NY chicken lover!!!!

[BakerzDozen]

Hello all I am a new chicken mom with 13 city Chix... I hail from Rome, NY at this point.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Welcome! We're you at chickenstock? I think we met!

 

[BakerzDozen]

Welcome! We're you at chickenstock? I think we met!

yes I think you were holding the Black Silkie Roo and let myself and my daughter pet him.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

I knew it!

 

[boskelli1571]

I knew it!

What?? Had a great time chatting with you at Chickenstock.....

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Some more broody questions!!!

So one of my hens is sitting on eggs that should hatch sometime this week. I have to make a decision on what to do with her and her chicks once they hatch.

My options are:

1) Leave them in with the main flock. This flock consists of 12 full-size hens, a BCM rooster and three silkie roosters (which really need a new home).

2) Bring them over to the grow-out side of my coop. They will be with 15 or so cockerels that are about 7 weeks old or so. And a bantam silver sebright hen.

3) Move the cockerels over to the main flock and bring the broody and her chicks over to the grow-out pen. They would still be with the sebright, but I don't think she would be a problem (though I could see the broody going after her).

4) Take all of the chicks away and bring them into the house to brood in our brood box. Course, this leaves the broody with no chicks.

I still have a second broody sitting on a clutch of eggs...but her eggs were set not even a week ago, so she has awhile to go.


Thoughts? I would hate to go out there and find a chick massacre. And I really kind of need whatever pullets hatch from this clutch...lol. I gave all of the pullets from my last incubator hatching to a friend who lost their flock to a weasel problem.

 

[BakerzDozen]

I knew it!

Yes I remembered you because you were so nice to us and explained about the feathering. It was the first Silkie we had ever seen or touched. Thank You.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Some more broody questions!!!

So one of my hens is sitting on eggs that should hatch sometime this week. I have to make a decision on what to do with her and her chicks once they hatch

I wouldnt Leave them in with the main flock. ..if they are hatchery they can get pecky ..& Momma cant defend them all
I would bring them ALL into the house to brood in your brood box. with the hen( if she has been a good momma she deserves chicks )
& it is so much easier to let them raise them ..
Cockerels - are you going to process them soon ? then you could move Momma & Babies in to the grow out

 

[Pyxis]

I don't know if I would bring them into the house. That way the flock forgets the mother and her babies and reintroduction is hard. I let mine with the flock and they seem to do fine, and most of my layer flock is hatchery. I think it all depends on the dynamics of the flock. If you're worried about it, put the hen and her chicks in a dog crate in the coop for a while until the chicks are a little older and better able to run from anyone who tries to bother them. But I've really never had a hen try to bother a broody's chicks before - they keep a wide berth, and if they don't, momma gives them a smack down and they run away pretty quickly. I've seen a tiny hatchery silkie jump into my 130 pound dog's face when he got too close to her chicks. They are fearless when it comes to defending them.

 

[Gramma Chick]

I don't know if I would bring them into the house. That way the flock forgets the mother and her babies and reintroduction is hard. I let mine with the flock and they seem to do fine, and most of my layer flock is hatchery. I think it all depends on the dynamics of the flock. If you're worried about it, put the hen and her chicks in a dog crate in the coop for a while until the chicks are a little older and better able to run from anyone who tries to bother them. But I've really never had a hen try to bother a broody's chicks before - they keep a wide berth, and if they don't, momma gives them a smack down and they run away pretty quickly. I've seen a tiny hatchery silkie jump into my 130 pound dog's face when he got too close to her chicks. They are fearless when it comes to defending them.

It depends on the broody hens pecking order ...too ..my 2 top hatchery hens peck at the her babies & she doesnt respond ..she just gets them out of there...
Of course they are 3 - 4 weeks now ..Maybe that makes a difference ?

I figured she didnt have a cage as she didnt mention that as a option ..I thought maybe the house as a temporary solution.

• Sweetpea3829 ...do you have any spare wood or one of those large bins or a dog / kid gate that you could separate the grow out pen into 2 sections?