My Broody should have her chicks on Friday..ADVICE??

[bragabit]

My Broody will be on day 21 on Friday and Saturday. She has about 18 eggs under her big Buff orp butt. She has only gotten off the nest one time that I have seen. Here are my concerns:

She has been stubborn about nesting and has her clutch in the nesting box in the roosting coop. Our coop is divided and has an open area, and the roosting/nesting area. I have 11 other hens.

-The nest box is a good 18 inches off the ground...what should I do when the babies hatch??
(I have a very large dog crate??)
or
(Could shut the hatch and give the roost to the mommy hen and chicks only)

-I have heat lamps from the winter still in the coop, should I turn them on (as we are expecting snow this weekend)?

-Do I buy chick feed?? How do I give it to the babies without the rest of the flock eating it?

-How do I keep the chicks from eating the layer mash?

-Any other important advice?

-IF...my eggs are duds...and I worry about this because my rooster is a tiny bantam and my hens are full size. Could I get chicks from the local feed store and stuff them under my broody if her eggs dont' hatch by Monday??

 

[smchickfarm]

When my bantam D'Anver would hatch, her box was up off the ground. After they hatched (a day or two later) she would jump down and they followed and they were all ok!

I also would put chick started in there with them in a chick feeder and they would eat it. The hen, rooster never really ate from the chick's feed, they ate their own.

Momma hen's do a good job of taking care of their babies......they should be fine !

Hope this helped and Good Luck!!!

 

[JordanFamily]

You could move her at night and her nest to the dog crate and she will not need the heatlamp because the chicks will go under her. Of coarse a heatlamp wont hurt if you can place it to where they can get away from it if they are to warm... I would put her in the dog crate or a 4X3' pen by themselves on the floor. i use a small dog excercise pen with chicken wire on the top and on the sides for mine... The chicks need to be able to get into and out of the nest themselves so the nest needs to be on the floor. After a week or two you can then open the pen so the chicks can go in and out with mom... I would keep adult feed in a bowl that is to tall for the chicks to get into and put their baby feed in chick feeders... You won't be able to stop the adults from eating some of the chick food unless you completely seperate the chicks all together.. But really the chick feed wont hurt the adults if they also have their layer feed to eat to... Yes you can place already hatched chicks under her but make sure you do it at night when she is asleep and move her first with her batch of eggs so she gets use to her new spot before you take the unhatched eggs away and introduce the new chicks. Remember to put them under her at night when she is asleep and she will wake up a very proud momma hen... I have a bantam Roo that mates my huge Cinnamon queen so bantams can get the job done... I get fertile eggs from mine so I bet she surprises you with her own babies... Candle them before you decide to throw them out... I say let her keep her own if they are fertile.

Good Luck and post pics for us... Thanks for asking...