Help! Hoping to raise day-old chicks with broody hen in my established flock

[Jewelwing]

I have seven 2-yr-old free-range hens and I've ordered eight new chicks that will be delivered in May. There's a good chance that one of my hens (a Speckled Sussex) will be broody, so I want to try to get her to raise the chicks.

I know she needs to be broody for a few weeks before I get the chicks, and I know to sneak the chicks under her at night so she wakes up to find that her wooden eggs have hatched.

What I need help with is the logistics of where to have this happen and how to integrate the new family with the established flock. Here are some pictures of my current set-up. I have a 6' x 6' coop, and I use the deep litter method. I will clean out the litter before I get the new chicks, so the wood chips won't be as deep as it is in these pictures. The blue nest box next to the built in wooden ones is something I added when two of my hens went broody last year and hogged two nest boxes, so the other hens (six at that time) had to share one box. They were much happier when I added a new makeshift one on the floor!

For the new chicks & the broody hen, I was thinking I'd remove that blue box and fence off an area along that right wall along the floor (and put something over it so the poop wouldn't fall into it from the roost above). I could give them a chick feeder & waterer in that area, which ends up being about 20" wide x 4' long. I could leave the blue box in that spot, for that matter, to give them somewhere to "nest," and fence off the rest of the area on that right side of the coop.

I also plan to put more nest boxes on the coop floor under the current wooden boxes, so that there are more nesting spots once I have 15 laying hens. I was thinking of making the new one a big communal box with multiple doors, so that there was more egg-laying space.

Assuming what I'm thinking is a good idea, how long do I leave the mom & chicks trapped inside the brooding area? I want the mom to be able to lead her chicks outside whenever she thinks the time is right, but I also don't want the other hens to attack the new chicks. The hens don't spend much time inside the coop at all except to lay their eggs, so maybe I don't have to keep the mom & chicks penned up at all? Maybe the other hens will be too busy outside to bother them?

 

[Judy]

I'll just tell you what I do. FWIW. I have a good sied coop and inside, about a 5'x5' area that is a separate room with chicken wire for walls that is my broody are. The broody sets on the eggs in there, then on the day or so after hatch when the chicks start runing around, I can see that both mama and chicks want to get out and with the rest of the flock, so I let them out. I know people sometimes lose chicks this way, but I never have, out of 5 or 6 batches. The mama alwas runs at any curious hens who want to go near her chicks, and after a day or two, the mama and chicks just do their thing slightly removed from the rest of the flock. Their outdoor area is large, too, about 70'x70'.

BTW, you didn't mention feeding so maybe you know, but you just feed everybody what the chicks need, even if it's medicated with amprolium (you can still eat the eggs.) Some people who raise chicks frequently just feed their flocks a flock raiser feed all year, which is good for the roosters who shouldn't really have the calcium in layer feed, anyway. You can offer oyster shell separately, of course, for the hens who want it.

Good luck!

 

[Jewelwing]

Thanks for that info! It sounds very similar to what I want to do (except my area will be much smaller). So if I just keep a close eye on the mom & chicks (which of course I'll want to spend all my time with them anyway!!), it sounds like I'll be able to tell when to let them out of the chicken-wired off area of the coop. Since the flock free-ranges, it will be easy for her to keep them somewhat away from the rest of the flock.

I did know about the food. I don't feed medicated food. I do ferment my food, so I'll just ferment the chick food & let everyone eat it. I have crushed egg shells for the hens to supplement their diets with. I have that available to them all the time now too, even though they eat layer food.

Thanks again, you really put my mind at ease!

 

[bryce211]

I don't know my chick is a male or female