Natural breeding thread

[boulter]

There are 3 (not aggressive) heritage chickens about 1 year old. First broody hen and so we got her 4 eggs to sit on. They have the whole side of the house to roam and also lots of feeding stations. Here is the gate to the girls (2 non broody staring through bars)

Here is the inside of their run:

And the other side:

 

[BDutch]

The run is very spacious. Is it safe for chicks? No cats, birds of prey?
How is the inside of the coop? Do all chickens sleep and lay eggs in the coop (first building) in the second picture?

Maybe you need to add some safe space for the chicks. Hard to tell. I have an old prefab with a small attached run where the broody and chicks stay the first 2 weeks when they are most vulnerable and I keep them inside a larger net covered run for much longer if I am not around to protect little bantam chicks. This is very necessary because we have an overload of free roaming cats here.

Maybe you can ask other people (tag them) to ask their opinion. Like @Ribh who lives in Australia too. Or @DobieLover who wrote a good article about natural brooding.

 

[boulter]

The run is very spacious. Is it safe for chicks? No cats, birds of prey?
How is the inside of the coop? Do all chickens sleep and lay eggs in the coop (first building) in the second picture?

Maybe you need to add some safe space for the chicks. Hard to tell. I have an old prefab with a small attached run where the broody and chicks stay the first 2 weeks when they are most vulnerable and I keep them inside a larger net covered run for much longer if I am not around to protect little bantam chicks. This is very necessary because we have an overload of free roaming cats here.

Maybe you can ask other people (tag them) to ask their opinion. Like @Ribh who lives in Australia too. Or @DobieLover who wrote a good article about natural brooding.

Thanks - will section off a part and use an old dog crate and separate them just to be safe. I've had no predator issues but I have two large dogs who guard the chickens and any predator has to get past the dogs first

 

[boulter]

Thanks - will section off a part and use an old dog crate and separate them just to be safe. I've had no predator issues but I have two large dogs who guard the chickens and any predator has to get past the dogs first

They all sleep together in the grey prison like shed. My backyard is a haven for wild birds actually because I have fruit and nut trees that I leave unpicked for them to eat. It makes me worry about bird flu but I love the sound of birds so I'm risking it. Everything free ranges together some days (dogs, kids, chickens and wild birds)

 

[kattabelly]

The main thing I worry about with small chicks running loose is that they'll squeeze through a tiny gap somewhere and get stuck (either physically or because they can't work out how to get back) and their mum won't be able to get to them.

I'd probably cover that big blue tub of water with something too, even if it was just fine chicken wire or similar, when they reach the age they can just about fly that high but often misjudge the landing.