new chicken mother with questions

[dftkarin]

First, the pictures:

I am new to chicken owning and one of my hens became broody a few weeks back at hatched 6 adorable chicks yesterday (a friend gave us 6 fertilized eggs). I have 4 hens and a small coop up on stilts and for their first night I picked up the chicks and mother and put them in a latched dog carrier that I left in the coop - so they would be secure from predators, warm and cozy - but have some protected space so I could give them medicated chick starter without the three adult hens getting any. I'm not sure what to do next though. I suppose they can spend a few days like this but soon 6 chicks and an australorp mom will need more space. I love the idea of keeping them all together with the other adults - to encourage the flock to accept each other, but I don't know how to seperate the food, or to make it safe for the chicks to get in and out of the coop given that its on stilts. I don't have another coop or a way to subdivide the coop I have. I do have a non-secure chicken tractor (just a 3x5x2' box covered with chicken wire) and I could move the dog carrier into it and latch the mom and chicks into the dog carrier at night to keep them safer than simply in the tractor - but still not as safe or warm/dry/cozy as they would be in the coop. What to do, what to do? Any advice or suggestions would be very much appreciated!!

 

[Mahonri]

Sounds like you've got a good plan already.

Congratulations, momma and the chicks are adorable!

 

[dftkarin]

But isn't it dangerous for chicks to eat any layer food because of the calcium? And isn't it dangerous for laying hens to eat any medicated feed? How do people negotiate that??

 

[Chickn chick 46]

What I did when my barred rock hatched chicks is separated them from the other hens. Fortunatly, I had a small greenhouse that I could keep them in. They also were in a dog crate.

Then when the chicks were feathered out I made a space for mom and baby chicks inside the hen yard out of fencing where they spent the days and then put them all back in the greenhouse dog crate for the night.

This way they could all see each other and get used to each other. When I finally did incorporate the group it was alot chasing and fussing to get the pecking order down, then it was fairly peaceful.

Good luck, hens are the best moms to their babies, I loved to watch them teach them things and those chicks you have are adorable!

 

[Judy]

Quote:
You are correct about chicks and layer feed. Others here who know more than I say amprolium is fine for laying hens, and the eggs can be eaten.

One solution is to feed chick feed to all, and offer oyster shell free choice. Supposedly, the chicks will eat little or none of the oyster shell, and the hens will have the calcium they need available.

If the chick feed is medicated with an antibiotic, that is different. You certainly wouldn't want to sell the eggs, and I'd do some research before I ate them myself.