Havin chicks the natural way?

[domromer]

One of my Hens has gone broody and I'm thinking of getting her some fertile eggs. I'm a little confused about the logistics though.

My girls live in a coop at night and free range during the day. Can the broody hen live with the others while she is sitting on the eggs?

Or will I need to keep her in the coop during the day away from the other hens?

When the chicks do hatch can I just leave them alone and let the hen take care of everything? Do they need a heat lamp?

Can they mix with the older girls or will they try to kill the chicks?

Do the chicks need special food? I assume they need medicated starter. How do I keep the other hens from eating it?

 

[Chicken Cluck]

Your hen will be fine with the other hens unless something is not right. And you should put a heat lamp when they're hatched. Good luck on naturally hatching chicks!

 

[Chicken Cluck]

I'm not sure of mixing the hens when the chicks are hatched and medicated food will be best.

 

[domromer]

How about when the chicks hatch, can they be around the other hens? Will the mother hen keep them safe?

 

[Chicken Cluck]

I don't know. But you can watch and see what happens....

Good luck!

 

[Dawn419]

Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens suggests keeping the broody hen seperate from the rest of the flock while she's setting on the eggs and after the chicks have hatched as the other birds in the flock may kill the new chicks (which they would see as fuzzy intruders, much like a frog or mouse that wanders into their area).

I don't feed any of our chicks medicated feed at all and have had no problems.

Wish I had more experience with broody hens but our Silly silkies never go broody at the right time for me to let them try and hatch eggs.


Dawn

 

[bamagirl68]

I too had a hen go broody and ended up hatching 2 chicks. I kept her in a cage in my coop with the babies for several days then opened the cage and let them out for a little while to see what would happen. The other hens(I don't have a roo-I snitched a few of my dads eggs!) paid the new chicks no attention!! One day I came home and momma hen had them out in the chicken yard!I was really worried then realized she knew more about it then me!! They are almost 4 weeks old now and all is well. I bought chicks in September so this was my first hatch. I was amazed at how the momma has taken care of them. They will ride on her back and she keeps them toasty warm!The sweetest sight is a hen with little heads poking out her wings!

 

[lauralou]

It was pretty cold when my first chicks hatched, about a month ago. I didn't use a heat lamp, and their momma kept them warm. They were out running around when it was way too cold, in my opinion, but they would get under the hen to warm up, then come back out to scratch around some more.

The other chickens were curious about them, but never tried to hurt them. Of course, the broody hen was the QUEEN of the flock. Now she has stopped mothering them, and they are on their own. They are accepted by the adults, unlike the 2 month old chicks that I brooded inside.

 

[domromer]

So it sounds like it will be safe to let the mother hen take care of it all.

I found a lady on craigs list who is selling a bunch of different fertile eggs.

I'm not sure what to get.

I'm tempted to get some turkeys!!!!!


Turkey chicks, Royal Palm/Bourbon Red $3.50 each or hatch your own chicks from my fertile eggs. I have:
Jersey Giants
Cuckoo Maran
Welsummer
Bantam, Black Cochin
Royal Palm Turkey

 

[Guitartists]

Just a note...... Someone was asking on another thread about putting standard eggs under a banty and some suggested that she might abandon them to find some smaller size eggs. If your hen is large, turkey eggs might be ok, but possibly they might be too large????