question on blocking off nest box for broody

[junior67]

It's normal and okay. He is reclaiming mom and checking out his kids. Chickens peck for a lot of reasons. He is investigating.
Mom is not distressed and going after him and the chicks are not shrieking and running away.

Thank you. I thought it was a really good interaction so just wanted to be sure. The peeped and ran away but then would go back near him so figured he wasn't hurting them and it seemed like soft pecks like I saw mom do the first day not like he was trying to hurt them. But I am new to this so didn't want to be wrong and have them get hurt. Will he protect them from the other girls if there is any issues do you think? My flock normally gets along great with just a peck on the head here and there but no fights.

 

[junior67]

ok so I have food in the coop for them and water. So mama was helping to feed them. I didn't realize she would take a piece and cluck and let them take it from her mouth so basically feeding them!!!! Well one of my other girls was in laying in one of the other boxes and the dark chick went in that box and crawled under that hen!!! once it came out she did peck it a bit and it jumped out but YIKES! What are these chicks doing?!?! LOL I was home and was JUST out there with them and came in to get ready for work so was watching them in case.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

It's normal and okay. He is reclaiming mom and checking out his kids. Chickens peck for a lot of reasons. He is investigating.
Mom is not distressed and going after him and the chicks are not shrieking and running away.

X2

 

[junior67]

They met some of the hens today when they came in to lay and the babies jumped out of their box to see them. Mama stayed in the box..... All seemed to go fine. Most ignored them.

One of them was in the box laying earlier when mama was in the coop with them and the dark baby jumped in the box and under the other one. She didn't do anything. Lol after it came back out from under her she pecked it a bit but then it jumped out of that box.

 

[DobieLover]

They met some of the hens today when they came in to lay and the babies jumped out of their box to see them. Mama stayed in the box..... All seemed to go fine. Most ignored them.

One of them was in the box laying earlier when mama was in the coop with them and the dark baby jumped in the box and under the other one. She didn't do anything. Lol after it came back out from under her she pecked it a bit but then it jumped out of that box.

Remember, chickens investigate things with their beaks. Not all pecks are the same.

 

[junior67]

Remember, chickens investigate things with their beaks. Not all pecks are the same.

yes so far none have seemed mean or attacking at all. Just little ones to see what this little fluff ball is that is running around. These chicks have zero cares in the world right now and think they own that coop. LOL Thankfully so far all the big ones have been really great with them!

 

[DobieLover]

yes so far none have seemed mean or attacking at all. Just little ones to see what this little fluff ball is that is running around. These chicks have zero cares in the world right now and think they own that coop. LOL Thankfully so far all the big ones have been really great with them!

I've had many broodies raise chicks in my flock and have never had an issue with the other flock members harming the chicks.

 

[junior67]

this doesn't have to do with blocking off the nest box but I have a question that I think some answering here can help with.

So as you know the mama is in the coop with her 2 babies. They are now 3 days old. She hangs around the coop with them, she will run outside quickly and leave them in the coop etc. Then she jumps back in whatever nest box she feels like going in and calls them to join her.

Well sometimes the one she jumps in has an egg that has been laid in ti, or a couple. So today I had to scoop them out from under her (I am so glad she is great with me and doesn't bite me! LOL). I also have a couple of fake eggs in there since I tried to take them out and my other girls were all a mess like they had no clue where to lay so I put them back in. So the nest she was in today was one I had moved the fake egg to (I try to move it into the box she isn't in so she isn't on eggs). Today when I pulled it out from under her I just left it in front of her. She rolled it back under her...... Shouldn't she be done wanting to sit on eggs now that the babies are a few days old? She hasn't had eggs since the day after they hatched and I took the last one that was left and put it in the incubator. I figured she was just going back on the nest to keep her babies there so was surprised when she still rolled the fake one under her. Is that normal? If so how long does it take for them to be done wanting to sit on the eggs?

 

[PippinTheChicken]

this doesn't have to do with blocking off the nest box but I have a question that I think some answering here can help with.

So as you know the mama is in the coop with her 2 babies. They are now 3 days old. She hangs around the coop with them, she will run outside quickly and leave them in the coop etc. Then she jumps back in whatever nest box she feels like going in and calls them to join her.

Well sometimes the one she jumps in has an egg that has been laid in ti, or a couple. So today I had to scoop them out from under her (I am so glad she is great with me and doesn't bite me! LOL). I also have a couple of fake eggs in there since I tried to take them out and my other girls were all a mess like they had no clue where to lay so I put them back in. So the nest she was in today was one I had moved the fake egg to (I try to move it into the box she isn't in so she isn't on eggs). Today when I pulled it out from under her I just left it in front of her. She rolled it back under her...... Shouldn't she be done wanting to sit on eggs now that the babies are a few days old? She hasn't had eggs since the day after they hatched and I took the last one that was left and put it in the incubator. I figured she was just going back on the nest to keep her babies there so was surprised when she still rolled the fake one under her. Is that normal? If so how long does it take for them to be done wanting to sit on the eggs?

She should stop when she takes the babies outside

 

[junior67]

so mama brought the babies out yesterday (or they followed her out) so I moved the food and water for them out there since that is where they spend the day. Today she brought them out but not till a bit later (so then I was wondering if I should have food and water in the coop still since they had nothing to eat or drink till they went out???

She is good with calling them over to her when they start screaming but doesn't hover over them at all but last night (a few hours before dusk) when she went into the coop they didn't follow her and she just went on into the box. They were outside screaming, I kept checking on them so saw it and went out and showed them how to walk up the ramp and made them walk up it and guided them with my hands instead of just putting them in there so they learned how to follow mom up........ once in the coop they heard her clucking and ran over and jumped in with her. Well the same thing happened tonight... so I did the same thing. Is this normal?? I am going camping from Thurs afternoon till Sun afternoon and I am worried that she is going to take them outside and they are going to be left out there..... I am hoping they figure it out before then but that only gives them 3 more days. What should I do while I am gone if they don't go in with her before then?

@DobieLover @PippinTheChicken