Hen raised chicks

[Glennlarch]

Hello fellow chicken keepers,

I'm happy to report one of my young hens is broody and doing a wonderful job of sitting on 12 eggs from my group of 9 hens and one rooster. Two questions.. #1, being these delightful babies will be raised by a hen and not a human (in her own separated run) is it still necessary to feed medicated starter, or can we feed non medicated?
Also the bedding.. should we switch from pasture grass ( hayed from our back lot) to wood shavings to prevent splay leg? Thanks in advance for your time.

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

I have never fed my flock medicated chick feed. My chicks, hens and roosters are all fed Flock Raiser.
As for bedding, you can definitely use pine flakes, or straw.
Best wishes! Congratulations on your new chicks!

 

[Glennlarch]

Wow! Thank you so much for your input! I had read that if the hen was doing the raising there was much less chance for illness. Non medicated it is. Last year was the first year we had a hen go broody ( we did medicated at the time) and she raised this years broody hen. Both moms are super friendly and I'm hoping she will carry on the "friendly" gene. Have a beautiful spring and summer.