Need advice about broody hen and chicks

[BlueEyes51]

Hi all, I must apologize for this being so long ahead of time, but I am not sure what to do.

I need advice about a broody hen I have. She has a couple chicks that are almost a month old (lost three others to a skunk). Momma hen took real good care of her chicks at the beginning. Showing them what to eat, drink, and I even watched her kill crickets, teaching the chicks to catch and eat them.

However, she is now eating up everything as fast as she can and seems pretty much disinterested in the 2 chicks now, except at night when they huddle together.

I have them in a temporary enclosure, for now, next to the main chicken pen… wanted the other hens and momma to still see each other. However, momma hen is starting to act like she is upset and wants back in the pen with the others.

Then today, I noticed momma laid her first slightly chalky blue egg since she went broody.

I can’t put the little ones in with the rest of the flock... there are two ‘mean’ hens that are still bullying some hens I got as 6 month old pullets, 6+ months ago, so I don’t want to chance the little ones being hurt by them.

My 1st set of related questions are;

1a) Should I put momma back in with the rest of the hens so she can start eating the layer feed again?
1b) How might she react with her chicks not being with her if I do that?
1c) And do I need to do anything special when reintroducing her to the flock (besides putting her in the coop at night)?​

2nd set of related questions are;
I also have an orphan chick I would like to put with the other 2 chicks but can’t unless momma is not with them (momma rejected it). The orphan is the same age as the other two chicks and I currently have it in the house by itself.

2) If I separate the momma and her chicks, will the 2 chicks and the orphan get a long okay if I put them together at night?
2b) Also, it's been 100+/- lately, and, in the 60s at night... is that too extreme of temperatures to put the month old chicks outside in the new critter proof pen?​

3rd and last set of related questions;
Last year I had 2 hens go broody. I was not ready for them to set on eggs and was able to stop them from being broody. This year, those two hens didn’t go broody, but one of my new hens did. This time I let her set on the eggs.

3a) So why didn’t the two that went broody last year go broody this year? Is this common?
3b) And, will this momma hen go broody again, now that she experienced it and has raised chicks?
3c) If she will, how soon might momma go broody again? Next year, or sooner.​

Anyway, I have been bringing momma and chicks inside at night ever since the skunk attack and I am just finishing making a critter proof enclosure that I was going to put momma and her chicks in. However, with all that is going on with momma now, I am not sure what to do. The new enclosure is not near the main pen also.

I am hedging more toward separating them, momma and chicks, so momma doesn't end up even more of an outcast than she was.

Please, any advice I can get would be greatly appreciated! Again, sorry this is so long. Thanks!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Momma hens typically fledge chicks anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks of age.

I find my large fowl hens seem to fledge at the 4 week range of age while my banties tend to fledge closer to 6 weeks or even longer (Silkies seem to never know when to cut the apron strings)....in essence, your mom is laying and is done mothering except for huddling at night. That is normal. She wants her chicks to stand on their own two feet during the day.

However, with the 2 cranky hens, they likely would be hazed too much, so I agree you shouldn't put them in with those hens. Momma will be hazed at first too. If she is an assertive gal, she will bring her chicks and herself back into the flock. If she isn't, it will be rough going for her and the chicks for a few days. If it is too rough, I personally get rid of the over aggressive birds...there is no need for that kind of dominance in a flock.

You might want to remove the 2 cranky hens and isolate them if they are hazing too much. You could put them in time out for awhile and reintroduce them. That often knocks them down the pecking order...or if they are very aggressive, simply creates aggression until they've clawed their way to the top again. (If so, they go at my place.)

It sounds like it is warm enough for the chicks. At 4 weeks, they are feathered and should be able to stay warm huddled together at night in a nice, cozy nest. If you haven't had the other chick under heat lamp, you could put it with the first 2...but only if it is fully feathered and already hardened for outside temps.

Watch momma and see if she wants to forage during the day and rejoin her chicks at night. You might be lucky that way. If she does, let her. She might be okay with the 3rd now too.

Day temps are obviously warm enough...to the side of too warm. Be sure they have plenty of shade and water.

As to brooding once and then not again. I've had a lot of my large fowl hens brood once and then never again. Domesticated chickens have been carefully selected for egg production thereby reducing the genes for proper brooding.

Since most large fowl breeds are not "heritage" but more commercially infused, consider yourself lucky that you get any broodies. I tend to use any hen that volunteers to go broody as I know she might not next year when I need her.

The faithfully recurring broody hens are treated like the royalty they are. For that kind of faithfulness, generally I go to breeds like Silkies and bantam Cochins and I find my mixed breed large fowl do much better than the pure breeds that are from the commercial hatcheries. I have had some breeder quality birds go broody, but they were never my best hens. They brooded one year and then never again.

Congratulations on your hatch. Sorry about the skunk. The peep of little chicks definitely brings predators out. Glad to hear you've created a solid structure for the brooding.

LofMc

 

[BlueEyes51]

Wow! Thanks, LofMc!

The orphan chick is in the house and has been under a light bulb... should I turn it off, or how would you advise I acclimate her to the weather outside?

I did put momma and her chicks in the new enclosure tonight. I was bringing them in every night in a cat carrier... that's all I had, do there was no room for food or water. I was also getting up earlier than usual every morning to take them back outside to their temporary enclosure so they could eat and drink as soon as possible. I just didn't want them to go thru that every night anymore.

I am thinking of putting momma back in with the rest of the hens tomorrow... do you think I should wait a little longer? Or will that be okay? The new enclosure is not near the coop so the others will not see momma anymore, nor will they see the chicks.

I do so appreciate you taking the time to give me all that great information. Thank you so much again!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

You are very welcome.

You will need to slowly harden the chick under the heat lamp until she is fully feathered and until she is at ambient temp. How quickly that can be done depends upon your method and how hot you've been keeping her and general temps outside (which are pretty warm...I think you're close.)

It's been awhile since I've artificially brooded (I've gone solely to using brooding hens), but I think the typically recommended schedule is to reduce the lamp 5 degrees each week (depending upon your formula). By 4 weeks of age, this chick should be almost to 75 degrees if you started at 95 degrees. Check your brooder temp and make adjustments as needed.

I've learned that chicks don't need that much heat all the time as it actually weakens them. (Momma hens don't keep babies at 95 degrees solidly for a week and take 6 weeks to bring to ambient...the chicks are running around in freezing cold by the end of 1 week with quick warm ups....and grow faster, feather much earlier, lay earlier). But, you can't pull the heat too quickly or your chick will chill and stress which can bring on illness.

Wow, I can see why momma got unhappy. In a cat crate (which I know you did for her safety because of the skunk) she didn't have enough room at night and no food and water with babes at 4 weeks of age. She was pushed to fledge early. I'd start with putting her in the new coop with food and water and with all 3 babes and see how it goes. If she's okay, let her be there for a couple of days, then I'd let her free range and see if she goes back to the babes at night, which is an ideal situation with the flock you have right now. You've got to get the babes to about 6 to 8 weeks before introducing to your flock with the cranky girls around.

The flock integration can be trickier if you have some cranky members. As stated before, if the hen is assertive, she will integrate herself and the chicks. I find 4 weeks a good time if the hen is assertive as usually the mother still has some motherly protection over the chicks but the chicks are not so small as to be injured by aggressive hens (which again remove if they are too aggressive).

A thought for you, if you can, the absolute best integration method is a good rooster. He will scoop both mom and babes into the flock and keep the nosy hens away. (I love my Barnevelder...I have NO integration problems with him on duty...where in an all hen flock, I did have to work at reintegrating the broody and her babes as per methods discussed above).

Good luck with your momma and babes. I find broody raising the absolute best way to brood new chicks.

LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

...I just reread and saw that this new coop isn't near where the other hens can see the momma and chicks.

That will make integration harder. Theoretically it is best to raise chicks away from the flock until their immune systems are stronger, which is recommended to about 12 weeks or until even 5 months (depending upon the literature you read).

I have taken up to 12 weeks to integrate if I have cranky hens. Being older helped them bear the hazing better.

Always keep places for younger birds to hide while older birds are setting the pecking order.

Also keep separate feed and water areas so that the aggressive birds can't push the younger birds constantly away from feed/water.

LofMc

 

[Pork Pie]

Very interesting to see how members do things differently and how this is guided by our personal management style, flock dynamics among many other variables.

To the OP - these links on integration may help you devise a plan

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-new-chickens-using-the-see-but-don-t-touch-method

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1126547/topic-of-the-week-integrating-chicks-into-an-adult-flock

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1069595/introducing-chicks-to-adults#post_16276224

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yes...excellent links @CTKen

To OP, each flock owner has different challenges and dynamics. You have to assess and reassess and do what is best for your flock.

What works can change from time to time as flock or predator pressures change.

I've integrated older and have integrated at hatch as dynamics changed.

Always do what works for your flock situation.

LofMc

 

[Mrs. K]

I recently introduced my 3 week old chicks to my flock using a lattice panel to section off a corner of the run. I had a feed station and water behind the lattice. My chicks could go through the lattice like water, but bigger hens could not.

I had kept them in a brooder pen, that was much smaller. So I put the dog kennel in there for a place to get out of the wind or in some shade. The first two days, they stayed within the enclosure. By day three, they were exploring a little bit, if one of the big girls came over too close, they scurried back to safety.

Within a week, they were fully integrated into the flock without any danger.

Much easier, and much healthier than living in too small of a set up.

As CTKen says, many different ways of doing things.

Mrs K

 

[BlueEyes51]

Help! I am sooo bummed. When I checked on momma and the chicks in the new enclosure early this morning, momma had blood on her beak.

I don't know what happened! There was no blood anywhere on the hardware cloth or framing, nothing got in the enclosure, so I have no idea how she hurt herself. There was dried blood going down the side of the carrier where she must have been perched, and there were a few feathers around inside the enclosure. All I can assume is something was outside the enclosure last night that really upset her.

I thought it was just her beak but I checked inside it to see where the blood was coming from... could not really tell but it is definitely coming from inside it. She is eating tho, and did see her drink a little while watching her, but I can tell she is not her usual self.

I had no clue something like this would happen. So much for my making it safe for them. I am really upset and don't know what do for her.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

First thought...are the chicks okay? Is there any blood on the chicks? Is there any way that the mother attacked the chicks? Could it have been chick blood on her?

I will assume the answers to those questions are no.

Then the predator was either already inside and escaped, or it came underneath.

How deeply did you bury your hardware cloth? In many places you will need to go down 3 feet and even down and out (L shaped).

I'd begin to think on the what kind of burrowing predators are in your area.

Also, could you post a photo of your broody coop? That would help BYC experts make comment.

I also recommend you create a predator question here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/predators-and-pests.13/

I'm so sorry you've still have issues. That is indeed frustrating.

There is a reason, however, that it is called chicken keeping....there is always another chore, another challenge, another matter to solve. It is very rewarding, but it is work.

Stay diligent, and you will figure this out. (You may need to set up some sort of camera system to see what is happening or what predator you are dealing with to be able to adequately address it.)

LofMc