Food and water placement for chicks

[chickenmeg1]

I have two Golden laced Wyandotte’s that are broody and have been sitting on fertile eggs (not their own) for about 16 days now. I candled the eggs today and they seem to be developing as far as I can tell.

I have my nesting boxes at ground level in the coop. The coop is shared with 3 other hens (so total of 5 hens).

Questions:
When they hatch, how soon to provide food and water? I was planning on just setting out the water and chick starter soon, so it’s there when they are ready.

Where can the food/water go? Should I keep it in the coop? Otherwise, it would have to go in the run which is accessed by a ramp. Some posts seem to indicate this is OK, but I am confused.

 

[Ridgerunner]

When they hatch, how soon to provide food and water? I was planning on just setting out the water and chick starter soon, so it’s there when they are ready.

You probably know most of this. The eggs can hatch two days or more early or late so you never know for sure when they will hatch. Sometimes the hatch is over in less than 24 hours after the first egg hatching. I've had hatches drag into the third day before the last one hatched.

I put food and water on the coop floor when I first notice a chick. I want it ready whenever the hen brings the chicks off of the nest.

Where can the food/water go? Should I keep it in the coop? Otherwise, it would have to go in the run which is accessed by a ramp. Some posts seem to indicate this is OK, but I am confused.

What does your coop look like? How big is it? Some elevated coops are tiny, some are pretty decent size. How is it laid out inside? Nests, roosts, pop door, any feed or water? I'd look for a place where they are not going to poop in it from the roosts and are not in a natural walkway.

My coop is ground level 8' x 12'. The pop door is about 12" above the coop floor and the outside so I use pavers to make steps to help them get in and out. My hens typically keep the chicks in the coop for two or three days before they take them outside. Once they take them outside they go out early every morning and stay out all day. Before dark the hen brings them inside where they sleep on the floor. My nests are elevated so they cannot get up to them.

Your elevated coop is different. I don't know when your hen will take her chicks to the ground. Don't worry about the chicks hurting themselves by falling down or off of the ramp. They can handle that.

You need to be out there when the hen brings her chicks back for the night. Often the hen flies up to the top of the ramp and the chicks collect under her on the ground. They don't know to go to the base of the ramp and walk up. They will learn but until they do you need to be there.

If some chicks make it up the hen may take them into the coop and leave the others on the ground. You need to put them in the coop. Or she may fly back down to cover the chicks on the ground. You may want to move her and the chicks to some place predator safe.

Lots of people manage what you are going through all the time. You can do it too!

 

[chickenmeg1]

Lots of people manage what you are going through all the time. You can do it too!

Thank you so much for your encouragement and your wonderfully thoughtful response.

The coop is about 5' x 6', about 22" inches off the ground. Inside, there are roosting bars with an elevated droppings board, so there is floor space underneath the board. The door to the coop is at ground level (so when they walk in, they are right at the floor of the coop). Four useable nesting boxes (there are really 6, but this was DIY and there are awkward wood pieces in the end boxes, so they don't use them). The nest boxes are also ground level in the coop.

Based on what you're saying, it sounds like I should keep the food/water on the coop floor for a few days? Currently, we keep our food & water in the run and haven't had any problems. It's no big deal to keep the chick feeder and waterer in the coop, I just worry about the other hens either gobbling it all up or knocking it over. I think there's plenty of space to put it, though, because of the droppings board and space beneath.

No activity so far, but good to feel prepared! Thank you again.

 

[Yardmom]

Yes your other hens will want to gobble the chick food. It won't hurt them. It is actually good for them just put enough out so there is always food.
I have over 30 birds in my coop at a time. It can raise costs significantly to let them all eat chick foo, and I have trained chicks to go in a cage with a small opening to get their feed.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I just worry about the other hens either gobbling it all up or knocking it over. I think there's plenty of space to put it, though, because of the droppings board and space beneath.

A legitimate concern. My other hens consider any feed not in the normal spot to be a treat and will eat it first, even if it is the exact same feed in their feeder. And the hens scratch. They can fill a feeder or waterer on the floor with bedding pretty quickly.

I don't ty to stop the hens from eating the chicks feed, I feed them all the same thing anyway as I can't keep the chicks from eating the hen's feed. My broody hens scoop the hen's feed out of the feeders hung up high so their chicks can get to it. By two weeks of age the chicks are flying up there to eat it on their own as long as the broody stands watch to keep the other hens away.

To reduce the hens scratching bedding into the water I use a dog bowl filled with rocks set on a raised platform the chicks can hop up on. The rocks are to keep the chicks from falling in, instead they walk on them and poop in the water so I change it every day. The hens scratch bedding on that platform and eventually into the water but the water lasts a lot longer.

For feed I use a 3 gallon bucket (free at my grocery store) hanging from a rope with 2-1/2" holes cut in the sides for the hens to eat without scooping as much feed on the coop floor. I lower that close to the coop floor so the chicks can hop inside that and eat. I have used a creep feeder (something you can put feed in that the chicks can get to but the adults cannot) but not until after the broody has taught the chicks what food is.

I used to use those red chick feeders and waterers in the brooder but not out where the hens can knock them over. Even in the brooder I stabilized them so the chicks could not knock them over.