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!

 

[BeanieBabies]

While I haven't got a real maternity ward going on yet, I do still have that separated mesh divider for the nesting box where they sleep, and in the day Bean and her chicks get free run of the little run while it's closed, while Paprika and Splurt have the larger enclosure to roam becauuuuse: Bean decided today she was going to leave the darkness of the coop and go outside with the babies!

Bean is so underweight now from her broodiness it's scary, is there anything extra I should be doing to help her put weight back on? She has constant access to the chick feed and oyster shell, as well I've been giving her and the babies a little bit of mealworms as a treat.

 

[McChooky]

My broody keep her chicks away from the other hens. I have multiple feeders and waterers and feed them all mash in separate bowls during the day

 

[BeanieBabies]

Right now I've basically got Bean and the chicks in a timeshare of the little run and coop. She goes to bed first, so I can scoot her and the babies over to her large nestingbox area and block her off with a little mesh thing, and then let the others in to roost for the night.

She gets the little run entirely during the day, but already she's expressing a desire to come out into the wider yard with the others. It's very rainy today, so I am not going to do this just yet, but I'm thinking that since she is deciding to try, and she's been much more protective (she was growling and charging at me for handling her chicks!), and the others have had full view of her and the chicks for a little while now, it might not be long before we can have a very supervised trial run of letting the flock integrate.

It's times like this I am glad my initial flock was only 3 chickens haha.

 

[McChooky]

Chicks raised in a small run are more difficult to integrate. They don't have much room to escape when they're in the flock. I encourage you to try to integrate them as soon as possible.Its normal for them to peck at the chicks if they get too close.Mine have been part of the flock since day 3 and mom keeps the meanies away.Now that they're older they don't stay with momma all of the time

 

[BeanieBabies]

Chicks raised in a small run are more difficult to integrate. They don't have much room to escape when they're in the flock. I encourage you to try to integrate them as soon as possible.Its normal for them to peck at the chicks if they get too close.Mine have been part of the flock since day 3 and mom keeps the meanies away.Now that they're older they don't stay with momma all of the time

When they integrate I am opening up the little run so they all have run of almost my entire backyard + hideyholes, don't worry there will be Plenty of fleeing space. This is day 4 of the babies having been visible to the other girls all day, day 5 of them being visible at least at night.

I've unfortunately caught a bug of some sort, but as soon as I'm better I'm gonna grab a second pair of eyes for supervision and try to let everyone get along together.

 

[CraziChknLady]

While I haven't got a real maternity ward going on yet, I do still have that separated mesh divider for the nesting box where they sleep, and in the day Bean and her chicks get free run of the little run while it's closed, while Paprika and Splurt have the larger enclosure to roam becauuuuse: Bean decided today she was going to leave the darkness of the coop and go outside with the babies!

Bean is so underweight now from her broodiness it's scary, is there anything extra I should be doing to help her put weight back on? She has constant access to the chick feed and oyster shell, as well I've been giving her and the babies a little bit of mealworms as a treat.

I have used a tray and started to put in some greens ( leafy green mix), shredded as much as possible with some cherry tomatoes. Then I sprinkled some parsley or Coriander, whatever bag I grab that day. Then I sprinkled on some kambalch henhouse reserve. I've done it every other day or so to give them some greens. Or just start off with an ear or two of corn. Keeps them mentally stimulated too. It's been a few weeks, but I think I started with an ear of corn, then waited a few days, then introduced it again. After a few days I put in the corn with the tray of the greens. The mama knew what the corn was, sadly the Millie's I've got have had to learn how to be chickens. So I've kept introducing of new veg slow. Only give corn when it's super cold out, helps them with body heat. Scratch grains used sparingly as that's more of a treat. I've also kept the regular feed in a tray and then a small bowl of just the henhouse. I've got 3 little feeding stations and two water but gives everyone plenty of room. Luckily the Millie's have started to put on weight. They weren't in best of shape when I got them. I would also recommend putting in some apple cider vinegar into the water. Might help start the mamas gut health. I often also sprinkle in some dried crushed red pepper and oregano into regular feed as well. I try to mix it up and rotate out so they don't get everything the same day and since they are in a run.