Help with new mother hen please!

[RockyVanRhodes]

My hens would go broody far from the chicken coop (i let them free range all day), but i have had to move them to a safer area. Before i had divisons in my coop, i put the momma hen and her chicks in a cupboard-turned-nestbox, and put that in my garage.

 

[Plumfig]

When We introduced the hens last summer, we had them in a sectioned off part of this group, off to the left. We propped a length of fence at an angle at that end. It was at the angle of the redline in the picture below.

 

[Plumfig]

 

[bobbi-j]

OK, when I think "coop", I think of the building part where they sleep and lay. The outside part is the "run" to me. Honestly - although I can't really tell without the dimensions of the coop and run - your setup looks small for the chickens that you have, let alone a broody and three more chicks. If the other coop is smaller, you'd be crowding those birds, too.

One thought would be to maybe enclose the run that's under the coop part. Put something on the sides to block the wind at least. It depends on how cold it really is there. (It's helpful if you put your location in so we have an idea what kind of weather you're talking about. Cold here in MN is definitely different than cold in AZ, for example.)

If you could enlarge your run at least, there would be room for a more successful integration for your hens and chicks. My experience with mama hens and chicks is, mama will fiercely defend them, and no one messes with her. Are you sure your other chickens did it, or could a predator have gotten in?

 

[Plumfig]

First of all, I want to thank you all for replying and giving me your ideas. I’m quite sure another hen did it, I’ve been in and out all day, and shortly after I put the food in and peeked in at her a couple of the other hens were going after her food and water. Also it’s just some feathers pulled off of the mama hen’s head. I don’t think any predator could’ve gotten in to do that and then left just as surreptitiously.

In terms of space, we do let them outside in the yard during the day, for a couple of hours, although on very bad weather days we can’t do that. We used to let them roam the yard all day until one day last summer my husband came home and found only 7 of our dozen chickens and five piles of feathers. Very sad day. (We are renting the house we live in, and we do not have permission from the landlord to put up electric fencing for a bigger run for the chickens, unfortunately. We’re hoping to convince him this spring.)

 

[Plumfig]

Oh, my location is Ithaca, New York, and weather is forecast as 30s and 40s for the next several days with some rain and snow and lots of wind. No sun predicted.

 

[bobbi-j]

First of all, I want to thank you all for replying and giving me your ideas. I’m quite sure another hen did it, I’ve been in and out all day, and shortly after I put the food in and peeked in at her a couple of the other hens were going after her food and water. Also it’s just some feathers pulled off of the mama hen’s head. I don’t think any predator could’ve gotten in to do that and then left just as surreptitiously.

In terms of space, we do let them outside in the yard during the day, for a couple of hours, although on very bad weather days we can’t do that. We used to let them roam the yard all day until one day last summer my husband came home and found only 7 of our dozen chickens and five piles of feathers. Very sad day. (We are renting the house we live in, and we do not have permission from the landlord to put up electric fencing for a bigger run for the chickens, unfortunately. We’re hoping to convince him this spring.)

Oh, yeah - electric fencing isn't that hard to put up if you use step-in posts. It's definitely not permanent. I hope you can convince him. (Why is he against it?)

 

[Plumfig]

The bottom run area is 4-1/2 by 8 feet. I’m realizing I probably should have done some research before letting Fluffnut hatch eggs, because now I’m playing catch up.

Here’s a picture of what the other chicken(s) did to her. (Before I gave her the food and water her head feathers were sleek, dense and gorgeous.)

 

[Plumfig]

Re- electric fencing, I don’t know the reasons, my husband has been the communicator about that, but I guess I have to more actively research that myself.

So, my daughter took a class last year called Backyard Barnyard, and one of the activities was incubating eggs and raising little chicks. She then talked us into bringing three home, and our flock has blossomed to 20, 23 including the new chicks (and 28 if all eggs hatch!)

In any case, while I wanted the chickens from the beginning, I knew I didn’t have time, myself, to properly care for them, and made that clear to my husband and (12 year old) daughter. Anyway, they have been doing very well, but I seem to be learning that there are some things we should have tried understand better, sooner. I just really wish for them to be safe and happy, and right now I’m the one around who encountered the mama hen issues, so I’m trying to take care of it in a timely fashion.

 

[bobbi-j]

Re- electric fencing, I don’t know the reasons, my husband has been the communicator about that, but I guess I have to more actively research that myself.

So, my daughter took a class last year called Backyard Barnyard, and one of the activities was incubating eggs and raising little chicks. She then talked us into bringing three home, and our flock has blossomed to 20, 23 including the new chicks (and 28 if all eggs hatch!)

In any case, while I wanted the chickens from the beginning, I knew I didn’t have time, myself, to properly care for them, and made that clear to my husband and (12 year old) daughter. Anyway, they have been doing very well, but I seem to be learning that there are some things we should have tried understand better, sooner. I just really wish for them to be safe and happy, and right now I’m the one around who encountered the mama hen issues, so I’m trying to take care of it in a timely fashion.

And you're doing a good job of it. I really think if you can make an enclosure under the coop part, it would give mama and babies a space of their own that the others may not get into to harass them. (Of course, you want them to be able to go outside if they want, but this may turn into their space.) I'm not sure what else you could do at this point. If they are out of the elements, they will be fine.