My silkie/cochin hatched our first (and only) chick today. Daddy is a black silkie and mama (I'm pretty sure) is his girlfriend, Mille Fleur D'uccle (my avitar) and baby is all black . It's possible the mama is the broody, though, since the eggs look so much alike. Since "mama" and baby were in the nesting box and we currently have a little rat problem, and I was afraid the other chickens would hurt the baby, I have moved them into a dog crate. Is that ok? What do I do with the baby now? Do I raise it myself like I did all the feed store chicks or let the broody take over? I don't want the other girls to kill the baby. I am so excited and yet.... so nervous
I just had two chicks hatch from my broody. I know how awesome it feels. congratulations! I took the babies away and am raising them like I do when I buy chicks. I had moved the hen to a crate while she was sitting on the eggs. Good thing I did because the first chick got out of the nesting box and would have been toast if that had happened in the coop with the rest of the chickens. I actually used the new chicks as an excuse to buy two more baby EEs. They had to have company!
Hi, our Daisy hatched one chick.......we kept them in a cage..covered with wire so they could all still see each other....Daisy is so happy with that baby..we have about 45 hens and 5 roosters.....I let mama and baby out with the others during the day now and cage them at night. (we have rats also). The other chickens ignore the baby and Daisy would tear the head off anything that came near it anyway.The chick is 3 weeks old. What a treat to watch the Mom teach it to eat, dust bath ect. Anyway, do not have advise, just sharing my experience. Also, my flock is free range during the day so have tons of room.do not know if this is why it worked........sure glad it did. Good luck and above all..have fun
Our experience was that the Hen in the yard that hatched 4 chicks was sooooo much better raising them than we would be. It is such a treat to watch 'lesson time' Our other two chicks who don;t have a mummy are in the brooder. I know they screech terribly if I have t take one out for any reason. So I would not like to have one lonely one in a brood box. They really do thrive better with company and mummy hen sure did sooo much good for our chicks outside. Though they are seperated from the other birds for their own safety. We have them in a place that they can see and be seen by the other girlies though. Just our experience. - I didn;t feed our chicks on anything special at the start. We just ground down ordinary poultry feed. We did however give them boiled egg regularly and ground egg shell up for them too. our chicks now 4 @ 5 weeks 2 @ 4 weeks. All doing ok. Oesdog - hope this helps some.
Quote:Erm...what are 'little' rats? hehe... play on words... sort of. They are roof rats, that are living under the shed house that the coop is attached to. They come out day or night, to eat the chicken feed, but they are not any bigger than the 2 pet rats I have. I wanted to trap them under the shed so they would die, but my DH wont kill them. He wants to "have a heart" trap them and let them go somewhere else. I tried explaining to him that there is no way we will be able to trap all the rats, so, for now, they are just part of the yard. About a month ago my BR hen was running around with a young rat in her mouth (well, the tail was in her mouth). She was determined to eat it, had to pull it out of her mouth and dispose of it, so poisoning them is also out of the question. Anywhooooo, I have spent about 3 hours today just sitting and watching mama and baby. She is teaching it to eat, it's so cute. I have them outside in the run (all the chickens are in the big yard) in the bottom half of a dog crate so they can get fresh air. They seem quite content in their little enclosure for now, am just not sure how long I have to keep them isolated from the other hens I really don't want to take the baby away from Mumu, she worked so hard for this little chick, and she is such a great mom. Plus, I can't keep the baby by itself if I raise it, and I don't want anymore chicks right now. I just want to make sure it is safe from harm.
Congrats, on your new baby, I would leave it with the mamma and keep it in sight of the others if possible, My orpington hatched 6 baby's I had them fenced off in the big coop until they started getting away from her. as soon as our meat bird tractor was empty I cleaned it up for mamma and baby's. This was our first time with hen hatched chicks and it IS a blast watching her with them. At about 4 weeks I started letting them out in the yard with the other hens,and roos 11 adults 27 teens. they all learned quick not to touch Penny's baby's she was vicious, when it came to protecting them. at almost 7 weeks I put them in the pig coop with the adults. She quickly cleared a place for them on the roost and no one dared to fight with her, it was hard for the little ones to sit on the perch with her so I put a box about 2inch tall sides on the roost in a corner and the babes sleep there with mom. I wanted to get them in with the adult birds before she lost interest(which doesn't look like any time soon,she is a good momma). they are all doing well, and the babe's are wondering away from mom more and more. Now I need to get them all to accept the teens(5,other 22 have gone to their new home,my daughters) that we got as chicks from a hatchery. They free range with adults all the time but getting them in the coop at night is another story. if you can keep them in with the momma it is the best experience for all and a lot less work for you!!
Thanks Snowflake. I did leave her outside all day, but the only chickens I left with her were my 20 wk old silkies, cause I knew they wouldnt bother her. She is at the bottom of the pecking order with "her flock", which includes a BR, RIR and EE. All the other girls will stay away (I think). It's just that right now, I don't have anyplace, other than the dog crate, to keep them safe from the other hens, unless I lock the hens out of the run like I did today. This afternoon I took the baby and momma out of the crate to see how she would handle it, she started showing the baby how to find food, it was so cute, until she looked over at the gate and saw 2 dogs and about 5 chickens staring at her about 10 ft away. She literally jumped and tried to get back into the crate. I promptly picked them both up and put them back in, and they were fine. I am going to try and find a used pet fence/gate, the kind you make into a circle. I have been looking for one for a while, with no luck. That will allow them to be exposed to the other chickens but not in danger of being attacked. She is such a sweet girl, she never tries to peck when she's broody or even with the baby. She flares up and makes the warning sound, but I guess she trusts me enough to know I wont hurt her or the baby. I want the baby to trust me too.
Congrats on the new chick and being a Grandma. My 2 broody banty hens hatched me 18 chicks 2 weeks ago, I know how it feels to be a new Grandma. I have the 2 hens and 18 chicks in the covered run but fenced off from the rest of the banty's. So they see each other all the time, yesterday I tried to give mamma's some free time they threw a fit so I put them back with the chicks. Guess they are not done being Mamma's yet.
