Integrating chicks with chicks

[Coon Cotten]

I have a hen and 4 baby chicks in my nursery right now. I just had another hen go broody that will be hatching the end of this month. Will I be able to put the new mom and babies in the nursery with the other hen and her babies? Her chicks should be 5 weeks old when the new babies hatch. Neither of the hens are really what I would call aggressive. They just puff up and growl. They have never pecked me while I’ve been fooling with them or the babies of the hen that’s hatched already. I just don’t know if I need to figure something else out for the new broody hen. The nursery is about 8x8 with 3 different chicken tunnels so they can get outside during the daylight hours. Thank you

 

[DobieLover]

I have a hen and 4 baby chicks in my nursery right now. I just had another hen go broody that will be hatching the end of this month. Will I be able to put the new mom and babies in the nursery with the other hen and her babies? Her chicks should be 5 weeks old when the new babies hatch. Neither of the hens are really what I would call aggressive. They just puff up and growl. They have never pecked me while I’ve been fooling with them or the babies of the hen that’s hatched already. I just don’t know if I need to figure something else out for the new broody hen. The nursery is about 8x8 with 3 different chicken tunnels so they can get outside during the daylight hours. Thank you

Do you have the broody and her chicks isolated from the rest of the flock?

 

[aart]

The nursery is about 8x8 with 3 different chicken tunnels so they can get outside during the daylight hours.

Pics of nursery coop?
Can you split this coop with mesh partitions so broodies can see each other but not physically interact?

Do you have the broody and her chicks isolated from the rest of the flock?

Wonders about other birds too.

 

[Coon Cotten]

Do you have the broody and her chicks isolated from the rest of the flock?

Yes, kinda. My chickens have an acre to roam on. I have the big coop for grown chickens. Then I have the nursery that I keep the young chickens in until they are about 16 weeks to protect them from flying predators. It has tunnels where they can get out and the big chickens can see them but only thru a fence . It’s something that I’m still working on and started because my first hen went broody. But now I’ve got another hen went broody and I’ve only got this one nursery that I’m still trying to complete the tunnels for. Each tunnel will be about 12ft. I had to stop everything to build a safe cage around the nest that she picked because last time she went broody I moved her and she stopped setting after a week of being moved. My adult chickens are only 7 months. The first

 

[Coon Cotten]

Pics of nursery coop?
Can you split this coop with mesh partitions so broodies can see each other but not physically interact?
Yes I could put up fence but I only have one door for me to get in and care for them and then there is only one door so they can enter to the tunnels. I gave 3 tunnels because originally I only had one tunnel that I moved around for fresh grass. So to left the grass regrow I could just shut off that tunnel for a few days or so and they can go to another tunnel was my thought process

Wonders about other birds too.

Pics of nursery coop?
Can you split this coop with mesh partitions so broodies can see each other but not physically interact?


Wonders about other birds too.

 

[Coon Cotten]

Pics of nursery coop?
Can you split this coop with mesh partitions so broodies can see each other but not physically interact?


Wonders about other birds too.

 

[Coon Cotten]

Yes I could put up fence inside but only one would have access to the tunnel. I also don’t know how much longer the first hen will be with her chicks. By the time the second hen hatched the first chickens will be 5 weeks old already.

 

[aart]

How did you plan in integrating the broodies and their chicks back into the main flock?

 

[Coon Cotten]

How did you plan in integrating the broodies and their chicks back into the main flock?

I was planning on just moving them to main coop leaving then pen up in there for 1 week like I did the first flock then let them be free to roam after. My first flock of 18 I raised them like this and there was 2 roosters that stood a nursery everyday all day and when I released them the roosters just act normal. So I was hopping this method would work again. The chickens hang out at the nursery a lot looking in. So I just thought they would know each other after 16 weeks

 

[Mrs. K]

How old is the broody hen chicks. If less than two weeks, I would just let her in with the flock. She will teach the flock correct chicken society. But if the chicks are much older, you have missed that window, and will need to do it like you plan, but I would do it much sooner than 16 weeks. I would do it before the second broody hen's chicks hatch.

I don't think two broody hens, with a great deal of time between hatches, will work well.

Mrs K