How to care for Broody and her chicks

[mandelaykay]

This is the first time that my hen successfully hatched eggs. She and her brood are in my basement in a large kennel. I am not sure what to do next. They have chicken starter and water. How should I care for them. When can they go outside for the day? On a pencil of course. And how long should they be kept separate from the rest of the gang?

 

[Ridgerunner]

You have all kinds of options. We all have different conditions and set-ups so one way will be better for some and not for others.

The Starter and water is fine for the chicks and Mama. Since the broody is not laying eggs, she does not need the extra calcium that is in Layer. Starter, Grower, or Flock Raiser is fine for her.

If you do mix the chicks with the flock, you will need to stop feeding Layer. There are plenty of tests out there that show that the extra calcium can be bad for the chicks. The easy way arround that is to feed Starter, Grower, or Flock Raiser to everyone and offer oyster shell on the side. Do not mix it with the feed. Those that need it for the shells will eat it and those that don't need it won't eat enough to harm themselves.

You are dealing with living animals so no one can tell you exactly how they will act. Each chicken has its own personality.

Some people keep the hen and chicks separated until the chicks are practically grown. Some of us let the hen and chicks mingle with the flock from Day 1. If the hen raises the chicks with the flock, she takes care of integration. They will still have to handle their own pecking order issues after she weans them, but she takes care of basic integration.

To me, the key to the best way to go depends on how much space they have. If Mama has enough room to work, she will usually do a real good job protecting her chicks. If space is tight, that gets harder for her. Plus, when she weans them, they are on their own. All the grown chickens outrank them in the pecking order and can get pretty vicious toward young chicks. If the chicks have enough room to get away from the adults and avoid them in the first place, they do fine. If space is so tight they can't get away. it can be bad. If space is that tight, you are likely to have problems integrating them later anyway. You can probably tell I like to give them a lot of space.

 

[mandelaykay]

Thankyou for the wonderful response! As far as weather and temperature go, are they able to spend the day outside as long as they are with mom? I have a 8x8 fully enclosed run with rookf.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Mama has a built-in heater. They will be fine.