GeekAthair
Chirping
Hello everyone!
7 weeks ago we had one of our 1yo EE's go broody (again) so we thought we'd give her a couple chicks and snap her out of it. We added them at night while she was nesting and she went after them so we had to separate them for the evening. The second night we sat there and protected them until she finally accepted them as her own. She's done really well being momma but it's pretty clear she is DONE being momma now and we're looking at the best way to juggle them all. We have 6 hens all at 1 year old and have been working to end a picking problem by the queen bee so I don't feel confident having her and her sister anywhere near the chicks right now, especially when momma has been near the bottom of the pecking order. We moved momma and the chicks into the hen house with a plywood divider so the rest of the flock couldn't see them but they can all definitely hear the baby's and have gotten pretty used to it after 2 weeks now. The original plan was to move them from the secured half of the hen house into our enclosed run but back in the crate with momma for a week or two so they can all safely get to know each other. With momma really not wanting to be enclosed anywhere with them anymore I'm concerned she won't do well being crammed back in like that again.
The babies are now 4-5 weeks old and starting to get more of their feathers but today was the first day they spent alone in the hen house without momma. There were plenty of cries for help/momma but they finally settled down and started to do their own thing. I think momma would still protect them but with her already being low on the pecking order I am concerned with how well she will actually be able to do it.
Any thoughts? It's not exactly going as well as we had planned lol. Thanks!
7 weeks ago we had one of our 1yo EE's go broody (again) so we thought we'd give her a couple chicks and snap her out of it. We added them at night while she was nesting and she went after them so we had to separate them for the evening. The second night we sat there and protected them until she finally accepted them as her own. She's done really well being momma but it's pretty clear she is DONE being momma now and we're looking at the best way to juggle them all. We have 6 hens all at 1 year old and have been working to end a picking problem by the queen bee so I don't feel confident having her and her sister anywhere near the chicks right now, especially when momma has been near the bottom of the pecking order. We moved momma and the chicks into the hen house with a plywood divider so the rest of the flock couldn't see them but they can all definitely hear the baby's and have gotten pretty used to it after 2 weeks now. The original plan was to move them from the secured half of the hen house into our enclosed run but back in the crate with momma for a week or two so they can all safely get to know each other. With momma really not wanting to be enclosed anywhere with them anymore I'm concerned she won't do well being crammed back in like that again.
The babies are now 4-5 weeks old and starting to get more of their feathers but today was the first day they spent alone in the hen house without momma. There were plenty of cries for help/momma but they finally settled down and started to do their own thing. I think momma would still protect them but with her already being low on the pecking order I am concerned with how well she will actually be able to do it.
Any thoughts? It's not exactly going as well as we had planned lol. Thanks!
