MistySanchez
In the Brooder
We recently acquired a mama hen and her 5 baby chicks. The older gentleman had no idea how old the chicks were. In my limited experience as I've only raised 4 chicks (white leghorn) I would guess them to be at least 5 weeks old. We have had them for 2 weeks now. The mama appears to be some type of game hen. We also purchased an additional game hen hoping to get a broody girl soon to be a mommy. We went ahead & brought the mama with chicks with us too since obviously she has gone broody and is successfully raising chicks. Which was our goal. To get a good mama hen as our other girls over the years have never aspired to become mothers. She seems to be a wonderful mother from what I've observed in the last 2 weeks. However we have kept mama and baby segregated from the rest of the flock and introduced the other hen that night at the roost. The hen that was introduced was brutalized for the first several days and I had to doctor a wound after the second day. At day 5 the picking seemed to dwindle but she remains far from the rest of the flock. We have an open top run approximately 150ft by 35ft currently and have our roo, 2 white leghorn, 3 easter eggers, and 7 others that I'm not very certain of their breed. Anyhow when would be safe theoretically to introduce the mama and her babes. I know normally I think I would be comfortable at this point however her being a newbie to the flock I am a bit hesitant. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I've been a browser of byc for some time but recently joined today and this is my first post. Many thanks from NW Georgia!