My first broody!!! Need advice....

[FreedomFarm13]

Hi everyone! I have a lovely Welsummer pullet (almost a year old) that has been broody for about 2 weeks now. She has been sitting on an empty nest because she never moves and the other girls don't lay in there. I have eggs in the incubator that are due to hatch on sunday/monday, and am planning on trying to get her to adopt them. Should I put eggs under her for the next few days so it'll be easier to do the switch of taking eggs out and putting chicks in, or will she accept just putting the chicks under her? I've never had a broody before even though I've had chickens for a while, and I'm not sure what to do. Also, my nesting box is about 18 inches off the floor of the coop, so would it be ok to leave her in there with the chicks? Should I put food and water inside the coop for them, because their feed and water are currently outside in the run, or will she just bring them out there to eat? And will it be ok for her to raise them with the rest of the flock? I have two roosters in the main coop right now and am a little concerned about whether they'll harass her and the babies. Like I said, I'm new to broodies and am not sure what the best situation would be for them. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated! Oh, and one last thing, if I do need to put eggs under her, should I have as many as I'm incubating in there? Will she notice if there are more chicks than the number of eggs she had? Sorry I'm such a newbie at this...

 

[Poultry parent]

Move her! Chicks can fall and die. Putting the eggs under her would be easier than getting her to accept chicks. No more then 10 eggs usually, unless the eggs are bantam eggs. I wouldn't raise the momma and her chicks with the other birds as they can attack them

 

[IZZYBELLA]

I would leave the eggs in the incubator and put the chicks under the broody once they have hatched and dried off. The chicks will fall out of the nesting box and not be able to get back in, so you need to either set the broody and chicks up in a cage in the coop, or elsewhere (mine brood in a large dog cage in my garage). You will want food and water to be very closely accessible, so in the cage with her. (Chicks should not eat layer feed, so you need to put them either on mixed flock or chick starter.) Plenty of people do let their broodies raise chicks right in the coop, but I do not. What I would do in your situation is put the chicks under the mom in a cage that is safe from the other chickens. Let them bond for 2 days. Then start doing supervised free ranging with the flock. If it looks like the mom is protecting the chicks and the other hens and roosters aren't bothering, then you could consider letting them brood right in the coop, but always make sure the chicks have a place to hide from the adults. If it looks like the other hens/roos are really bullying the mom or chicks, then I would just let them grow out a little more in a separate cage and try again later. Do let the flock see the chicks and mom as much as possible, though. I think that helps with reintegration. And no, the mom won't notice that the number of chicks doesn't equal the number of eggs. I had four eggs under her and she got seven chicks! She looked confused for a minute, but accepted them! Good luck!

 

[Wilmer Gehman]

Don't worry! I just had a broody hen too! I would suggest creating a nesting box on the floor of the coop so the chicks don't fall and hurt themselves. Yes, you can put food and water in the coop. I would say wait until the chicks are a couple days old before introducing them to their new mom. If you want to give her chicks, place as many eggs as chicks you are going to give her under her. Then when its dark out,Replace the eggs with chicks. It worked for me so you can try it if you want. She immediately took them in and cared for them.Now my hen is happily living in the coop with her chicks! As far as roosters are concerned, my neighbor asked a employee at a local feed store, and she said our rooster won't hurt the chicks and so far he hasn't, but I don't know for sure.

 

[FreedomFarm13]

Ok, thanks everyone! What is the maximum number of chicks I should give her? Especially because she's a first time mom, I don't want to overwhelm her. I've got about 20 eggs in the incubator. I kinda hope they don't all hatch, because 20 seems like a bit much for her to handle, right?

 

[Poultry parent]

12 is a good number

 

[chicklets81]

I would be safe and put the broody hen in a nest on the floor, or put her somewhere else. Its difficult because not every situation is the same. I had a bantam broody hen raise a chick in the coop on the floor with the other hens, and the chick survived and is 6 weeks old now. But I've also experienced a hen hatch a chick and the chick *didn't* survive. (my only guess is that the other hens ate it, it is still to this day, a mystery)

If I were you, I'd separate on the floor of coop or in garage/basement. I have a hen that just went broody yesterday (after my missing chick experience), and I'm going to separate the hen from the others this time so the chick(s) has a chance to live. Good luck!

 

[bobbi-j]

Many experienced chicken keepers let their hens raise their chicks within the flock. Integration is much easier that way. Mama is protective enough that the other hens avoid her, and if one does get pushy the rooster will usually step in and protect the babies. At least that's been my experience. Another thing I've noticed is that when kept within the flock, my broodies will keep the babies away from the rest of the flock for a day or so after hatching before venturing out.

If the nest box has a lip several inches high on it, the babies shouldn't fall out, but the mama will want to take them out anyway, so you might as well put her on a nest on the ground. In my opinion, the biggest danger of an elevated nest is that of the chicks falling out and not being able to get back in so they die from being too chilled.

I wouldn't give her more than half a dozen this time around in case she's not a good mama. If she proves to be good, you can always give her more chicks the next time she goes broody.

 

[chicklets81]

I suppose this site encorporates a combination of experienced *and* new/inexperienced chicken keepers. This is only my 2nd spring raising chickens, so does that make me fall into the "inexperienced" category? I'm not sure.

And does the length of time make you an "experienced" chicken keeper, or is it the personality/behaviors of the chickens that determine ones success?

I had a broody hen raise chicks just fine within the coop un-supervised, and the surrounding hens didn't hurt them. 2 months later, it was a different story, and there were only slight differences in each situation.

I guess I'm still a little confused about how to make this situation successful, and it seems that opinions state experience. Isn't it standard to have raised nesting boxes? If so, and if using a box, shouldn't we all have this problem?

 

[bobbi-j]

I suppose this site encorporates a combination of experienced *and* new/inexperienced chicken keepers. This is only my 2nd spring raising chickens, so does that make me fall into the "inexperienced" category? I'm not sure.

And does the length of time make you an "experienced" chicken keeper, or is it the personality/behaviors of the chickens that determine ones success?

I had a broody hen raise chicks just fine within the coop un-supervised, and the surrounding hens didn't hurt them. 2 months later, it was a different story, and there were only slight differences in each situation.

I guess I'm still a little confused about how to make this situation successful, and it seems that opinions state experience. Isn't it standard to have raised nesting boxes? If so, and if using a box, shouldn't we all have this problem?

Sorry - I didn't mean to offend. Let me try again. Many long time chicken keepers let their hens raise babies within the flock with great success. (There are some here on the site who have been raising chickens for 50 years or more. That's a LONG time!) There are many factors that contribute to the success (or lack there of) of chicken raising, including personality/behavior of the birds. There are as many ways to raise chickens as there are people doing it.

I had two broodies hatch out in raised nesting boxes. I left them in the nests until 24 hours after the hatch started, then took hen and babies out of the nests and put them on the floor. Some people let the hen hatch in raised nest boxes and boot the babies out when she thinks it's time. A distance of a few feet won't hurt them if they have nice soft bedding to land on.

From what I have observed, a rooster will protect the broody and her babies from other hens.