So I have a Blue Cochin who went broody and hatched a dozen babies. The babies are closing in on 2 weeks old. They are all outside in a nursery pen and she sleeps with them under her body inside of a corrugated box with a blanket inside of the nursery. The nursery pen is covered with thick plastic on the side that gets wind. My question: By the time they are old enough not to be able to all fit under her - will they be feathered out enough to keep warm by snuggling all together? This is our first hatch and when we raised our first day old chicks this past spring - they were raised indoors with an eco brooder heat thingy. We put our chickens outside at 5 weeks old in the spring. Thanks!
Where are you located and what are your temperatures like, they should be okay with their mom and siblings to stay warm as long as they have a dry draft free area.
I had a hen hide a nest in the dead of winter. She hatched 5 chicks, 3 died immediately(it was a poor spot that I couldn't reach and other hens were using the nest... it was a mess!) and the other 2 were fine with day temps below 32 F and 20's at night. Broody taught them to roost pretty early and they just huddled really close and usually under her wing or even right under her. Its was funny to see such big chicks trying to get under her still. They were just fine and feathered out quickly.
Mum will know when is the right time to stop brooding her little ones. If you leave access from the nursery area to the roost open, she will simply take them to roost when they are ready. My broody usually abandons brooding at around 6 weeks - one evening I find them in the broody coop, the next day they are up on the roost. Ct
I'm in Georgia and the temps are 50 by day and 25-30 at night. They are already 2 weeks old now. They are dry and draft free
They'll be fine near her in the box......you should let them have access to the rest of the flock so mama can integrate them.
From the 1st day the flock was able to see them up close through the hardware cloth. When the chicks were a 1 week old, I let them out with the rest of the flock for about 5 min. They got a few pecks and I shuttled them back inside their nursery pen with their mama. They were just too young and wobbly and didn't know enough how to get away. A few days later, I let them out to mingle and it was much better (some of the flock stared at them funny and they got a couple of little pecks - but scuttled away real quick). Ever since then, I let them out to mingle for 10-15 min a day (and recently up to an hour a day) and the rest of the flock seems fine with them now. It's amazing how quickly the flock accepted them!
Congratulations you are over the rough stuff, now you get the fun of watching them grow up within the flock.
