Hen raising chicks -- heat lamp?

[dome sweet dome]

I have a hen raising two chicks in the house. Do I need a heat lamp? Or will she provide enough warmth?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hens have been raising chicks outside without a heat lamp for thousands of years. Thye were doing it before heat lamps were invented. She will provide all the heat the chicks need.

 

[dome sweet dome]

Thanks! I figured she knew what she was doing, but then I thought about it too much and began to worry.

 

[Keri78]

She's designed to do it perfectly! I kept my first broody in a rubbermaid tote with her babies and some shavings in there. They were on my sunporch...no heat...she knew EXACTLY what she was doing! The babies were just fine...never too cold...never too hot...hardly ever heard them peep unless I was taking Mama Hen out to go potty! Now I have my second broody that hatched babies (first time!) last week and I never brought them in...I just trusted that Mama knew BEST! We actually had frost the other night and the mornings have been in the 40's and when I look out the window...I see the two Mama's and their babies scratching around looking for bugs and food and the after a while they'll take all of the babies back to the nest! Amazing!

I really don't know how they "know" exactly how long the babies can be outside for and when they need to go snuggle back up with Mama!?!? Other times, my one hen will just lay down outside and all of the babies will pile in her feathers and snuggle up and it's like they take a little rest and get warm and the their back out again! I have two Mama and their babies in a breeding pen with a big enough nesting area so they both have their ow space. As you can probably tell....

this is my first time with my girls hatching out their own babies...so I'm just in "Awwwe" of it all!

I'm just so proud of them!

My Hubby thinks I'm funny b/c I get sooo amazed that Mama hen's know just how to take care of baby chicks!!!

 

[dutchhollow]

I had one crazy Austrolorp hen years ago that raised babies outside in ia in January (close to zero many days).

 

[elmo]

The only caveat to this is that not every hen turns out to be a good mother. If she refuses to let the chicks snuggle up under her, you'll hear the loud, insistent peeping of a cold chick, and you might then have to intervene. Not likely, though.

 

[dome sweet dome]

My first time letting mama do it, too. I had two Belgian D'Uccle bantams and a standard Cochin sitting on the eggs (exact order: nest, eggs, side by side bantams, Cochin). So far two out of nine have hatched, but I did put some under later as the standard went broody later. No one wanted to move to another nest, so I separated one bantam and the chicks to keep them from being crushed.

 

[elmo]

dome, sweet dome :

My first time letting mama do it, too. I had two Belgian D'Uccle bantams and a standard Cochin sitting on the eggs (exact order: nest, eggs, side by side bantams, Cochin). So far two out of nine have hatched, but I did put some under later as the standard went broody later. No one wanted to move to another nest, so I separated one bantam and the chicks to keep them from being crushed.

I have five pure d"Uccle hatching eggs under one of my bantams right now, due to hatch in almost two weeks (fingers crossed). I really hope they hatch because I'm dying for more d"Uccles. We have one half Serama, half d"Uccle hen and she's our favorite. So sweet, so cute with her little beard and feathered feet.​