Seperating hens and rooster to raise chicks

[Nate in WI]

What if my nesting boxes are too high for the chicks to leap up to when their little? my current laying boxes are 2ft off the ground so the hens have to jump up to them... should i build new nesting boxes closer to ground?

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I had 2 broody hens last spring so I collected fertile eggs from the groups I wanted...EE, RIR, Buff Orpington & Wyandotte. I set up 1 hen with her own 6x8 section, just her & 7 eggs in a nest box, food & water. Multicolor eggs didn't bother her, she sat diligently. Nest box was extra big and sitting on floor, full of wood chips. At that time, it was cold here, March, so temperatures were kept about 45 to 55 degrees in that building. Mama kept her eggs warm.

A month later, the other hen I tried in a large coop section with a few other hens. When a few eggs got broken after 9 days of peace, I decided to move her & remaining 3 eggs to their own section next door to the other mama hen, 6x6 room.

From that point on all went well & 10 eggs hatched just fine & both mamas were wonderful. So from what I've learned, it's probably best to have just broody mama & her eggs, she doesn't need anyone else as long as she is in a protected area. I did set up food & water nearby her nestbox & every morning enticed her with a few mealworms & Sunflower peanut raisin mix, she'd get off eggs long enough to eat, drink & let a big, stinky poop out which I promptly cleaned up for the compost heap lol.

 

[NatJ]

What if my nesting boxes are too high for the chicks to leap up to when their little? my current laying boxes are 2ft off the ground so the hens have to jump up to them... should i build new nesting boxes closer to ground?

I've seen stories of hens that did hatch chicks in elevated nestboxes, and the hen got her chicks to jump down safely the first time she took them off the nest. After that first time, the hen and chicks just slept on the floor instead of going back up to the nestbox.

With a raised nestbox, I would be worried about the first chick falling out and not being able to get back, with the hen still sitting as the other chicks hatched, but apparently it has worked fine for some people.

Personally, I would leave the current nestboxes the way they are, and try moving the hen when she's broody as @Liz Birdlover suggested.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What if my nesting boxes are too high for the chicks to leap up to when their little?

I'm probably the one that NatJ is talking about. My hens regularly hatch in nests 2' or 4' off the coop floor. I let the hens decide when to bring the chicks off the nest and they do. I've never had a chick injured getting down from a nest. At night the hen keeps them on the coop floor, usually in a corner but sometimes out in the middle a bit. Personally I would not want the broody hen and chicks pooping in a nest overnight. I just don't see that as a good thing.

If you want you can prepare a shelter (doesn't have to be a nest) on the coop floor somewhere and see if the broody uses it. She might, she might not. If you lock the broody and her chicks in that shelter after dark and let them out the next morning she should start using it at night on her own.

If you pick up a broody hen with small chicks, be careful. Chicks sometimes crawl up under a broody hen's feathers and especially under the wings. I crushed and killed a chick one time when I picked the hen up, it had crawled under her wing. If I need to I still pick up a broody hen but I'm really careful when I do.

I once let a broody hen hatch in a nest made from a cat litter bucket, another mistake. That nest was about four feet above the coop floor and the top was 7-1/2" x 11-1/2". When the first chicks hatch some like to climb up on Mama's back while waiting on the late ones to hatch. In a regular nest that's not a big deal but in this nest the hen was so close to the side of the nest that the chick missed the nest and fell to the coop floor. Four different times I picked a chick up and tossed it back in the nest. Probably the same chick most of the time. The chick was not injured by that fall by the way and none of the other chickens bothered it while it was on the coop floor by itself. A lone chick is at risk from another hen but most don't just blindly try to destroy any defenseless chick they see. I've never had a chick fall out of another nest but the way they are made the hen is not sitting that close to the edge.

This may interest you. I retired that cat litter bucket nest after that hatch. Sometimes when the main coop is getting crowded I move a broody hen and her chicks to this shelter out in the run. I lock them in here for two days and three nights and then let them out to roam with the rest of the flock during the day. After being locked in here a couple of days the broody hen always takes them back to this shelter at night so I can lock them up for predator protection. At first I left the floor bare and the hen kept her chicks on the ground at night. After I retired that cat litter bucket nest I put it in here for the broody to use. Most broody hens did use it but a few did not, they preferred being next to it but sleeping on the ground.

I think your question is a good question but for me that is just not an issue.