New chicken owner

Date sort Score sort
DobieLover said:
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.
Mother hens are fiercely protective of their young. She doesn't know you. I would not try to handle her or them or push the issue. Just give her time to realize you are not a threat. By the time she comes around, the chicks will be much more independent.
If you want to try to win mom over, toss her a tin of sardines to feed the chicks every few days. Good luck with them.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip about sardines. How long should I keep them locked up in the coop before I let them out to explore
 
nyanya said:
Thanks for the tip about sardines. How long should I keep them locked up in the coop before I let them out to explore
Click to expand...
What size is the coop? Does it have an attached run?
What are you giving the mother to feed the chicks (other than the occasional tin of sardines)?
You typically home chickens to new coop/run setups for a week so they know that is a safe place to roost. If you only have a coop and she can't get out that may explain some of her hostility.
 
DobieLover said:
What size is the coop? Does it have an attached run?
What are you giving the mother to feed the chicks (other than the occasional tin of sardines)?
You typically home chickens to new coop/run setups for a week so they know that is a safe place to roost. If you only have a coop and she can't get out that may explain some of her hostility.
Click to expand...
The coop doesn't have an attach run as I have a small backyard however I let the chooks out after just the one night in the coop because it was such a very hot day the next day and she took them all back at night she even took them back during the day for her feed I did give her sardines she didn't like them it was covered with ants when I went back to check. THank you for your help much appreciated
 
PS the baby chick's are eating chicken starter from the fodder store and lettuce leaves and any other scraps I put out for her. Just not the sardines. Also even though my backyard is small I have lots of shrubs and growth and she is constantly scratching around and the chicks appear to be finding something in amongst the loose debris.
 
nyanya said:
The coop doesn't have an attach run as I have a small backyard however I let the chooks out after just the one night in the coop because it was such a very hot day the next day and she took them all back at night she even took them back during the day for her feed I did give her sardines she didn't like them it was covered with ants when I went back to check. THank you for your help much appreciated
Click to expand...
If she is coming and going from the coop, she is already homed to it. Just let her out at the crack of dawn every day and lock them up as soon as she goes to roost.

Sometimes chickens have to just try something they haven't before eaten before they realize they love it. My birds did the same thing when I first brought them sardines. None of them would touch them. They just stared at this foreign object in their midst... at first. But I had 25 chickens at the time a one of the upper ranking hens finally went in and gave it a try and then started scarfing them down. That is all it took to for the others to realize they were good and a feeding frenzy started.

Now when I take sardines out to the flock they go bonkers. The senior rooster accidentally ran over one of his daughters as he was running for a piece of sardine I threw. Not really his fault as his daughter ran right in front of him to try to cut him off.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom