HELP PLEASE!!! I NEED ADVICE!!!!!!!!

[Beaky Buzzard]

OK I'm all new to hatching chicks.....My banny hen is sitting on some eggs. They should hatch today. I transported the hen and her eggs and cleaned out her cage. The cage is like a rabbit hutch only it was built for chickens. It has tiny little squares in the wire in the bottum so the chicks feet won't fall through. Two of the sides are wood and two are wire. Will it be too draughty for the chicks??. It is pretty warm here about eighty degrees. Should the cage be in th sun or shade? Do I need shavings??? My little hen is a first time sitter she is VERY broody. I think she will be a good mom. If there are any major things i need to do ?????? I WANT EVERYTHING TO GO WELL!!!!!! PLEASE if you have any advice or know the answers to my questions PLEASE reply my babies will be here some time today!!!!!

 

[chicmom]

Hello and welcome!

I believe, since you're asking all the right questions, that you already know what to do, and you're doing a great job already.

Put the banty coop in the shade. Don't worry, I don't believe in this hot weather that they will get chilly. Mama will make sure of that. Make sure you have chick feed and water available that the chicks can reach. Mama will take care of the rest.

Wood shavings are a good thing to use in a little chicken coop. If you allow you chickens to free range, just let mama out, and she will take the babies around with her, teaching them how to forage. Of course, there are always predators out that would love to have a baby chick for dinner, so if you're terribly worried about that, then you don't want to free range them.

This spring I had a mama hen hatch five babies. One did mysteriously disappear, but I let her free range with the babies, and then they were accepted into the flock pretty easily.

Take care and enjoy those babies! Remember to put something in the waterer, like marbles, so the babies down drown in the drinking water.

Nothing cuter than watching a broody hen care for her babies!

 

[Chick pea]

Hi there,

It was my first time with a broody sitting on eggs this year too so I know how you feel. I can tell you what I did. My husband built a small all wood broody hutch with a pop hole. This is attatched to a small pen. We had a lot of rain here so the coop needed to be weather proof & the run has a roof too. It has now gone very hot so mum keeps kicking out the shavings & straw. The chicks are nearly 3 weeks old now & spend most of their time in the run with mum. You'll be amazed by how fast they grow & how they'll run around full of energy. Ours even fly up to the roosting pole we put in for Mum. They look like they're practising to be grown ups already.

I wouldn't have yours in direct sun as the mum & chicks could die with too much heat. They could do with protection from the elements in case it rains, gets windy or the temperature drops. They wont move too far at first. Mum will keep taking them back to the nest & keep them warm under her wings. We built our coop & pen in the enclosure with the rest of the flock so hopefully they'll intergate into the flock easier when they've grown.

Make sure Mum has food & water near by & that the chicks can't fall into the water & drown. I used a plastic lid with marbles in at first then moved on to a proper chick waterer. I'm actually using an old crock rabbit bowl for the food. It's pegged down with a tent peg to stop Mum kicking it over. I started with a chick feeder but Mum kept Kicking it over when she was teaching the chicks how to scratch for food!

I hope that is of some help. All the best with the chicks.

 

[Beaky Buzzard]

MY CHICKIES STILL ARE'NT HERE!!!!!!!!!

 

[SuperChickMama]

Did you candle them to see if they were fertilized? We took ours after they hatched and put them in the diddle coop with the light inside.