Please Help I Need Information!!!!!!!

[MEchickenfarmer33]

i am wondering if i should enclose my hen before my chicks hatch in like 2 days. i am wondering if she will get stressed out and kill the chicks or will she be fine cooped up for 5 days in a nesting box that is 4 ft wide and like 20 inches tall???????? will she be fine and not stressed out when i shut the door. I kind of need them on a short notice. thanks. any reply helps

 

[ranchhand]

I put my broodies in a wire cage or airy dog crate in the coop with the other hens, that way they all get aquainted early.

Happy hatching!

 

[ScottyHOMEy]

Quote:
As always there is the disclaimer that there is no predicting what a dinosaur might do but . . .

If your hen is broody, her instincts will be to hatch and then, literally, take the chicks under her wing and provide them with warmth while undertaking an orientation program , introducing them to the world, teaching them what they need to know.

Part of her duty will be to introduce them to the rest of the flock and teach them how to behave as they work their way into the pecking order.

In some cases this may require defending them, not something all broodies will or can do.

So the idea of a dog crate in the coop for the hen and chicks might be a good idea. If you look through the threads about introducing new birds to an existing flock, you'll find a lot folks have had success with letting both the old and the new out to run at the same time for a while with a fence between them. This allows them to at least get used to seeing each other. After some time, they are let out together. As long as there is sufficient room for the bottom birds in the pecking order to get away, they will sort it out. Keeping them crated where the other birds can see the chick is the equivalent of the separately-fenced stage, and may be just the ticket..

 

[MEchickenfarmer33]

yeah the cage that shes in in the coop the chickens can look into the pen and see the baby chicks (when they arrive)