Looking for help on baby chicks

[hitnspit]

ok this is what i want to do. I have a poultry farm and would like to have a rooster and hen do there thing. Now would i have to take the chicks from the hen to feed and water or will mother do that. Just wondering what you all think. I plan on grabbing them as they come out of the shell but just wondering what you all do...Thanks.....jim

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

The hen has to be broody to set. You will know if she is broody because she won't get off the nest.

You can put the eggs in an incubator if you don't have a broody hen. It takes 21 days to hatch.

If you hatch them in the incubator, you need a brooder to raise them in. See here:
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKRaisingChicks.html
those fish tank brooders are too small to use for long though

See the brooders in the coop section of BYC for larger ideas.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops

Or you can brood in a barn/shed with cardboard all around:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/kathyinmos-brooders
scroll down

If the mama hen has hatched them out she will raise them. Some mamas are better than others so she and the chicks might need protection from the rest of the flock for awhile.

Let her raise them! It is much easier and she desires to have a family. I once took away chicks from a mama when they were a few weeks old. I will never forget the look on her face. So crestfallen and I am tortured to this day with the memory.