order before they're actually stuck in the pen due to weather. This mama (before going broody) was at the top of the ranks in the hen pen so they should be fine I'm guessing.

 

[song of joy]

So you reintegrate the new chicks with your flock fairly quickly? Are there ever issues with the chicks getting picked on when they're that young? I'm most concerned about my rooster causing issues. But so far wandering around the yard the rooster has pretty much ignored them.

Good luck as well with your missing broody! I hope the predators leave her be. I'm Curtis to see what you end up with in a couple of weeks.

I've never had any issues with aggression when integrating them early (around 1 week of age, give or take a couple of days) because the hen is very protective of them when they're that young and they tend to stay very close to momma hen. Around 3 weeks of age, her protectiveness starts to wane and the chicks venture out further from the hen when free-ranging (but usually within about 30 feet). So, it's best to integrate early.

I've seen young chicks (1 to 4 weeks old) get pecked by other flock members, but this has always been in a "training" manner. Sometimes chicks will move right into the feeder to eat next to a hen, and the hen will peck the chick to remind it of its place in the pecking order. In other words, unless the chicks are very close to mamma hen, they had better give other hens space at the feeders and wait their turn. They learn this lesson quickly.

It's important to have plenty of room to work with, along with multiple feeders and waterers. This reduces competition and conflict, giving the lower-ranking members of the flock room to "stay out of the bubble" of the more dominant members of the flock. This becomes even more important after the hen decides she's done playing mother to the chicks (which usually happens around 5 weeks of age with my broody hens), at which point they are operating on the training she and the other flock members have given them.

My roosters have not harmed any chicks (they tend to ignore them), but cockerels have not always been so gracious. Cockerels seems more likely to put chicks in their place, although this has never resulted in any injuries. If any flock member were to attack and try to kill chicks, they would be culled.

I think my missing broody found out she was on the cull list for this fall and decided to take matters into her own hands. It will be interesting to see what happens if and when she shows up!

 

[GitaBooks]

I've had chicks hatch on Christmas!!! My hens are crazy that way. I've got 1 broody hen and 9 momma hens right now. Silly birds.

 

[Beachglass3]

I let the chickens take care of their own babies within the flock from day 1. They seem to do a good job integrating them and I've not had any problems. Occasionally one gets killed but this is rare and I think it has more to do with there being something wrong with the chick itself. One just brought 14 little babies home to us. (sigh)

 

[SueT]

I have a broody on eggs (on day 14) and it's my first. I have questions and hope some of you with experience can answer...
She's a Sebright sitting on 3 Dutch bantam eggs. She's only 27 weeks old herself, began laying almost daily about 6 wks ago. I didn't know they can go broody so young. I hated using the broody buster for hens in the past, so decided to let her brood. Currently, we have no rooster, so I obtained the eggs locally.
There are 7 other chickens, 2 are hens, and the rest are pullets same age as the Sebright. Except for a D'uccle pullet, all the others are standard size. They seem to get along despite differences in size. The Sebright stands up for herself, she's fierce and everyone is staying out of her way..
The broody's nest is an upright milk crate in the coop with everyone else. Afraid that the others might disturb her nest, especially when she is out for her daily break, I partitioned off her corner of the coop. When she realized she was locked in, she freaked out, so I let her out. I made openings in the partition that are about 4" X 5" and she easily fits out and the bigs haven't tried to go in. The other bantam isn't laying yet, but I marked the fertile eggs just in case she starts.
So now we are a week away from hatch day. I was going to make a barrier of some sort to keep the chicks in their area.
Will mama still want to get out, or should she be locked in with the chicks? I could close off the openings completely or make them higher up. They are at floor level right now.
Also I have a way to open the side of the milk crate so the chicks can get out. Should I do that before they hatch? Or wait a day or so?

Any advice will be appreciated!

 

[BabyGirl2]

I let my hens set their nests wherever they want inside the coop, disagreeing with them is of no use. Last spring one hen hatched and raised two chicks with all the other adults hens and rooster in the same coop and pen/run. I had to yell at Georgia (my rooster) once when they first started moving around, after that he left them be (momma hen probably had more to do with him backing off then I did.) Trust your hens instincts when it comes to her babies.

 

[GitaBooks]

When I let my hens raise their chicks in the main flock (from day one) I generally loose at least one, sometimes more, often in horrific ways. : (

Usually I wait at least three days until they are strong enough to keep up well, other times I wait up to a month!

Some hens are just nasty towards other hens chicks.