Help with new mother hen please!

[PachecoPeeps]

If you are really worried you can try and move all of them inside. My Orpington hatched and raised chicks inside a cardboard box in our guest room. We had to separate them because the other hens were picking on her too.

 

[RockyVanRhodes]

A big dog crate works well, too.

 

[Plumfig]

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.

Thank you. We were checking on Fluffnut every 20 minutes or so after we discovered her poor plucked head. So far no further damage and the others seem to be staying away, and now they are all to bed.

Tomorrow is clean coop and run day, so I’ll discuss everyone’s suggestions with my husband and daughter.

So far no more hatched chicks (still 5 more eggs). We borrowed an incubator from the school, if Fluffnut leaves the remaining eggs, should we move them to the incubator?

 

[Plumfig]

If you are really worried you can try and move all of them inside. My Orpington hatched and raised chicks inside a cardboard box in our guest room. We had to separate them because the other hens were picking on her too.

This was my first thought, actually, but then after a brief bit of googling I had the impression that it was a bad idea. This would be my first choice.

How long did you have her in for, away from the others? How did it go when you returned the new family to the others? Did your Orpington get cabin fever in the box?

 

[PachecoPeeps]

This was my first thought, actually, but then after a brief bit of googling I had the impression that it was a bad idea. This would be my first choice.

How long did you have her in for, away from the others? How did it go when you returned the new family to the others? Did your Orpington get cabin fever in the box?

I had her in the box 5 days after she was broody and kept her in the house with the chicks (in a large watermelon cardboard box) until they chicks were about 4 weeks and then they all went into the run. We ended up expanding the run while she was inside so that We could have them separated from the other hens with wire. This way they could see each other and get used to each other.

This was our first time with a broody and hen raised chicks so it wasn’t perfect. It was a learning experience for all of us.

 

[Plumfig]

I had her in the box 5 days after she was broody and kept her in the house with the chicks (in a large watermelon cardboard box) until they chicks were about 4 weeks and then they all went into the run. We ended up expanding the run while she was inside so that We could have them separated from the other hens with wire. This way they could see each other and get used to each other.

This was our first time with a broody and hen raised chicks so it wasn’t perfect. It was a learning experience for all of us.

Thank you for answering so quickly! Do you think it will be OK to move our hen with the remaining eggs and the three chicks? If I understand you, you brought your hen in while she still had about 2 weeks left to sit on the eggs, yes?

Also, how big was the watermelon box?

My daughter brought home three more chicks after taking the class again this year, they are now 6 weeks old. We are planning to move them to a large bathtub turned coupe thing in our garage tomorrow, would it be safe to put the mama hen and the chicks and eggs in the bathtub coop in our garage all together? It would be great to be able to integrate our odd set of three into a bigger group… Especially before adding them all back to the rest…

Sigh, we actually have a complicated arrangement of 4 groups of chickens that we have manage.

 

[Plumfig]

I can’t believe I hadn’t figured out about this site until a couple of days ago. We might have saved ourselves lots of interesting challenges this past year.

 

[bobbi-j]

Thank you. We were checking on Fluffnut every 20 minutes or so after we discovered her poor plucked head. So far no further damage and the others seem to be staying away, and now they are all to bed.

Tomorrow is clean coop and run day, so I’ll discuss everyone’s suggestions with my husband and daughter.

So far no more hatched chicks (still 5 more eggs). We borrowed an incubator from the school, if Fluffnut leaves the remaining eggs, should we move them to the incubator?

In my experience with broodies, if all the eggs have been put under them at the same time, all the eggs that are going to hatch will do so within 24 hours or so. If she leaves the nest, that's a pretty good indication that she doesn't hear any peeping in them and knows they won't hatch.

Thank you for answering so quickly! Do you think it will be OK to move our hen with the remaining eggs and the three chicks? If I understand you, you brought your hen in while she still had about 2 weeks left to sit on the eggs, yes?

Also, how big was the watermelon box?

My daughter brought home three more chicks after taking the class again this year, they are now 6 weeks old. We are planning to move them to a large bathtub turned coupe thing in our garage tomorrow, would it be safe to put the mama hen and the chicks and eggs in the bathtub coop in our garage all together? It would be great to be able to integrate our odd set of three into a bigger group… Especially before adding them all back to the rest…

Sigh, we actually have a complicated arrangement of 4 groups of chickens that we have manage.

It would not be a good idea to move the mama in with older chicks. To protect her babies, she could well kill them. I have just left broodies in the flock with their babies over the past few years and it has worked out very well. The mama babies get integrated into the flock while mama is still hormonal and protective, and if anything happens to mama (happened here - broody got killed leaving 4 5-week old orphans), they are already accepted members of the flock. If your hen has been exposed to outdoor temperatures all winter, bringing her in the house is going to be very uncomfortable for her. She won't be able to take off her down coat! Nor will she be able to take her babies outside and teach them how to be proper chickens.

 

[Plumfig]

In my experience with broodies, if all the eggs have been put under them at the same time, all the eggs that are going to hatch will do so within 24 hours or so. If she leaves the nest, that's a pretty good indication that she doesn't hear any peeping in them and knows they won't hatch.

It would not be a good idea to move the mama in with older chicks. To protect her babies, she could well kill them. I have just left broodies in the flock with their babies over the past few years and it has worked out very well. The mama babies get integrated into the flock while mama is still hormonal and protective, and if anything happens to mama (happened here - broody got killed leaving 4 5-week old orphans), they are already accepted members of the flock. If your hen has been exposed to outdoor temperatures all winter, bringing her in the house is going to be very uncomfortable for her. She won't be able to take off her down coat! Nor will she be able to take her babies outside and teach them how to be proper chickens.

Thank you for all of this information, it makes sense. Okay, I’ll let you all know what we figure out tomorrow, although it might not be til the afternoon.

Again, everyone’s insights are very much appreciated!

 

[bobbi-j]

Thank you for all of this information, it makes sense. Okay, I’ll let you all know what we figure out tomorrow, although it might not be til the afternoon.

Again, everyone’s insights are very much appreciated!

Good luck!