Mom hen won't leave coop - chicks 1 week old

[FredL]

Is it normal for a momma hen to stay (mostly seated) in the coop (with starter food and water) and not go out even though she has access all day? The chicks are now a week old.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Is it normal for a momma hen to stay (mostly seated) in the coop (with starter food and water) and not go out even though she has access all day? The chicks are now a week old.

Mother knows best. Don't second guess her wisdom.

If momma isn't keen on dragging her peeps around your property about the only way to force her to get out and about is to cut out the inside food and water. This will force momma hen out into the big wide world to feed her chicks. Think of what a chicken stuffs into its face like it was the work that you do to keep your children in smart-phones and Happy Meals. In other words why commute any further than you must to pay your bills. Here again I am unsure about your physical location so I don't know your local climate or temperature.

 

[song of joy]

Does the coop have a ramp and pop door that the chicks can navigate? It's possible she tried to take them out, but stayed in the coop if some or all of the chicks couldn't follow her.

I only have experience with one broody hen, who currently has chicks that are 10 days old. She's been taking them in and out of the coop since they were four days old, and spends a good part of the day scratching in the soil to find them edible treasures to eat. It's really delightful to watch. When it's not raining, I put the feeder outside the coop on the ground so the mom can periodically bring the chicks to the feeder for chick starter, but most of the time they are following her around. The chicks did have trouble navigating the coop ramp the first couple of days (going up, not down), so I had to gather them up and put them in toward evening the first two days she took them out to forage.

She has access to a rather large, fenced chicken yard. (It's not a good idea to let the hen free range with small chicks.)

 

[FredL]

Thank you for your response. The weather is mild here this time of year. The chicks aren't having any problem going up and down the ramp but now momma hen is staying downstairs in the fenced-in area and won't go back UP into the coop at night. They have water but no food in the fenced area which is directly on the ground. After a couple of days of this I moved their food out of the coop an into the fenced area but still left the ramp open all day and night hoping she and the chicks would go up into the coop at night. No luck. A friend told me to keep the food in the coop to encourage them to go up AND have a light on at dusk to attract them. I'll try that tonight. Racoons and rodents can dig under the mobile coop's fencing so I don't like to leave here and the chicks there at night. Any other suggestions are welcome.

 

[FredL]

Thank you.