My hen went broody and is now a momma! Lots of Questions!

[smedly9921]

The best thing about broody mama's is you have nothing to do but watch. SHE will do all the work. Make sure the chicks can get to food and water that's your job. Maybe put some chick saver in the water for a couple days to help with the vitamins and minerals they need and as a bonus it will be good for the rest of your flock. Enjoy, broody mamas is the only way I hatch chicks I have an incubator but never use it.

 

[dodgewoman]

Yes, I have a smaller watered and feeder in the coop so that they can reach it. I do have vitamins that I can put in the water. Good idea.

 

[JNB]

So glad you posted this thread I have a Broody that will be hatching her babies out in about a week. I have been trying to decide if I should seperate her or leave her with the other girls...

Since I have 2 coops I decided to leave some of my more docile and sweet in with the broody. I put the others in the other coop. So we will see how it works out.

 

[chooks4life]

Congrats on your good mother and (currently) well behave flock. They can be a joy, can't they.
Quote: Depending on the ambient temperatures and whether or not they've pipped yet, almost-ready-to-hatch eggs can be left to await the mother's return to the nest. I used to dispose of them quickly too but found many of them will in fact hatch the next night. Being left to go cold is fine as long as they haven't cracked the shell, in which case they can't be left too long. Some chicks can hatch days before others even if they all started being brooded at the same time.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

honestly in my own experiance with broody hens is that it is best to take out the chicks and raise them yourself, this will greatly increase the chicks chance at serval. all the chicks that i have left with the broody have die and now im not taking anymore chances, even if it breaks my heart to take them away from mama.

The only chicks I've ever had die with a broody were with a mama who was not aggressive enough to defend them. Otherwise, mama does a much better job than a human ever could. I would suggest taking a very hard look at your set-up, where they live, what they're eating, and what they could get into that could harm them. If it isn't that you just got very unlucky and got a bad mama (happens with humans too, sadly) then there is something about your particular situation that's causing the chicks to die.

 

[dodgewoman]

Well, most of the eggs that I took were not fertile anyway or didn't get very far in the stages.

So far so good! The mama seems to be aggressive enough. My dog came up to the run to sniff at the fence and she got all aggressive. Although she kept trying to call one chick into the coop but it got Lost! When it started getting tripped up in the big chickens and freaking out she came running back out to be near it. So, I'm crossing fingers and enjoying what we have now.

 

[jtbrown]

Congrats! I have 3 small Sets of chicks with mommas right now and they are all great to watch. One momma is the second time around she hatched a set last year too. I do separate everyone and then integrate with mom protecting them at 2-3 weeks. I have my coop set up so everyone can see each other through fences and then when I let them loose it seems to be flawless. By fall all sections of my coop will be open and everyone can mix. With two runs which I open to free range most of the year. Have fun, it in my opinion is the best way to raise chicks - the lazy and fun to watch way too!