Please help!

[MotherHuman]

My hen went broody and proved faithful to the cause. She was sitting on fertile eggs but only two hatched. Me, not knowing how to resist the urge of having more chickens on my farm, went online and ordered chicks that would be roughly the same age as her chicks. They were only a few days younger.

After doing a lot of reading, I decided I would place the chicks under her at night and hope she would adopt them. I didnt want to place all of them under her at once in fear that she would notice something was up so I only placed a few under her. The first night went well, so the second night I placed a few more chicks under her. Everything seemed to be going well then too. That was until I was outside working earlier today and noticed her pecking a baby. Hard. She wouldnt stop, chasing it around the brooder pen to the point where she trampled over another chick on accident and almost injured it. I removed that chick immediately, deciding to keep it away from the hen. Unfortunately there was another chick that looked almost identical to the one she had chased previously and when I turned around she was now doing the same thing with the other chick. She was being violent with only those two chicks so I brought them into the house and placed them in the brooder pen.

My problem with this is, I wanted to raise all the chicks outside with mother hen so they could later be let out with the flock with little to no pecking. I also wanted to keep them out of the house. I was going to put the rest of the chicks under her tonight but now I'm afraid she will hurt them.

Is there any way to remove mother hen from the chicks with stressing the hen or the chicks out too much??? I would really like to raise all the chicks in the brooder pen I built outside. It is near the coop so that the chicks and the flock would still be able to hear eachother and know eachother existed. Raising the chicks inside is only going to make it harder and more stressful later on when I need to introduce them to the flock. Does anyone have a suggestion? I'm honestly up for anything at this point. I just want the hen to get along with all the chicks.

 

[ShannonR]

So you put chicks under a hen, that you no longer want under the hen, do I have this right? Hmmm. I think that after she has accepted chicks, it would be hard to pull them away from mama hen without her freaking out, at this point. I mean, you CAN do it, but it kinda seems like you went to alot of trouble giving them to the hen to give up now.

Personally, I'd brood the chicks you didn't put under her, plus the two she was being mean to, and let her keep the rest.... IF she continues being a good mother to them. Might as well give her a chance to do her job.

 

[MotherHuman]

So you put chicks under a hen, that you no longer want under the hen, do I have this right? Hmmm. I think that after she has accepted chicks, it would be hard to pull them away from mama hen without her freaking out, at this point. I mean, you CAN do it, but it kinda seems like you went to alot of trouble giving them to the hen to give up now.

Personally, I'd brood the chicks you didn't put under her, plus the two she was being mean to, and let her keep the rest.... IF she continues being a good mother to them. Might as well give her a chance to do her job.

I dont really WANT to take them away from her. I just wanted them all raised together to avoid trouble later on. But at this point, you may be right. It will probably be easier to raise the rest of the chicks in the house and let her continue to raise the other chicks outside. I'm not trying to stress any of them out.

 

[Shezadandy]

Definitely watch her carefully to make sure all the others she has are treated well, and the rest of them- well, you're momma hen now! Do a search on MHP (Momma (or Mama) Heating Pad) to see how you can STILL set up to raise them outside with a run-in cave that will serve as their warmth, but of course out of the reach of the hen.

Chicks gain heat from their mommas by pressing their backs into her, so whatever you build (and there are sooo many wonderful ideas on this site) - make sure the chicks can push up into it for their warmups in between playing. She might have had a hormone shift and viewed any more chicks as intruders taking up her resources.

Here's my version- it has served me well. It's 2 of those racks you use to store foil/wax paper/plastic wrap bent into a sloped end, and very, very tightly zip-tied with a heating pad (covered in an old pillowcase) in between. The whole thing gets covered by a hand towel for easy washing as they will climb up on top in no-time flat!