How do you introduced baby Chicks to full grown hens?

[Mrs yellow]

So cool
I want to try this. It makes sense to let chickens be chickens but allowing space and protection sounds like the persect combination.

Thanks again
Henry and mom

 

[SaraETE]

Thank you great wise ones! I love all the advice and stories! Many,many, thanks.

 

[m80fierro]

Great info BYC, I searched for two minutes before I found this topic that I was looking for. Very nice, indeed. I'm introducing 3 Barred Rock chicks into my flock of 7. 3 RIR's, 2 Orphs, and 2 EE's.

 

[mohawkindian]

Hi there I am fairly new here and I was wondering what to do about my 3week old chicks I have to put them in the big coop but I have 4 other hens in the coop and I don't want the chicks to get hurt in any way so I was wondering if any one have some ideas thanks

 

[Sneaky Waffles]

So basically you have to let the chick get big enough to defend themselves, and hope that they become friends?

 

[Miss Peeps]

I have two broody hens and I hope they will accept the 4- two day old chicks tonight. Question: These brooding hens are on opposite ends of the pecking order scale. Should I split the babies between the two or put them under just one? What would you do and which hen would you put them under?? If I gave the low ranking hen a chick would the others stop picking on her? Thanks in advance.

 

[HnkyDnkyZZFarm]

We tried to play tricks on our broody lady and she tore the neck out of the chick we introduced. Lightning bolt fast. With brutal conviction. It's neck looked like it should be in a deli case rather than walking around. Since she would go broody every few weeks for a time we thought she might have an interest in mothering. Ohhhh boy. We were able to save the chick but it had to be in isolation away from its friends for the next month while it's neck healed. We were lucky it wasn't much worse. To this day the now hen is called ripped neck and looks like a turkey, because it never did get feathers on that spot and is low in the yard order, second lowest to a much older hen.

We wait till the new batch is of a size to take the heckling and pecking order shuffling and close off half the coop just for the newbies so they can see each other, but they can't get to each other till the 'babies' are old enough to survive the entire flock because the rest of the bunch are used to each other and pretty territorial. We wait till they are completely fledged, nearly full size.

 

[bobbi-j]

We tried to play tricks on our broody lady and she tore the neck out of the chick we introduced.  Lightning bolt fast.  With brutal conviction.  It's neck looked like it should be in a deli case rather than walking around.  Since she would go broody every few weeks for a time we thought she might have an interest in mothering.  Ohhhh boy.  We were able to save the chick but it had to be in isolation away from its friends for the next month while it's neck healed.  We were lucky it wasn't much worse.  To this day the now hen is called ripped neck and looks like a turkey, because it never did get feathers on that spot and is low in the yard order, second lowest to a much older hen.

We wait till the new batch is of a size to take the heckling and pecking order shuffling and close off half the coop just for the newbies so they can see each other, but they can't get to each other till the 'babies' are old enough to survive the entire flock because the rest of the bunch are used to each other and pretty territorial.  We wait till they are  completely fledged, nearly full size.

How old was the chick, and how was the introduction made?

 

[Miss Peeps]

I have two broody hens and I hope they will accept the 4- two day old chicks tonight. Question: These brooding hens are on opposite ends of the pecking order scale. Should I split the babies between the two or put them under just one? What would you do and which hen would you put them under?? If I gave the low ranking hen a chick would the others stop picking on her?

Thanks in advance.

The chicks are nestled under their foster hen's wings (peeking out when I call to them) and appear to be doing very well! I am a happy girl!! =)

 

[HnkyDnkyZZFarm]

Under about two weeks, and we snuck the chick into the nesting box. She came back and circled, puffed, low bwoooooooop wop wop BAM! I grabbed the little one and shooed her away as soon as I saw her move fast, but it was too late. Little one got to kick it in a bird cage away from her buddies till the scab fell off.

My theory on what went wrong is that I don't think a broody is always "broody."

We had to isolate a hen in the dark to slow/stop egg laying recently for a mild prolapse, and it got me thinking, broodiness might not necessarily be a "mothering" thing, but an egg laying thing. The hen stays in a dark place and slows/ stops laying - goes off food, which also slows/stops laying, so perhaps this is natures way of taking a potentially ill hen, and putting her off laying for a time while she recovers. Nutrition is my theory regarding this particular hen, since she had been getting more treats than layer feed.

So the question comes to mind, was she truly BROODY or was she feeling under the weather? This is a hen that appears to go broody at the drop of a seed. Every other month or so. So even thinking more about this, breaking a brood, and putting her back to egg laying might actually be damaging to her system if she might be having a problem that isn't enough of a problem to make her behave noticeably ill, but just enough to make us silly humans go "awww she wants babies!!!"

Once the chicks grew, this particular hen is now second to last (just above the one she neck ripped) from the bottom in the pecking order, so I think there's something up with her, she was someones pet before she was part of a flock. Now that I have the others behaviors to compare her to, she is neurotic, which could be nutrition. We have everyone completely off treats right now and nobodys broody, nobodys prolapsing. Egg shells are harder and egg eating is non existent.

I've had much better success with crate/lamp brooding, giving the newbies their own space in the coop/run once they fledge where they can see the bigguns and the bigguns can see them and then turning them loose once they're 3/4 or more the size of the bigguns. We've done it twice that way after the failed experiment and aside from a few pulled tails and getting chased for a bit, it seems to be the most peaceful way we've come up with.