Help - older hen + new home + baby chicks?

[CluckCluckG00se]

Hello! A friend of mine has one hen, a blue australorp, that she didn't expect to make it past the winter due to her age. She is the only chicken that my friend has left, and she isn't wanting to get more. When she found out I am getting chicks, she offered up her chicken as a "momma hen" to the chicks. I like the idea of taking her hen, since I've read that chickens really don't do well alone. My friend said she has not laid in several months, likely due to the weather and her age. She previously had a tendency to go broody, so the possibility that she will mother a half dozen chicks seems to be decent.

My question is - what should my timeline be for everything?? Should I set up a coop, move in the older hen, let her get used to the new home, see if she will sit on some wooden eggs, and if she will, try putting the babies under her?

 

[DobieLover]

My question is - what should my timeline be for everything?? Should I set up a coop, move in the older hen, let her get used to the new home, see if she will sit on some wooden eggs, and if she will, try putting the babies under her?

Not quite like this...

If you want to take her, that's very kind of you. How old is this lady?
Has she actually gone full broody in the past and successfully hatched and raised chicks?

There are a lot of things involved and everything depends on the hen and they all have different personalities and temperaments so you really can't tell what she is going to do.

First, if you want chickens you need a proper setup for them. They need 3.5-4 sq ft of space per bird, 1 linear foot of roost space (with the correct amount of distance from the walls and other roosts set at the correct elevation) and as close to 1 sq ft of permanent ventilation per bird in the coop. The run needs to offer ideally 15 sq ft of space per bird.
If you already have such a set up, excellent! You can bring her home and get her set up. If not, build it. I found the easiest thing to do is to convert an older building like a shed into a coop. If you want ideas on this, you can click on the My Coop link under my username or research other coops and get building.

Once she's settled in, you can create a nice cozy floor nest for her in a semi-private area. Regardless there are no other hens to bother her, they instinctively prefer to "hide" the nest. From predators.

A hen is not likely to go broody if she is stressed and moving her will stress her.

She may or may not go broody. If she does and locks down on her nest of fake eggs, I'd wait at least 2 weeks, preferably 3 before giving her chicks (that you slip under her well after dark and remove the fake eggs) and the chicks should be less than 1 week old.

If she doesn't go broody, you can set her up in the coop and construct a built-in brooder, get a brooder plate and raise chicks with her in the coop so she can watch them grow up and they can see her. When the chicks are about 3-4 weeks old, you can fashion some chick size doors in the brooder so they can come and go but she cannot get in and let them start to mingle.

She may even leave them alone because she is a lone hen.

Start immediately feeding her a good quality all flock type of feed that offers 18-20% protein and 0.7 - 1.3% calcium on the tag. Put out a container of oyster shell on the side for the hen to consume free choice. Feed this for life. Feeding this way is the best as it allows appropriate nutrition for all stages of not only a hens life, but pre-POL pullets and cockerels/roosters. Nothing ever needs to be changed.

I have one Australorp. She goes broody every single year and has hatched for me all but the first year. She is going to be on hatch duty again this year when she turns 6 years old. She is still laying eggs. She is rock steady and good mother with a calm demeanor but 'take no BS' attitude. So much so, she even adopted another hens chicks to raise with her lone chick.

I'm not saying that the Australorp you are interested in will be the same but perhaps it is a strong breed characteristic. Maybe it will work out for you that she will brood. But I've provided what you can do as an alternative to that.

Good luck.

 

[CluckCluckG00se]

Not quite like this...

If you want to take her, that's very kind of you. How old is this lady?
Has she actually gone full broody in the past and successfully hatched and raised chicks?

There are a lot of things involved and everything depends on the hen and they all have different personalities and temperaments so you really can't tell what she is going to do.

First, if you want chickens you need a proper setup for them. They need 3.5-4 sq ft of space per bird, 1 linear foot of roost space (with the correct amount of distance from the walls and other roosts set at the correct elevation) and as close to 1 sq ft of permanent ventilation per bird in the coop. The run needs to offer ideally 15 sq ft of space per bird.
If you already have such a set up, excellent! You can bring her home and get her set up. If not, build it. I found the easiest thing to do is to convert an older building like a shed into a coop. If you want ideas on this, you can click on the My Coop link under my username or research other coops and get building.

Once she's settled in, you can create a nice cozy floor nest for her in a semi-private area. Regardless there are no other hens to bother her, they instinctively prefer to "hide" the nest. From predators.

A hen is not likely to go broody if she is stressed and moving her will stress her.

She may or may not go broody. If she does and locks down on her nest of fake eggs, I'd wait at least 2 weeks, preferably 3 before giving her chicks (that you slip under her well after dark and remove the fake eggs) and the chicks should be less than 1 week old.

If she doesn't go broody, you can set her up in the coop and construct a built-in brooder, get a brooder plate and raise chicks with her in the coop so she can watch them grow up and they can see her. When the chicks are about 3-4 weeks old, you can fashion some chick size doors in the brooder so they can come and go but she cannot get in and let them start to mingle.

She may even leave them alone because she is a lone hen.

Start immediately feeding her a good quality all flock type of feed that offers 18-20% protein and 0.7 - 1.3% calcium on the tag. Put out a container of oyster shell on the side for the hen to consume free choice. Feed this for life. Feeding this way is the best as it allows appropriate nutrition for all stages of not only a hens life, but pre-POL pullets and cockerels/roosters. Nothing ever needs to be changed.

I have one Australorp. She goes broody every single year and has hatched for me all but the first year. She is going to be on hatch duty again this year when she turns 6 years old. She is still laying eggs. She is rock steady and good mother with a calm demeanor but 'take no BS' attitude. So much so, she even adopted another hens chicks to raise with her lone chick.

I'm not saying that the Australorp you are interested in will be the same but perhaps it is a strong breed characteristic. Maybe it will work out for you that she will brood. But I've provided what you can do as an alternative to that.

Thank you so much!! I *think* she's about 8 years old, so definitely up there in age (trusty ol' Google says australorps live 6-10 years). My friend mentioned that she thought a disease came over the rest of her flock because they all passed in a very short time of each other, and this was a couple of years ago now. They were all the same age, so age was a factor. Poor girl has been alone for a while. My friend kept expecting her to pass. They themselves moved to a new house in October, which didn't seem to phase her. Then, like I mentioned, they didn't think she'd make it through the winter.

She has *not* hatched eggs in the past. That wasn't ever in the cards for their family. I think she was her broodiest hen out of the 5 they had, going broody for months on end.

Thank you! I've definitely been doing my research over the last month, and a shed seemed like the way to go. My issue is that I've found myself single in the last year due to unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances, so I might end up having to purchase a pre-fab coop since I'll probably be setting it up primarily alone.

Putting the chicks under her after dark was what my friend suggested. I worry about her waking up in the morning and freaking out before I had a chance to get up and intervene if necessary?? Is that something I should worry about?

That hadn't crossed my mind that I could setup a brooder in the pen with her. What would that look like like? Would I make it out of chicken wire so she can see them?

What are your thoughts on fermenting food? I've considered an automatic feeder with dry feed available all the time and feeding fresh fermented food each morning.

My friend will be giving me all of her supplies from chick raising through adult, but i haven't seen what all she has or the type of feed. She mentioned feed, feeder, waterer, oyster shells, chick and adult grit. I think she she has a heat lamp, so I'll probably be getting a brooder plate instead for the chicks.

That's amazing she sounds like an awesome hen

Thabo you for all of the help!

 

[NatJ]

Putting the chicks under her after dark was what my friend suggested. I worry about her waking up in the morning and freaking out before I had a chance to get up and intervene if necessary?? Is that something I should worry about?

She will not wake up surprised in the morning. Instead, she will wake up when you put the chicks under her in the dark. She will not be able to see to peck at them (or at least, if she does peck, she won't be able to aim very well), but she will definitely wake up.

If all goes well, she will spend the night snuggling the chicks and clucking to them, and hearing them peep back. This helps the hen and the chicks get to know each other.

That hadn't crossed my mind that I could setup a brooder in the pen with her. What would that look like like? Would I make it out of chicken wire so she can see them?

Yes, probably chicken wire or hardware cloth or a wire dog kennel or something of the sort.

Here is an article that shows one person's brooder in a coop:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-coop-brooder-and-integration.74591/

 

[CluckCluckG00se]

She will not wake up surprised in the morning. Instead, she will wake up when you put the chicks under her in the dark. She will not be able to see to peck at them (or at least, if she does peck, she won't be able to aim very well), but she will definitely wake up.

If all goes well, she will spend the night snuggling the chicks and clucking to them, and hearing them peep back. This helps the hen and the chicks get to know each other.


Yes, probably chicken wire or hardware cloth or a wire dog kennel or something of the sort.

Here is an article that shows one person's brooder in a coop:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-coop-brooder-and-integration.74591/

Thank you so much!! I have a very small dog cage similar to the one in the pictures that I could probably use, and maybe make it larger with some chicken wire.