Momma Hen and one chick - can they be blended with the rest

[stubbornhill]

Hi all. I have a hen who hatched out 1 chick. It is about 2 weeks old. They have been in a brooder in the hen house. Momma is going crazy in the brooder and wants out badly. How long do I have to keep her in there with her chick?

Can I let them out and just leave the door open so that she and the chick can have their own space? Will Momma protect the chick from the others or do I need to keep them locked up.

Thanks for your help and experience. I have never had a hen hatch eggs. Always bought baby chicks and raised them that way.

 

[Happy Chooks]

As with a lot of chicken things..............it depends. Depends on your hen, how high up she is in the pecking order, how much of bully's the rest of your flock is, how much space you have.

But since you have had them in visual contact, things most likely would be fine. I let my broodies out when the chicks are a week old. I've only had 1 chick fatality and it was a day old chick and involved a fight over the nesting box. So now I separate until they are a week old.

 

[stubbornhill]

Thanks for the help! As no one had responded yesterday when I left work, when I got home, i made the brooder so they could go in and out. Momma hen hopped out never to be seen again for the rest of the evening! She left the baby in the coop and went out into the yard. A couple other hens went in the brooder and pecked at her. So I shut her up. (speaking forth that she is a she of course!) She just cheeped and cheeped for hours looking for Momma. So when Momma came in to roost for the night. She just got up on the roost. Didn't even go to her baby. I took her down and put her back in the brooder.

She definately is low in the chain of command. Not a fighter. This little calm Austrolorp doesn't stand a chance up against a dominant Partridge Rock. We'll try again in a couple weeks.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[DTRM30]

Doesn't sound good. She has no interest in raising that chick from the sounds of it. When my silkie hatched out chicks, you couldn't keep her away from them, and she was always cooing to them and showing them how to scratch and look for goodies. I had two silkies that were both raising/sharing the chicks. You may end up being forced to raise the chick in a brooder and trying to introduce it when it gets to 16-20 weeks old. If you do that, introduce it at night, after the others have all roosted and gone to sleep. With just one, it will be more difficult, and it'll need lots of space to escape while it establishes itself in the flock.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Yeah, that doesn't sound good. She shouldn't be done raising it yet.

 

[stubbornhill]

I know! And this is the kicker...This momma hen sat on eggs for over 30 days! She hatched one chick, which was found dead. It was fully developed, just dead. I don't know if she killed it or what. Then she sat on 4 more eggs for another 10ish days waiting for them to hatch. Only one did, this little chick. One egg completely dissapeared and then the other 2 eggs I tossed as she had been sitting on them way too long. Obviously they were not going to hatch.

She sooooo seemed that she wanted babies!

 

[TexasChickenUnv]

Some hens just like to set. I have one banty who likes to set, and hatched out a total of 7 chicks over a 10 day period. Another broody banty ditched her nest & adopted the first 5 chicks, and I gave her eggs to the setting hen. The setter hatched out 2 more chicks last weekend, and is still setting. I am removing the now 6 week old eggs & am about to kick her off the nest. She occasionally mothers the 2 that are still living in the hen house with her, or sometimes they go hang out with their half-brothers & sisters with their aunt. Or I guess she's their other mother. It's gotten very confusing.

It is hard to blend in one, especially sweet Australorps. Good luck; at least you get to add to your flock for free!

 

[NovaAman]

Hm.... I have good mamas... HOWEVER, I never let my moms away free in the yard until I know they are going to take care of the baby. I have a brooder coop, and an enclosure that I use in front of the brooder coop to 1) protect the chicks while they are outside; 2) keep mom with them. Now Mom is outside, but still with her chicks. If she's a good mama the first time around, After all the eggs have hatched, and the chicks are a few days old, I let the brooder coop open, and let mom take them where she will. If she's a flight risk, they stay together in broody coop and enclosure for a few weeks. I do expand the enclosure however, so they get used to more and more space, and mama doesn't go crazy trains...

 

[stubbornhill]

Saturday night I had, had enough! We were just not set up for this broody hen and one baby situation. So we did a major, thourough and complete cleaning of the hen house. When we put everything back. I said, ok, we are just going to have to make something so that the Momma and baby can be free, but the baby can escape. It was after dark so the hens all came in to roost. The baby was out running around on the floor. All the hens an one roo perched for the night and the momma hen sat in the corner on the floor and tucked her baby right under her. We got up the next morning and momma and baby were both up on the roosting poles about 4 feet off the ground! Boy that little one can jump!


Momma and baby are doing great. First day out the farmer watched the momma hen put the boots to the roo. So I guess, she is going to stand up for herself. I bet she is going to end up being a bit more dominant too!

Thanks all for your advice!

 

[Edwards24]

Well sounds like it may work out for and the momma may have took the baby chick up to the roost. Im suprised the roo was mean to the chick but in my expeirence anytime i have let a hen raise her chicks my roo has followed her and the babies around and helped look out for them. But all in all i hope all works out and the little one fits right into the flock.