Mamma hen of 8 chicks killed!!! Need advice

[bboyd1]

My mamma hen who hatched out eggs and was raising 8 chicks! They are thankfully at that ugly feathering out stage of about 6 weeks old, and have been free ranging with mamma since hatching day but with mamma now dead (thanks to a dog) Im not sure if they will go to the cooop at night. Biggest problem is they have always gone in and out of the fencing with her keeping them in order when they'd wander too far, and now I don't know how well I can keep them contained. I also worry that with her gone they will have a much harder time in the flock of adults, she always was with the flock and was queen, putting other hens down when they'd try to eat where the chicks were eating. This is the worst possible thing! RIP Mamma Fluffy Butt, I saw the fresh bald spot on the back of one of your babies head and know you died attacking a dog to save it. Need to know if there is anything I can do to help them make it to adulthood at this point??? Gonna try to chick proof the run, but its gonna be near impossible since it attaches to the goat shed (shelter) and that opens up to the field thats blocked only by weldwire...

 

[Chickie-chan]

I would seperate the chicks until they're maybe almost the size of the adults. That way they won't be so small to be picked on. Also with going to the coop at night you can make a little area to the side, big enough that they can't get pecked at through the wire, and keep them there a couple of days. That way they can see the other chickens coming in at night and they know that that is where they need to sleep. Also when you do that, the other chickens can get used to having a new faces around. When you do integrate the new group to the flock there will be pecking. Just watch it to make sure that if there's blood you can clean that up right away.
What I've written is from what I've read from others on this site so I don't know for sure how this will work, but I hope it helps!

 

[ChickenLegs13]

You said they had always free ranged with momma and the flock, so the flock is already used to and accepted them and there probably wouldn't be any problem *BUT* you got a killer dog in the area. They will be the next victims when Rover returns so pen them up.

 

[bboyd1]

Thanks, the dog is taken care of now, and today my Roo is guarding them like he's their mamma (weird) but they don't follow him so I still have hawks and such to worry about. Looking like the other hens don't care about babies right now, but I did feed them separate so they weren't getting beat up. Gonna pen them up by themselves inside the shed a couple weeks or so, take them out to range for a couple hours a day when I can be with them. Having the dominant hen as ther mother made them pretty advantaged, and now the flock is going nuts figuring out whose on top and I don't want the babies getting hurt in the fray. Good grief, I really thought I'd gotten lucky having such a good broody who was also boss... Maybe one of these pullets will grow up and have the broody&good mamma genes she had.

 

[Chickie-chan]

I hope everything works out!