how long to keep mama with her babies?

[gritsar]

Quote:
Hmmm, I can understand your concern. Do you know where mama hen was in the pecking order before you removed her? That might make a difference.

I don't have experience with this kind of situation. I'll point ddawn back to your thread for ya. I'm sure she can help.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
I wish that were true. I've never done this.

Right now I have some TSC chicks around 2 weeks old that I bought to put under a broody but she kicked them out of the nest. They are in a pen inside the coop where they have lived since the day I got them, so the flock sees and hears them all the time. I've been throwing some treats in the yard then letting them out of their pen for a few days now. I sit and watch, up to about 20 minutes. The only ones that bother them are the broodies (I set them out of their nests before I spread the treats; I have no fertile eggs.) And all they do is fluff up at them and half-peck in their general direction. If it weren't for these silly broodies I might turn them loose -- or prop the door to the pen so they can get back in but the adult's won't fit through the opening. So far everyone else ignores them -- and they run and dart all over the coop, check out the adults' feet, etc.

Maybe you could try making an escape place with a chick sized opening, and hope they have the sense to use it. I really don't know what will happen.

Good luck.

 

[technodoll]

Quote:
Blossom was pretty much at the top of the pecking order, she's the oldest of the hens but not a fighter by any means.

The whole flock is pretty mellow so I think all should go well...

Once this week of torrential rains, humidity and near-freezing temps is over I'll attempt the merge.

Crossing fingers.

 

[gritsar]

I've noticed that my chicks do head for the nearest crate, usually the one that were hatched in, when they feel the least bit threatened.

Funny thing is they've run into the nestbox with my latest broody Doe a couple of times, even tried sleeping with her. She's a crazy enough broody (2nd time in 3 months) that she lets them right in, takes em under her wings and all.

Don't think I'll have any problem getting her to accept the chicks I plan to buy her on Thursday.

 

[andalusn]

I more or less let the hens decide how to integrate the chicks to the flock. One Cochin like to set on eggs in side the hen house in a nest box. Once they hatch I take her and peeps to a dog crate in a X pen setup where she can be alone but be part of the flock where they eat and hang out in side the barn breezeway where the chicks live. After about a week I open the dog Xpen so they can come & go and momma hen takes peep into the flock to share scratch and then off to explore the wonders of the yard and green grass. While still young she takes them back to the dog crate. Than at about 1 month she decides to go back to sleeping in the hen house with the others and the peep goes along. My roost are in 3 states so she works her way to the middle and so does the chick and sleeps under her wing etc. Another hen likes to brood in private in hiding. Once the eggs hatch she brings them out and spends the first few days with them on a different side of the barn. Then one day she takes them to the feeding area and moves the chicks into box I have there for her. She raises them amongst the flock but does not take them into the hen house. They roost as they get bigger with her on top of a broody box I have and both hens at just about the 2 month mark of the hatch start weaning them away and they are on their own. They each have grown up with the flock so are integrated but each in a different way.