Hi Penny - I sent you a PM but wanted to also post here and share my experiences with others. Many know that I have had a running thread going "Journey through a different way" about raising my chickens and farm animals in a more natural way. I have had many broodies now and I put them in a kennel on the coop floor while they are setting. This keeps others from running them off the nest and laying more eggs. It also keeps the mama calmer and I can put food and water directly under her face if she's not leaving the nest to eat/drink as some have.
Once the chicks hatch, I open the kennel door and let nature take it's course. The mama will have the babies running around the coop the first few days and I've never seen anyone, hen or roo, bother the babies or the mama. I have seen many killer Ninja Broodies if anyone dares to think about messing with them. After a week or two the mama will have them running around the farm like everyone else. She seems to always take them back to their nest in the open kennel at night - which is always left open.
I have often slipped pipping eggs or newly hatched or even week old chicks under a broody hen whose eggs did not hatch because after sitting for a month I think she deserves to have a brood of her own and every time they have taken the chicks as their own.
After about three or four weeks, I've found the mama to go back to roosting on the rafters above the nest while her babies slept on the coop floor. During the day she's back with them but during the night she has her own space.
I even have a broody little rumpless Araucana that hatched two ducklings and has had them running around like they are her own - I guess they are to her - and again, no none dares to bother them.
I have just recently hatched a few dozen chicks and now that the weather is warmer I've put them out of the brooder bin to free range just like everyone else - they range from two weks old to four weeks old. They tend to stay in the coop for the first week but get really adventurous after that and again, even without a mama hen, no one bothers them and they are soon running around the farm just the same.
Now of course, I have lots of space and no one is confined in close quarters and everyone free ranges the farm and comes and go at will and I'm sure that makes all the difference.
Once the chicks hatch, I open the kennel door and let nature take it's course. The mama will have the babies running around the coop the first few days and I've never seen anyone, hen or roo, bother the babies or the mama. I have seen many killer Ninja Broodies if anyone dares to think about messing with them. After a week or two the mama will have them running around the farm like everyone else. She seems to always take them back to their nest in the open kennel at night - which is always left open.
I have often slipped pipping eggs or newly hatched or even week old chicks under a broody hen whose eggs did not hatch because after sitting for a month I think she deserves to have a brood of her own and every time they have taken the chicks as their own.
After about three or four weeks, I've found the mama to go back to roosting on the rafters above the nest while her babies slept on the coop floor. During the day she's back with them but during the night she has her own space.
I even have a broody little rumpless Araucana that hatched two ducklings and has had them running around like they are her own - I guess they are to her - and again, no none dares to bother them.
I have just recently hatched a few dozen chicks and now that the weather is warmer I've put them out of the brooder bin to free range just like everyone else - they range from two weks old to four weeks old. They tend to stay in the coop for the first week but get really adventurous after that and again, even without a mama hen, no one bothers them and they are soon running around the farm just the same.
Now of course, I have lots of space and no one is confined in close quarters and everyone free ranges the farm and comes and go at will and I'm sure that makes all the difference.
