New chicken momma here!

[Jh2Owen]

Hello!

My family and I just picked up 2 hens last night. They're owner had to suddenly move and could not take them, so it was Super last min.
However, When we got there he informed us one of the hens just hatched 3 baby chicks the day before and the other hen is sitting on 8 eggs.

We have NEVER had chickens but we are very excited!!

My question is - Do we have to remove the chicks from the hens? The hens seem very protective of them and the last owner said the hens would take turns laying on each others eggs - so they were very supportive of each other... if that's possible?

We do have Starter food and we did get supplies to create a brooder pen but if it's not necessary than we'd like to just keep them with their mamma's.

Our family (me, 2 young boys, and my husband) are sooo excited and knowing we get to raise some baby chicks makes it that much more exciting.

Thanks in advance for any information. I'm sure I'll be posting lots of questions over the next few months.


Thanks!!

 

[Hillaire]

Hello!

My family and I just picked up 2 hens last night. They're owner had to suddenly move and could not take them, so it was Super last min.
However, When we got there he informed us one of the hens just hatched 3 baby chicks the day before and the other hen is sitting on 8 eggs.

We have NEVER had chickens but we are very excited!!

My question is - Do we have to remove the chicks from the hens? The hens seem very protective of them and the last owner said the hens would take turns laying on each others eggs - so they were very supportive of each other... if that's possible?

We do have Starter food and we did get supplies to create a brooder pen but if it's not necessary than we'd like to just keep them with their mamma's.

Our family (me, 2 young boys, and my husband) are sooo excited and knowing we get to raise some baby chicks makes it that much more exciting.

Thanks in advance for any information. I'm sure I'll be posting lots of questions over the next few months.


Thanks!!

welcome to BYC and congrats on your new chickens and chicks. You can keep the mamma with the chicks as it is what happens in nature so they should be fine, if she decides to not take care of them then you can definitely intervene. I have put starter food in with the hen with chicks in the past so this should be fine. Again congrats! How exciting. What kind of chickens are they?

 

[N F C]

I agree with Hillaire...a good mama will take care of the chicks by keeping them warm and showing them where to find food and water.

Congrats on getting an instant flock!

 

[Jh2Owen]

Thanks for the replies!

I have no idea what kind of chickens they are. haha. I'm a 'city' girl who just recently moved to the country and apparently my husband has decided we will be creating our own little hobby farm. The boys love this idea... I'm still on the fence.

I'll take some pictures tonight and post them to see what kind they are. I didnt get a good look b/c we left them all nestled in the carry case yesterday b/c its super cold rainy and windy here in Wisconsin right now and we didn't want to get the chicks cold.

Will the chicks know to eat the starter food and not the feed we put out for the hens?

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - great that you have joined us.

To answer your last question - since both hens are sitting (i.e. not laying) then they are both fine with chick starter. Once they have weaned the chicks and resume laying, you can get oyster shell and put this is a separate feeder - the hens should instinctively eat this, while the chicks will ignore it.


All the best
CT

 

[N F C]

Thanks for the replies!

I have no idea what kind of chickens they are. haha. I'm a 'city' girl who just recently moved to the country and apparently my husband has decided we will be creating our own little hobby farm. The boys love this idea... I'm still on the fence.

I'll take some pictures tonight and post them to see what kind they are. I didnt get a good look b/c we left them all nestled in the carry case yesterday b/c its super cold rainy and windy here in Wisconsin right now and we didn't want to get the chicks cold.

Will the chicks know to eat the starter food and not the feed we put out for the hens?

No, they won't know. Put only starter feed out for all the birds and have a separate feeder for the older girls to get their grit from.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas and ! Looks like you've received lots of great advice so I will just say best wishes and thanks for joining BYC!

 

[Jh2Owen]

Greetings from Kansas and

! Looks like you've received lots of great advice so I will just say best wishes and thanks for joining BYC!

Thank you! I see you have a dog in your profile picture. We will be getting a pointing griffon in a few weeks. Getting these chickens was a very last min deal b/c our friend had to move and couldn't take them... I'm nervous to get a 'bird dog' and to also try to raise chickens. Any suggestions on how to not have our dog eat our chickens???

 

[redsoxs]

Thank you!  I see you have a dog in your profile picture. We will be getting a pointing griffon in a few weeks. Getting these chickens was a very last min deal b/c our friend had to move and couldn't take them... I'm nervous to get a 'bird dog' and to also try to raise chickens.  Any suggestions on how to not have our dog eat our chickens???  :/

I have always had great success with my dogs and chickens. I have the chocolate lab in my avatar as well as a golden retriever. For whatever reason they will simply ignore the chickens. In fact, the chickens sometimes buffalo the dogs from their food dishes! The only time I'm extra careful is when they are very young chicks. Not sure if it's the peeping sound or what but that's when my dogs are the most curious. I have to make sure if I'm holding a chick they (the chocolate, anyway) won't lick a baby chick too hard...or if a chick is on the floor he won't club it with one of his giant feet in order to get it to play! After about a week the dogs are totally bored and pay no attention to the chicks. I have had baby chicks hop out or fly out of their brooder in the basement and be down there with both dogs totally ignoring them all day long. Here's a link to a Learning Center article about socializing dogs to chickens. Hope it helps: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-your-dog-to-chickens-tips-tricks.

 

[drumstick diva]