? on My broody's brood!

[christytrav]

My hen just hatched out six adorable little babies. They are all doing well, but I have a few questions. I am feeding them chick start but is that enough for my hen? I tried giving her a treat of corn yesterday and she tried to feed it to her babies. I am also worried that she has no oyster shell in the brooding room, do I need to provide my mama with different food and oyster shell?

 

[james w]

I don't personally tend to give my new mum anything different from the chicks for exactly the same reason. If you want to vary the diet of the mum, throw in some veggies, greens, etc. I have raised mum and chicks until 8 weeks of age just on chick starter phase 1 and 2 without any problems at all.

 

[christytrav]

Thanks for the info! At what age do the chicks need to be before I give greens? Can you tell I have never had a broody mama before. I have used the incubator many times but this is way cooler to have it all done naturally, not to mention cheaper

 

[Ridgerunner]

She is not laying eggs so she does not need oyster shell. The baby chicks sure do not need any opportunity to eat oyster shell. I strongly recommend to not give her any oyster shell.

She was weakened a bit by her time being broody. The chick starter is higher in protein than layer or her regular food. It will help her regain her strength. Chick starter is fine for the broody hen.

The chicks can and will eat anything the mother eats unless it is just too big. And they can eat surprisingly big things. If a grown hen can swallow a mouse (and they can) think what a baby chick can actually swallow. As long as they have grit or are on the ground where they can get their own grit, you can feed treats. I would not feed the mama treats unless the chicks have grit, but if they have grit, a few treats will be fine.

Congratulations on the successful hatch. Exciting isn't it.

 

[christytrav]

Thanks a bunch Ridgerunner. I have them seperated from the flock in there own room. There is a door to the outside but I have it closed due to the rain. It has rained here for 48 consecutive days this summer and now it is cooling off and turning to fall. So I will probably not open that door until the babies are 5 weeks and at that point I will probably put them in with the rest of the flock. So I feel much more comfortable about just feeding chick start now! Thanks, Christina