Logistics help please - mama + 4 chicks and a broody!

[PouleChick]

Hi I'd like some feedback / ideas / thoughts from you lovely chicken people . I'll tell you the background! I'm just not sure what to do as I'm still such a newbie about chicken behaviours (but oh my goodness I'm learning quick

I have 6 day old chicks with their mama silkie Hermione in a small hutch / coop in a little run (2x5 metres so not tiny) that is in the corner of the main run, they have been allowed out the last few days and are just gorgeous and loving it and the other chickens are able to see and be very close to them. I also have a 2nd silkie Doris who has just gone broody and I put eggs under her this morning.

Doris and Hermione came from the same place when I got them a couple of months back and were living together in the little coop when H went broody. I'd only just day intergrated them with my other 3 ( I was leaving the runs open to each other but they were sleeping not together) at that point. I let Doris go back in at night but she was laying eggs on H so decided when I moved the others into thier new coop to move her at the same time. While she has seemed a little lonely they leave her alone and all get on. Now she is broody she is still in the main coop and I wasn't sure she had been out for food yesterday so I got her down and she seemed starving but the other 3 were really horrible and chased her off the food and pecked her in the head. She is so vunerable as she has a big puffball head and is so totally docile it breaks my heart. I put her in the downstairs of the coop (wire enclosed) with food and water and locked the big girls out until she had eaten, drunk and pooed. I can cope with doing that for a few days but we are converting a huge 1x1 m planter box into a little coop for H and the chicks so I can move D into the other little coop. So basically I will have a maternity ward coop and a growing up coop.

My questions are about the run. I want D to be able to actually go outside to poo / have a quick dust bath etc as Hermione was able to with my set up.

• Can I put the 2 little coops in the same run? I'm happy to put up some more fencing and make a 3rd littel run if I need to to keep Doris safe.
  
• Will Hermione (head chook of the pair) leave D alone on her nest?
  
• When Doris comes out for poo / food etc I'm sure she wouldnt' take any notice of the chicks but would their be a problem with H attacking her even though they were best buddies and H used to be quite protective of D?
• All being well with the hatch there will be nearly 4 weeks (3+6) between the 2 lots of chicks - is that close enough they can live together? If not straight away then when? My other 3 had 2 weeks between them but got them at 5 and 7 weeks.
• Anything else I should think about / know / questions I haven't asked that I should have ?

Thanks in advance

 

[PouleChick]

Anyone??? I'm hoping to get the coop down tomorrow.

Little mama and chick coop looking good after a couple of hours work on it this afternoon - we have even found some lovely old antique 'canal' roof tiles for it. I will paint it with some natural ocre paint later I'll just put them into it as is as I'm desperate to get Doris out of the main coop and safe from the big girls. I'll get some pics tomorrow!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I like to have a setting hen in her own apartment in a separate building from the others.
That way no other hens will volunteer eggs causing a staggered hatch. I can then count those freakishly large feces to see how frequently she comes off the nest which is usually daily but sometimes less. She will have her own food and water supply and I can then go days or longer without even having to worry about her. They are in a trance with a job to do and don't really care about being with the flock.
If one does leave them with the flock, mark all the eggs under them so the volunteers can be removed.
As for a hen with a brood of chicks, if I plan on the chicks being part of a particular flock, I put them all together from about 4 or 5 days of age because a mother hen should protect the chicks from all comers. By the time they are weaned, the others have already accepted them as part of the flock - albeit at the bottom of the pecking order.
Silkies are a special problem because they are so docile with obscured vision - and relentlessly broody. If they were never part of the flock in question, then that is a different dynamic. Normally, if you have bullies, those are the ones removed to other quarters temporarily.
Do you have a rooster? They usually keep the peace in a flock of fighting hens.

Luckily, you're in France and not Missouri where every type of predator under the sun is just waiting for dusk to find a way in for chicken dinner.

 

[bruceha2000]

I agree it is best to isolate Doris and her nest from the other hens. Since D & H were pals before I might try putting their little coops together with a common run since that will be easier for you. I would think H would ignore D when she is out in the run as long as she doesn't get too close to H's chicks. You might want to have 2 feeders and 2 waterers (separated by some distance) in the run so D wouldn't be wanting to use the single ones when H's chicks are there.

NOTE: I have never had 1 hen hatch chicks let alone 2 in series!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I've had some years with lots of setting hens and some years with none.
I once had 8 pullets brooding together in a large community nest

 

[PouleChick]

Thank you both!

I like to have a setting hen in her own apartment in a separate building from the others.
That way no other hens will volunteer eggs causing a staggered hatch. I can then count those freakishly large feces to see how frequently she comes off the nest which is usually daily but sometimes less.

That is pretty much how it has been for Hermoine - in the little 'maternity ward' coop in a small 2x5 run within the main run - it was perfect, she was safe and I coudl monitor food / water and poop! It is just the Doris brooding at the same time that has thrown a spanner!

As for a hen with a brood of chicks, if I plan on the chicks being part of a particular flock, I put them all together from about 4 or 5 days of age because a mother hen should protect the chicks from all comers. By the time they are weaned, the others have already accepted them as part of the flock - albeit at the bottom of the pecking order.

I do plan for them to be together. Hermione the warrior silkie is small but quite fierce and her hairdo seems to give her quite good vision (unlike poor dim Doris) but the 'big girls' were pretty horrible to her when I was trying to intergrate them all and I had to separate a few times as they had her pinned down pecking her in the head I'm not sure how she can protect her chicks if they are going to do that to her I suppose I could try but it won't be immediately as the fencing is too big for the chicks so I need to run something smaller. I wonder at what age chicks don't fit through chicken wire as that is probably my only option to get them fenced in safely in the big run.

Silkies are a special problem because they are so docile with obscured vision - and relentlessly broody. If they were never part of the flock in question, then that is a different dynamic. Normally, if you have bullies, those are the ones removed to other quarters temporarily.

I think she went broody about 2 days after I got them intergrated (day only) so I agree it is a bit of a weird situation and I'm just a bit clueless how to best manage it.

Do you have a rooster? They usually keep the peace in a flock of fighting hens.

Probably at least 2 of my chicks but no not at the moment.

Luckily, you're in France and not Missouri where every type of predator under the sun is just waiting for dusk to find a way in for chicken dinner.

yes there is that - although we think we spotted a fox yesterday evening running from the neighbours barking dogs and apparently there are various mink / ferret type things in the area (I've never seen one or heard neighbours speak of them).

Since D & H were pals before I might try putting their little coops together with a common run since that will be easier for you. I would think H would ignore D when she is out in the run as long as she doesn't get too close to H's chicks. You might want to have 2 feeders and 2 waterers (separated by some distance) in the run so D wouldn't be wanting to use the single ones when H's chicks are there.

That is pretty much the only way I cna think to juggle at the moment! if it doesn't work I cna run another little fence next to them so Doris can have a seperate run. The annoying thing is that I had to shorted the run the ohter day when I ran the smaller size wire to keep the chicks in! Can definately make sure there is 2 waterers and feeders that isn't an issue.

NOTE: I have never had 1 hen hatch chicks let alone 2 in series!!

my 'buying some silkies instead of an incubator' plan is working far better than expected, no way on earth did I expect them to go broody just 3 weeks / 7 weeks after getting them! I thought it would be a couple of months and I'd have lots of time to sort out my runs / coops etc!

Right need to go and vaccum the new coop and check for splinters and then I think I'm going to go with the option of trying them in the same run as I just can't see another option to be honest and if it doesn't work I'll run more fencing.

 

[bruceha2000]

Doris won't use the run other than her daily eat, drink, poop forays until the chicks hatch. That might actually be good so Hermione can still see her daily and consider her a non threat.

I wonder at what age chicks don't fit through chicken wire as that is probably my only option to get them fenced in safely in the big run.

You must have a different size poultry wire than I have. I don't think even the newly arrived chicks would have fit through it.

 

[PouleChick]

You must have a different size poultry wire than I have. I don't think even the newly arrived chicks would have fit through it.

I've got the small square hardcloth on all the coop openings but in the day runs at the moment (intend to make improvements over time and hopefully have extra runs that have that too) but fo rhte moment the fencing around the runs is just our regular fencing with 8x10cm squares. In the little run I have covered that over with what we call here (and in Oz) 'chicken wire' which is the hexaganol (?) stuff - it is about a few cm across maybe and at least the little Araucanas can fit through (not sure about the bigger one though).

Doris won't use the run other than her daily eat, drink, poop forays until the chicks hatch. That might actually be good so Hermione can still see her daily and consider her a non threat.

That is the option I've gone with. We'll see how it rolls tomorrow! I have moved the chicks and H into the new coop (took her a while to go in and she wouldn't let me pick her or the chicks up!) and Doris into the little 'maternity ward' so we shall see how it works out. Honestly Doris is just so docile I'm guessing it all will work out for the moment!

 

[bruceha2000]

 

[PouleChick]

I forgot to come back with pics of the new coop and set up! First an update - twice Hermione has taken the chicks in to the little coop that is the maternity ward. Unfortunately the first time was in the evening and Doris the Slightly Dim Silkie had got off the nest for her daily food etc and all 5 of them were installed on the eggs (to be fair it was where she had been since I got her!). Poor Doris was just stood staring at her when I found them. Unfortunately there must have been a kerfufle and there was a hole pecked in my only BCM egg - day 3. I realised I needed to get down there and shut her up before Hermione taking the the chicks to bed so off I went yesterday but due to the huge rain they had gone in early. Doris was still on the nest and they were all next to her, I got them out and into the new coop and lifted Doris to check the eggs and my loveliest, biggest, whittest Favarolle egg had a hole too Full pics etc here on that drama: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/grrr-silly-mama-broody-hens.1244232/
So obviously I can't trust H not to hurt the eggs / maybe Doris so I am going to still keep her in the same run for the moment but keep her locked up and just let her out for her business while I'm there in the evening (probably lock up the others first) as it does work well for me in most ways.

So our little growing out coop is just under 1x1m and other than the hinges was 100% free and only took a few hours! Someone gave us the 'box' as a planter box (we think it may actually be something that is used for tile deliveries!) and we had the other wood, hardcloth and the lovely old tiles already! Just cut a door out, built a roof support, tiled it and gave it a quick sand. when they move out I'm going to paint it out side to protect it and inside probably with lime white wash as I understand this is a natural way to deter mites from getting in the wood.

Here are the 2 next to each other - excuse the messy looking plastic sheet - I lean it up at night to give protection from wind etc.

We put some thin foam as a little waterproofing and insulation and I was going to tuck it under the wood and staple it but decided I dont' like seeing it so I'll cut it off so you can't see it! You can see some beddign in front - I need to add a peice of wood across the front to stop this happening!

Ventilation all around the top sides and front (and to be fair there is gaps between the wood too so plenty of ventilation I would imagine!

Very old handmade tiles - these babies are all different - they used to make them over thier legs! Much used her in the south of France as well as italy, Spain etc. As you can see I really need to get rid of the white foam stuff

There you have it - our chick / mama / broody hen complex!