New chicks hen hatched

[Chickengene]

I sure am grateful for BYC and all the advice.
One of my 18 month old Wyandottes went brokdb few weeks ago. So I grabbed a dozen eggs from my neighbor to shove under her.
Not sure how many were possibly fertile, but he has three hens that came with the rooster, and I tried to grab their eggs.
I guess since it was at best a somewhat educated guess, how long after the first egg hatches should I expect the rest to hatch?
Will she continue to sit or after an amount of time has elapsed will she leave with the hatched chicks.
The first hatched this afternoon and by the time I locked the henhouse around 9m there were four..
Also when I built the coop I had no knowledge about how to place nesting boxed and/or roosting bars so I ended up with nest boxes two or three feet above the floor. Since once she takes the chicks out of the nest there will be no going back, should I place my extra cat kennel in the coop someplace and make a nest for her in it?
Since my birds free range should I dig out the baby bird feeder and give them starter grow as well?
Thanks for all your help.

 

[azygous]

Congratulations! Your broody will probably continue to sit on any unhatched eggs for another day or two, but she will be facing some hungry chicks by then so she may abandon the eggs. You never know with broodies, though. I usually candle and listen for activity in the eggs and if they seem dead, I toss them out so the broody has to devote her attention to the chicks.

You are correct. Chicks are unable to navigate vertically more than a couple inches until they start getting some wing feathers to help them jump. For the first two weeks, they need a nest on the floor.

Everyone can eat chick starter with no problem. By the same token, new chicks do just fine on an all flock feed such as Purina Flock Raiser. Everyone should get the same feed with oyster shell free choice for the layers if there are any.

 

[Chickengene]

Congratulations! Your broody will probably continue to sit on any unhatched eggs for another day or two, but she will be facing some hungry chicks by then so she may abandon the eggs. You never know with broodies, though. I usually candle and listen for activity in the eggs and if they seem dead, I toss them out so the broody has to devote her attention to the chicks.

You are correct. Chicks are unable to navigate vertically more than a couple inches until they start getting some wing feathers to help them jump. For the first two weeks, they need a nest on the floor.

Everyone can eat chick starter with no problem. By the same token, new chicks do just fine on an all flock feed such as Purina Flock Raiser. Everyone should get the same feed with oyster shell free choice for the layers if there are any.

Since all my other young birds recently turned 16 weeks I mixed the rest of their Starter feed, along with the rest of my layer pellets, into a barrel of All Flock. So everyone will be eating the mix. I am hoping the babies will still get enough benifit from the Starter Grow to look as good as the teens.
Thanks for the input.
I didn't think to mark down when the chicks started hatching so I guess Maleficent will have to decide when she gives up on the rest of the eggs.
I may give her two more days from today just to be sure then move everything to the floor.

 

[azygous]

Mixing layer with starter is fine for adults, but the extra calcium and diluted protein isn't fine for babies. This is one reason many of us have foregone the feeding of layer feed all together. The only chickens that benefit from layer are active layers. Long term excessive calcium in the diet of non-layers can end up causing kidney issues.

I would just give the remaining layer/starter mix to the neighbor and buy a bag of all flock feed.

 

[Chickengene]

Mixing layer with starter is fine for adults, but the extra calcium and diluted protein isn't fine for babies. This is one reason many of us have foregone the feeding of layer feed all together. The only chickens that benefit from layer are active layers. Long term excessive calcium in the diet of non-layers can end up causing kidney issues.

I would just give the remaining layer/starter mix to the neighbor and buy a bag of all flock feed.

Too bad I didn't ask this a week ago.
Probably had 15 pounds of layer pellets and 15 to 20 pounds of starter feed. Already mixed them with a 50 pound bag of All Flock.