Housing and Feeding New Chicks with Broody Hens

[family farm ma]

Greetings! Though I've been raising layers for awhile, we've never raised our own chicks from eggs. Awhile ago, three of our hens went broody (two seabright banties and a dominique), so we decided to let them keep a few eggs for kicks and giggles. Our rooster is a bold little buff brahma banty (so the chicks ought to be .... ummmm ..... INTERESTING). Well, by golly, we got up and found chicks this morning! Problem - our coop is in a pasture measuring 20 x 25 ft., where the chickens are free to roam around (but they've decimated it and it is now bereft of plants), and they share it with our goat, who lives in the barn. We have a chick-raising pen in the barn, but I'd like to let the hens raise the chicks themselves (they are VERY protective of the chicks). We feed a layer mix, along with a little cracked corn, to our hens. I'd like to keep the hens with their chicks in the breeder pen (which is basically a 5 x 2 ventilated box with a hinged lid). I've read that it's O.K. to feed everyone the same starter/chick feed (especially since the hens aren't producing eggs right now anyway), but how do I keep the hens from eating everything? With the heat we've had here in Ohio, I'm also concerned that they'll become overheated in there, even though it's got fair ventilation. Anybody got suggestions for me? Thanks!

 

[Panth]

You don't say how many total chickens you have or how far your nesting box is from the ground, but I personally just let my broodies do their own thing and have never had any trouble.
When the chicks are done hatching, it will be about 2 days before they are ready to leave the nest anyhow and they won't need food or water during those days. Then the mother will jump down and start calling them and they will jump down after her. If the box is far from the ground, you will want to put a thick layer of woodchips or straw under the nest box so they don't hurt themselves. Once they are down, she will nest on the ground with the chicks...this will help keep them all cooler also. You may wish to put a large open ended box on the ground for her to use, but mine usually just find a dark corner and call their chicks over there. If any chicks have not jumped down on their own, you will need to set them on the ground. Don't bother trying to get them back into the laying boxes at night. If any eggs are left in the nest, I candle and if I see movement I tuck them under one of my other broodies, the original hen will be busy with her own chicks and not hatch more eggs.
Switch everyone over to chickstarter/grower...during the heat, all chickens need the extra protein (make sure you are offering a calcium supplement to your hens freefeed). I wouldn't feed them any corn during the summer - it makes them extra hot. If you want to give treats, use watermelon or cottage cheese. Make sure the chicks have access to plenty of cool, shallow water they can easily drink from and plenty of food that the other hens won't gobble up. That is usually the hardest part with doing this but your hens will be very protective and should chase the other hens away so the chicks can eat. Other than that, let them go be chickens. I would just let them be part of your regular flock. My own hen had her last two chicks perching with the other adults on the top roost at 2 weeks old.
Make sure there is plenty of shade for everyone even if you have to lean some extra plywood against your fence or something.

 

[Panth]

PS... if you are having trouble with them decimating your pasture, you could try free ranging them or could block off a 3rd of the pasture and replant grass seed, let it come up, let the hens out there and block off a different 3rd.

 

[family farm ma]

Hi, Panth! Thanks for the suggestion and the input. We have five laying hens in addition to the rooster and the three broodies. The nesting box is only about 1.5 feet above the ground, and there's lots of straw on the floor. Bad news - went out to see if the one chick was done hatching out, and it was GONE - nothing at all left. The hen was sitting on bits of shell, and there was no trace of the chick. I don't know if she ate it or one of the other ones ate it, but we have our chicken area predator-proof, so I don't think anything else got it. Sigh. I locked the other broodies in our chick-rearing box with a fan, some water in a shallow chick-waterer, and some starter feed. Hopefully, they'll be fine (I kicked out the broody hen that was sitting on the missing chick). Never a dull moment! We'll see what happens. Peace+!

 

[Panth]

I have a couple broodies that eat their chicks also, it is incredibly frustrating so I have those hens banded and as soon as their eggs hatch, I bring the chicks inside into a brooder. Not the best scenario, but at least it keeps them alive. So sorry