How many chicks?

[Warrior gamefowl]

I’ve got a game hen coming off the nest today. She looks to have several chicks, maybe 8ish. I hatched a very small bunch of chicks in the incubator- maybe a dozen or so. My question is, how many chicks have you put under a hen? I’ll have her in a secure cage alone with the chicks. I may need to hang a light in the pen. I’m curious, I don’t want to brood so few chicks. I should have a hundred hatch soon. I’d rather brood them

 

[casportpony]

What did you end up doing?

 

[Warrior gamefowl]

What did you end up doing?

I put them in a brooder. I’m hatching again today. They will go in a brooder too.

 

[casportpony]

Good luck with today's hatch!

 

[Warrior gamefowl]

Good luck with today's hatch!

Thanks. Looks like it’s going to be a decent hatch.

 

[centrarchid]

I can have hens care for about 16 reliably, but have had them keep as many as 23 where all made it. This with free-range and good weather. On higher end I have supplement with feed otherwise hen looking to feed chicks at expense of keeping them warm and dry. Heavy rain events really hard on the largest broods. Keeping them confined to a large box is different.

 

[Warrior gamefowl]

I can have hens care for about 16 reliably, but have had them keep as many as 23 where all made it. This with free-range and good weather. On higher end I have supplement with feed otherwise hen looking to feed chicks at expense of keeping them warm and dry. Heavy rain events really hard on the largest broods. Keeping them confined to a large box is different.

Yep that’s my experience too. I’ve got a hen that hatched 13 about a month ago and she’s still got all of em. I consider that a good job.

 

[Chicken Heel]

When I was a young lad, I had a bantam hen that came out of the woods with 18 chicks. Amazingly all survived and they were mainly the reason I went from 13 to over 80 bantam chickens in a year's time. I recall from that brood of 18 there were 10 pullets and 8 cockerels so chicken math naturally came into play rather quickly.