Keeping new chicks safe.

[Basford]

I have 3 broody Bantam Cochins. They are in a coop with my standard flock. One has 7 eggs due to hatch any day. I have a 2nd coop I built for them they went broody before it was done. It is finished enough for them now. Should I move them now to keep the chicks safe from the big flock ? Or wait till the eggs hatch. They get kicked out of their nest once in a while by the big hens.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

A broody hen is a formidable force when protecting chicks. By the time the chicks are weaned, they will be accepted as members of the flock because of the mother hen.

 

[PrettyChickens15]

I don't think you should move them until the eggs hatch. It could cause the broody to abandon the eggs.

 

[chickens really]

Move Momma and eggs. I do it all the time. She will set on them and hatch out.

 

[Rasputin66]

A broody hen is a formidable force when protecting chicks. By the time the chicks are weaned, they will be accepted as members of the flock because of the mother hen.

"Weaned"?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

"Weaned"?

Not in the mammary gland sense. In the sense that she no longer feels the need to keep them warm, safe and teach them to find food and water.
What would you call that stage of life or do you have a more accurate term to describe a hen's cessation of care for chicks?

I refer you to the Webster's definition of the term:

Definition of wean

1 : to accustom (a young child or animal) to take food otherwise than by nursing
2 : to detach from a source of dependence being weaned off the medication, wean the bears from human food— Sports Illus. also : to free from a usually unwholesome habit or interest wean him off his excessive drinking settling his soldiers on the land … , weaning them from habits of violence — Geoffrey Carnall
3 : to accustom to something from an early age —used in the passive especially with on students weaned on the Internet for researchI was weaned on greasepaint— Helen Hayesthe principles upon which he had been weaned— J. A. Michener

 

[Basford]

1st of 7. I put some hardware cloth around their nests box to keep bigger birds out . When everyone is hatched I'll move them all to their fluffy butt hut.

 

[Shorty22366]

Why move them? Let momma raise them with the flock. I have 7 hens with chicks in with my flock. I never move them unless a chick is weak and not thriving. Then I take it and nurse it back to health and then put it right back in with flock. Momma hen will protect her babies and then rest of the flock will accept babies and teach them alot of things.

 

[ChickenCanoe]