HELP! Just Hatched Chicks

[donrae]

Move your broody hen(s) down on the floor, and put the babies under them. You can make a little "nest" with hay or shavings or whatever you have, if you want. Usually the hen will just be on the ground with the babies under her. Food and water need to be close enough for the baby chicks to get to it. They can walk but not fly or climb, so it needs to be pretty close and level. The chicks really don't need to eat or drink for the first day or two, buy you should go ahead and get them set up for it sooner vs later.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

You would need to separate the mother hen and chicks from your flock. Put the babies under her at night, that way she wakes up and finds chicks.

~ Aspen

Good Luck!

 

[milezone]

Well now I am lost. It seems it would be just easier to raise them by thierself in a mini coop with heat light? The threat of others pecking them, them not getting food (other birds keep getting at it and eating it all), and well momma bird was pecking the hell out of one of them early this morning when I was trying to build a ramp for them.
I guess I assumed putting them with a broody mom, and with the flock they would learn and adjust better. :-( But it seems if I have to isolate momma from flock, makes no sense, it is easier just keep the 2 little ones in small breeder cage.

Russ

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I would try sneaking them in very early in the am, and if you can stay there to watch how it goes..my hen fed her newbies herself, she grab a beakful and drop it right in frount of her and cluck the chicks to it...smart girl huh, never even got off the nest, course I was freaking out since I hadn't seen them drink, so while slipping a tiny water bowl in I spilled some and the chick hopped over to the spill and started drinking from the puddle...wow, all that sweating for nothing! So the first day or two I just dumped alittle chick starter in the nest for them, and now she's teaching her chicks everything else, so much less work for me!

 

[Gypsy07]

Can you separate the mother and chicks for even a week? The chicks are probably at risk from the other birds when they're tiny, but after a few days they'd probably be okay. I put my broody hen in a separate shed and she hatched out the chicks herself. I kept them shut in the shed for about a week then I let them out to see how they'd get on. The mother marched them straight back to the big coop with all the other birds and at night she took them into one of the nesting boxes with her. They were about five weeks old when she first abandoned them at night and they finally made it up onto the roost with her the next night.

I put smaller feeders and waterers in the shed right beside the nest, then I moved them inside the coop when they went back there. It's awkward though, as the big birds all love to steal the chick crumbs and leave the chicks with nothing. I looked in a few times to see the adults all crouched down on the floor stuffing back the crumbles and the tiny chicks perched on the rim of the big feeder a foot off the ground chomping down on layers pellets. Gaaaahhh! Now when I let them out to free range in the mornings I let the chicks out first and feed them separately, that way i know they're getting at least one big feed of the proper growers pellets each day...

So anyway, it's a little bit of work at first and you do need to keep an eye on them, but if you can work out how to give your chicks a more suitable nest and smaller feeders and waterers, in the long run it's a LOT less work than keeping the chicks separate and doing it all yourself.

Oh, and I run a mixed flock of about 30 hens and two roos, and apart from the odd 'Move it, tiny!' kind of peck, there's been no picking on or bullying of the chicks. But the mother has been very attentive and has done a great job of keeping them close to her and keeping them safe. I suppose a lot depends on what kind of mother your hen is going to be.

 

[milezone]

Update
They both died. Had them in the coop with hen oly for the day while at work, others where only in run. And well, both dead. :-(

So lesson learned, guessing the "keep em alone in breeder pen" is the only advice I could give at this point. So dissapointed, feel like if I just went on instint and kept them away from big birds they would be chirpin' as we speak.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Oh I'm so sorry!

You live and learn.

~ Aspen