Stressed out Grandma to be!

[warmwater]

Hello everyone...my broody hens eggs are due to hatch Monday, (6-29). As of now, she is in a small inclosure in the coop sitting on the eggs. My DH built me a coop for mother and babies to stay in--(because I was afraid something would get them if we kept them in the chicken coop.) We are putting M & B's coop in the garage. Questions....1. Will she be okay with the peeps if I move them? 2. How old do the chicks have to be before I can let M & B's out in the grass in a fenced in pen? 3. Do I feed them reg. or medicated chick feed, and will Med. feed be okay for Mom? I hope someone can help me! This is my first time with a broody hen hatching....very stressful. Thanks

 

[Judy]

My approach was a little different. I had my broody in a cage in the coop to keep the other hens from bothering her and her nest. When the chicks hatched, I removed the cage. They all live together just fine now.

If you are going to move her, I would do it now, at night, before the eggs hatch. She doesn't need to deal with babies and a move at the same time. She will want to take them out in the grass within a day or two of the last one hatching, and I would not interfere with this. She will do fine on medicated chick feed.

 

[warmwater]

Thanks for the advice..I was just worried about the peeps. Would it be okay if I just put the new pen in the chicken coop? This way I could be sure the other chickens wouldn't hurt the little ones. They could see them and get use to them. I could also let them out together and watch them just to make sure...I'm on vacation this week. I'd rather be safe than sorry. My neighbors think I'm crazy because I named my girls and can pick them up and pet them. To them a chicken lays eggs and when they stop they're soup. Not me!!!!! Thanks again

 

[kycowgirlchick]

Moma hen will not let anyone hurt them. My hen just about got me and she is usually pretty calm. Let her take care of it all. Just make sure there is no water they can drown in and that they can get to the food.
I went as far as giving my Silkie some babies that hatched in the incubator about the same time. She never cared.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Well, my other 3 hens never bothered the chicks, and I am sure my Mama hen would have defended them if they had. But it does happen that others attack and kill new chicks. It even happens that mamas attack and kill new chicks. My group of chickens had raised a chick last year, before I found BYC, and I didn't separate them at all simply because it never occurred to me. I just marked eggs and collected newly laid ones.

A good mama will defend the chicks. The problem is that hatcheries have been trying to breed broodiness out of chickens so they will lay more, so now, a broody is a bit of an unpredictable quantity.

Mine is actually raising feed store chicks. I'd gotten some mail order eggs but they were all a flop but one, so I bought some chicks; they were probably a week old, but she accepted them fine. No roo with that group any more. Working towards a bunch who will hatch their own.