One of my flock grabbed at a chick

[BeanieBabies]

Thank you so much, this is so helpful! I can get a partition so that the others can see her and the babies at night set up today. Bean seems to very much want to stay parked in the nesting box moving around just a bit with the babies, so that's useful. With the mesh partition in place I think I'll open it all up again so that my other girls can come and investigate without using their beaks.

Looking at some of the other injuries chicks have gotten from hens pecking... I'm either exceptionally lucky that little Nugget wasn't hurt from *two* hens investigating her (although Nugget was picked up and away from them as fast as reflexes would allow), or Paprika and Splurt actually were being gentle... hard to know, and still not something I'll risk happening again.

I'll look into a way to set up a 'maternity' ward for them where the others can see and not touch! Thank you again!

 

[McChooky]

My 1st time broody wasn't raised by a hen and was the perfect mother when she hatched chicks a couple months ago.I waited a couple days before introducing them all to the flock. This allowed the momma hen to bond with her chicks and prevented them being injured by the other hens. On day 3 I opened the divided run and let all the chickens meet the new family and supervised them all. The momma hen flogged the other chickens many times for getting to close and pecking her chicks.I free ranged them during the day and she took them to the opposite side of the yard to protect them from the other chickens and give them room to play. She didn't let any of the other chickens get close to them during this time.She was very protective and still is at 10 weeks old. They all roost together at night and free range together during the day but the older hens will still peck the chicks if they try to eat with them.I have multiple feeders and waters( inside and out)

 

[BeanieBabies]

I've got a mesh divider in place now, so the others can see her and the chicks. I will say that Bean is being a wonderful mum so far, I gave her some soaked mealworms and she came over and immediately called over her babies and started dropping them on the ground for them before eating her own, my heart melted with cuteness.

 

[CraziChknLady]

Thank you so much, this is so helpful! I can get a partition so that the others can see her and the babies at night set up today. Bean seems to very much want to stay parked in the nesting box moving around just a bit with the babies, so that's useful. With the mesh partition in place I think I'll open it all up again so that my other girls can come and investigate without using their beaks.

Looking at some of the other injuries chicks have gotten from hens pecking... I'm either exceptionally lucky that little Nugget wasn't hurt from *two* hens investigating her (although Nugget was picked up and away from them as fast as reflexes would allow), or Paprika and Splurt actually were being gentle... hard to know, and still not something I'll risk happening again.

I'll look into a way to set up a 'maternity' ward for them where the others can see and not touch! Thank you again!

Wonderful! It's such a joy to see the mama take care of the chicks and to see how fast they grow! Mine are 8 weeks this weekend.

Yeah you definitely don't want the other hens to peck at them. Right now they see them as foreigners and invaders to the flock. I once had a chick that got out and her back was basically scalped. Chick injuries aren't fun.

Once the chicks are older you can start to do supervised time and then extend the time until they are integrated. I've used a pen by pen system, with plenty of space and feeders. Of course each group, chicken and breed is different. Sometimes it takes not much time and others it's been weeks or months. Last year I had some Swedish Flowers I raised ( no mama) and while they integrated fine, they took forever to roost. While they'd make it in the coop, they'd just huddle or lay down, so I would have to take each one and place on the roost. After 3+ weeks, it got old fast.

I'm so glad you got some good ideas and are creating a maternity ward. Keep us posted on the chicks progress!