A broody hen of mine just sat on some eggs but only hatched out one chick from them. The chick is about 24 hours old now and I was planning on introducing her to the flock and everything so that she can integrate well but I'm not really sure how to go about it. Any advice on how to do it or whether I should wait if the chick is older to do this?
First, give the mama some more time to finish hatching the remaining eggs. She will know when to come off the nest and will protect the chicks within the flock. Is the broody in sight of the rest of the flock? That is usually the best scenario. More info will get more specific suggestions on how to proceed.
I'm having the same problem with one of my broody hens but I decided she was going to be my test broody to see if I could hatch inside the coop and integrate them when the mama wants to get off the nest but she is only a test hatch it may not go as well as I hope.
I do this two different ways. Often I let the hen hatch with the flock and bring them off the nest when she is ready. She knows better than I do when the hatch is over. I put food and water on the coop floor where the chicks can get to them and eave the rest to her. When my coop is pretty crowded, I let her bring the hatch off the nest when she is ready, then put them in a predator-proof shelter inside my electric netting. I leave them locked in there for usually two or sometimes three nights with food and water. This way the hen will take them back to that shelter at night instead of into the crowded coop. I raise mine for meat. I time the hatches so the overcrowding is no longer a problem when it's time for the chicks to move into the main coop or my grow-out coop. We all have different goals and set-ups, I don't know which might work best for you, but both these methods work quite well for me. Good luck!
She's currently in a cage in sight of the flock from their run while she is sitting on the eggs. It is day 22 on the hatch and only 1 has hatched and I'm not sure if the others will, it's not looking like they are going to.(I'm still planning to wait and see to check to make sure they aren't going to hatch.) When the other chickens were let out of their run yesterday they wandered over to the cage I had the broody hen in. The chick is a little over 24 hours old at this moment. So I'm not sure if it's a bad idea to integrate them in this early. Hope this is enough information, if you need more feel free to ask
I'd put the cage inside the coop or run, then when she's ready just open the door to cage. They will spend the night there until older.
