Integrating a single chick with mama hen

[lutherpug]

My broody hatched a single chick 2 weeks ago and I have them in a makeshift chicken wire home inside of the coop. If I open up their area the only “safe space” will be the nesting box and I suspect the other hens will want in there. I need to add more boxes and plan to do so today. Is it likely the baby will be safe as a single chick? I think it will be difficult for the baby to navigate the ramp to the run although I don’t know this for certain. I’m sure mama wants/needs a dust bath. No roosters currently in the flock and approximately 20 hens + mama. Coop is 120 sq ft and the run is 600 so a decent amount of space. Thoughts?

 

[azygous]

At two weeks old, the chick should be able to make it up the ramp. When I have chicks, I staple old dish towel onto the ramp for traction. It works splendidly.

The broody shouldn't have any trouble protecting one chick as long as she's well bonded with it. But stick around and watch when you let her out of her enclosure to be sure.

As for adding nests, the broody probably won't be willing to move into one of them. I would just let her figure out what she wants to do. Some broodies will teach a chick to roost on a perch and cover the chick with her skirts.

 

[lutherpug]

I need to add more nest boxes as we have more pullets laying and a need for more boxes. When I set aside the area for mama to hatch eggs it included a nest box so that’s where they’ve been sleeping for better or worse. My roosts are way too high for the baby but maybe I could add one close to the ground and see what she decides to do.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I tend to trust my broody hens, they know more about it than I do. If the hen wants to sleep in a corner of the coop on the floor, I let her. That's where most go. If she wants to take her chicks somewhere else to sleep I let her. I check when I lock the coop at night to see that things are OK but generally I let Mama handle these things.

Since they are currently sleeping in that nest she'll probably keep doing that for a while. You can add a low roost if you want, I don't see how it can cause any harm. She might use it, she might not. I've had hens take their chicks to my main roosts as young as 2 weeks old, I've had some not take them to the main roosts for more than 6 weeks.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I currently have a mama with one chick. I never fully separated them. I put mama in the isolation pen under my poop board before baby came (she was adopted as a 2 day old, though). I left the door open. She stayed on the nest down there for 4 days. Then she brought the chick out into the run while the others were out. Each day, she brought the chick out farther and farther. After about a week, she was out roaming the yard with the whole flock. I've not had any problems. If mama gets tired/spooked, she goes back under the poop board to her pen. But I only have 3 other pullets and lots of room. I also made sure I had time to observe and intervene if necessary, so I did all of this while off work for a while.

There was one time my top hen got a little too close. Mama jumped on her back and pecked her a few times. Lesson learned! I don't think my top hen was even aware that she was close in proximity.

Now, 2 weeks later, the chick runs around all over my yard and all around my other pullets with zero issues. I may just have been lucky, though....

ETA: My other pullets never showed interest in going into the isolation pen because they would much rather be in the yard.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Now, 2 weeks later, the chick runs around all over my yard and all around my other pullets with zero issues. I may just have been lucky, though....

I don't consider that lucky. I consider that normal.

 

[lutherpug]

Well, as it turns out this all worked itself out quite neatly. I was out running errands most of the day and when I came home I poked my head into the coop and the baby was outside of the brooder pen while mama was stuck inside. Who knows how long that had been the case-it could have been hours. So I pulled all the fencing down and stayed in there for an hour keeping an eye on things. Seems to be going well. Mama has put a few of the hens in their place when they've gotten too close but baby is running all over the place and is generally being ignored. Selfishly I'm kind of glad it happened this way as it made it a little easier on me. I'm going to stick my head in again but the last time I did everyone else was on the roost and mama and baby were in their nest box. I'll take it.

 

[Mrs. K]

Really Ridgerunner is right, let them figure it out works best!