Hen's Eggs About to Hatch Do I Need To Seperate Her From Others?

[purpletree23]

My Buff has been sitting on her little clutch of eggs for 20 days now. My neighbor said that I DO NOT have to seperate her and her chicks from my other hens because the mother will protect them and the chicks will be fine. I have 3 other hens.

My Dad however said that the other chickens will peck the chicks to death and they should be kept seperate with the mom.

HELP! Please give me your opinions and share your experiences.

 

[canada-goose]

It would be good to separate her from the flock.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This thread may help. There are risks both ways, but I prefer raising the chicks with the flock.

Raise with flock? thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=215937&p=1

 

[purpletree23]

Thank you both for your input. Ridgerunner I'm going to take your advice. I've been reading all night and I read the thread you attached and ddawn said that she doesn't seperate either. I've read a lot of her posts and I really respect her input and she is very knowledgeable.

The hen is very protective and I only have 3 other hens so I'm going to take this chance knowing full well what could happen. One benefit is that I won't have to integrate the babies at a later time and have the chance of the hens hurting them then.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, my stomach is in knots and the chicks are due to hatch tomorrow.

Now I have to find out why my broodies sisters are not laying yet. They are 27 weeks old and not one egg from them. I'm beginning to think it's a conspiracy and they are trying to push me over the edge!

 

[Stephanie-n-Hayden]

My GLBantam went just hatched her first clutch fo eggs last week. I had to separate her from my other 2 hens because one of them (RIR) was pecking her head trying to get to the chicks. Her comb was completely pecked off of her head. Momma was trying her best to protect them at all costs, but did end up losing one of her 5 chicks. She wasn't able to leave the nest to eat or drink, so I felt it was best to sep. her and the chicks from the others. The chicks are 10 days old now and they have spent the last week in a large dog cage in the garage with momma. All has been well, but I feel it is time to integrate them back into the flock. I have moved the cage, along with the small family, into the coop. I have locked the others out until momma and babies feel comfortable there (the move was pretty stressful for momma with having to be without her chicks for all of 5 seconds). I figured I would keep them in the cage for a while to continue to keep them protected from RIR and just go from there.

 

[rarebreedeggs4u]

I prefer to seperate mine for a few weeks, but I also have turkeys who aren't too nice to tiny babies. Once they are old enough to keep up with Mom well, we don't have a problem.

 

[purpletree23]

Today an unknown number of chicks hatched. I'm so happy. So far the other 3 hens in the coop have been curious but not aggressive toward the mom. Tomorrow I'm going to lock the older hens outside in the run. It should be sunny and warm. I'm hoping this will give the mom confidence to take her little brood for a walk around the coop. They have a chick feeder with starter pellets and a chick waterer. I'm hoping everything goes well but I'm prepared to separate them in an instant.

I think it's going to be a long night:/

 

[Chooksaurus]

I had 2 broody bantams that just hatched the eggs they were sitting on a week ago. They are in the coop with 10 other hens and have been doing an excellent job of defending their chicks.

My theory was that as soon as the other hens figure out that the chicks were not food, they will leave them alone. 7 days...so far, so good.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the other 10 birds are free to leave the coop and go into the run at any time, so they spend almost all day outside and are not near the chicks aside from when they come in to get a drink/snack.

 

[purpletree23]

Good news chooksaurus. I'm hoping this method works for me. My broody has new babies and the other hens (3) will be outside like your unless they want food or water.

 

[purpletree23]

Happy day! My broody hatched 3 chicks. I think they are chicks. Right now they look like charcoal colored pom poms with legs. I did not separate mom and chicks from my other 3 hens. So far no problems. The other hens are curious but when they get too close mom lets them know they have come close enough.

All are eating and drinking and of course pooping. I'm glad this method worked for me. No guarantees that it would work again but like ridgerunner said there are risks either way.

Thanks all for the advice!