June Hatch A Long

[ChickenLady♡]

Ok I am now a new chicken grandma and I have a question. My broody and her 6 chicks are in a SMALL coop inside the main chicken run where they can see the other chickens and the other chickens can see them ... and boy, have they been interested in these little cheeping babies.

How long should I keep the new family seperated?

If I were to let them out in to the run they would have access to free range as the run doors are open all day for the other girls. I would also be worried the teeny babies could walk straight through the run mesh (it's heavy duty but the gaps are about 2" or more - you can see it behind the coop in the photo).

I'm not sure that's a good idea whilst they are so young - our yard is hilly with lots of plants, rocks and shrubs where someone could get lost. I work all day and they wouldn't be supervised.

Mumma hen has been fantastic but I'm wondering if she is ok with staying in the small coop or whether she needs to get out.

What do you do with new families?

 

[SueT]

Ok I am now a new chicken grandma and I have a question. My broody and her 6 chicks are in a SMALL coop inside the main chicken run where they can see the other chickens and the other chickens can see them ... and boy, have they been interested in these little cheeping babies.

How long should I keep the new family seperated?

If I were to let them out in to the run they would have access to free range as the run doors are open all day for the other girls. I would also be worried the teeny babies could walk straight through the run mesh (it's heavy duty but the gaps are about 2" or more - you can see it behind the coop in the photo).

I'm not sure that's a good idea whilst they are so young - our yard is hilly with lots of plants, rocks and shrubs where someone could get lost. I work all day and they wouldn't be supervised.

Mumma hen has been fantastic but I'm wondering if she is ok with staying in the small coop or whether she needs to get out.

What do you do with new families?

I have a similar situation. My broody is not very high in the pecking order, and a bantam among large hens, so I'm keeping them separate until the babies are bigger. I don't want tiny chicks free ranging either. I'm thinking at least 1 month old.
Have your chicks used that ramp yet?

 

[ChickenLady♡]

I have a similar situation. My broody is not very high in the pecking order, and a bantam among large hens, so I'm keeping them separate until the babies are bigger. I don't want tiny chicks free ranging either. I'm thinking at least 1 month old.
Have your chicks used that ramp yet?

Thanks, I'm thinking much the same thing. I let them into the bottom half today for a few hours. Mum tried to walk them down several times without luck but after she went up and down about 10 times (!) they followed her down. They had no idea how to get up though so I had to scramble around in the mud and put them back.

 

[LilyD]

Oooh question for you: is olive oil as good as coconut oil? And what kind of olive oil is best (the virgin-er the better?)? They don't have coconut oil anywhere near here so I've been looking for a replacement I can use.

I believe it works as well but I personally prefer coconut. You have to reapply every 4-6 hours as it only stops the drying out for so long and then it will start to stick to the baby again. As the veins recede I will also use a qtip dipped in coconut oil under the membrane between the membrane and the chick to keep the membrane from actually getting stuck to the chick as they get closer to wanting to hatch. You have to be very careful as you do this to stay away from where the yolk sac might be in case it's not totally absorbed yet.

For olive oil I only get extra virgin olive oil and the lighter the color the better. I order my coconut oil on Amazon believe it or not I get a gallon bucket of it and just put smaller amounts in quart size canning jars for us to use so we don't have to mess around with the gallon jug. These are the kids that I just had to help out on Thursday night last week.

 

[LilyD]

thank you Lily. about how much longer do you expect it will be? baby has been sleepily yawning and chewing in a half shell for over two days now. is that within normal range?

Ducks can take FOREVER to get out of their shells and get everything done. I started out last week with internally pipped babies on Tuesday when I got home from work in the evening. No idea how long they had been internally pipped and ended up having to help. I did a safety hole to help them breathe left them for 24 hours and started working on the shell the night after and then still had to wait until Friday night before some were out completely. So all told that was like 96 hours before they were finished from internal pip to wanting out lol. I actually pulled their head out on Thursday night and left their little bums in the egg shell so they could finish their yolk. When they come out they tend to have a open belly button that is kind of big on their belly. That goes away after a bit and they do fine. I try to make sure to help them drink a few times with something in the water nutridrench or save a chick right after I move them over too cause having hatching issues can be hard on them.

 

[LilyD]

that’s because it DID TAKE FOREVER!!!!

Yes @LilyD just went through this for all of us to see. It was amazing.

All I can say is keep waiting and wait some more. I would have ripped those babies out of the shell fifteen times by the time they were ready to come out for her.

They’re doing their thing, be patient. Can you see the yolk?

I find it hard to see the yolk. Usually once their heads are out they are either going to make it and finish off well or they just fade away. I have had them go both ways but I am a big believer in having them push out as much as possible on the bottom half of the egg too before I take them out since that is what makes their legs strong enough for walking and helps correct any issues from them not being able to move enough in the egg while growing.

 

[LilyD]

Ok I am now a new chicken grandma and I have a question. My broody and her 6 chicks are in a SMALL coop inside the main chicken run where they can see the other chickens and the other chickens can see them ... and boy, have they been interested in these little cheeping babies.

How long should I keep the new family seperated?

If I were to let them out in to the run they would have access to free range as the run doors are open all day for the other girls. I would also be worried the teeny babies could walk straight through the run mesh (it's heavy duty but the gaps are about 2" or more - you can see it behind the coop in the photo).

I'm not sure that's a good idea whilst they are so young - our yard is hilly with lots of plants, rocks and shrubs where someone could get lost. I work all day and they wouldn't be supervised.

Mumma hen has been fantastic but I'm wondering if she is ok with staying in the small coop or whether she needs to get out.

What do you do with new families?

Honestly it really depends on the mom. If you have one that is higher up on the pecking order then she will deal with any hens that get to forward and try to hurt her babies. Those that are lower down won't be able to do anything though. Can you set her up with a separate run for a bit by dividing the area between the two coops? Mom will want to show the babies how to forage and look for bugs and other creepy crawlies so she won't want to stay inside long.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Ok I am now a new chicken grandma and I have a question. My broody and her 6 chicks are in a SMALL coop inside the main chicken run where they can see the other chickens and the other chickens can see them ... and boy, have they been interested in these little cheeping babies.

How long should I keep the new family seperated?

If I were to let them out in to the run they would have access to free range as the run doors are open all day for the other girls. I would also be worried the teeny babies could walk straight through the run mesh (it's heavy duty but the gaps are about 2" or more - you can see it behind the coop in the photo).

I'm not sure that's a good idea whilst they are so young - our yard is hilly with lots of plants, rocks and shrubs where someone could get lost. I work all day and they wouldn't be supervised.

Mumma hen has been fantastic but I'm wondering if she is ok with staying in the small coop or whether she needs to get out.

What do you do with new families?

This seems to be one of those big personal preference things based on your broody hen as well as your flock. I've mentioned before that I have an extremely docile flock but I initially followed what people were saying online and separated one of my broody hens with her bitties, by the 3rd day she was pacing by the door wanting to leave with the rest of the flock so I opened the door and she immediately went to showing the little ones how to forage and would posture and warn the rest of the flock when they were too close to her babies, it's all a natural part of introductions (this particular hen was low on the pecking order as well). Since my initial experience, I haven't bothered with separating my broodies from the rest of the flock since I now know what to expect from them. As far as the 2" holes they will probably be small enough to squeeze through for quite some time but they will always come right back to stay with Mom. If you have a dog that would go after them or just don't want to take the chance then zip tying something with smaller holes to the bottom would be your best bet. Good luck!

 

[AquaDuck]

I believe it works as well but I personally prefer coconut. You have to reapply every 4-6 hours as it only stops the drying out for so long and then it will start to stick to the baby again. As the veins recede I will also use a qtip dipped in coconut oil under the membrane between the membrane and the chick to keep the membrane from actually getting stuck to the chick as they get closer to wanting to hatch. You have to be very careful as you do this to stay away from where the yolk sac might be in case it's not totally absorbed yet.

For olive oil I only get extra virgin olive oil and the lighter the color the better. I order my coconut oil on Amazon believe it or not I get a gallon bucket of it and just put smaller amounts in quart size canning jars for us to use so we don't have to mess around with the gallon jug. These are the kids that I just had to help out on Thursday night last week. View attachment 1811558

Thanks! I found it on some online store so I'm gonna go ahead and buy it for the next duckling-hatch. As I understand it, coconut oil has antibacterial and antifungal properties as well as being lubrication, so it's probably better to use than other oils.

 

[jolenesdad]

@jolenesdad , my flock is a bunch of mutts..lol, I've got 11 of my flock in the incubator with 11 ee's, then have six Americana mixes in the little and my broody has just hatched out 2 from my flock so they are mixes. Baby #1 is the first.. and then the 2nd looks like he's wearing camo, blends right in with the pine shavings.

Surprises! That’s fun.

I ordered assorted duck eggs from Metzer, assuming they’d be labeled. Aaaaaaaand, they aren’t. They just say “mix”. I’ve never ordered from a hatchery for eggs before, but most of them I see have those fabulous little perfect stamps with the breed on the egg.

I’m hoping some here can help me ID.


@ChickenLady♡ i use the little square vegetable garden netting with zip ties for babies in a run like that, it’s fairly inexpensive. They will totally go in and out until 2-3 weeks at least.