The Brady Bunch Crew

[MtnMomma86]

Well I had a broody hen hatch 2 chicks. They are now 3 weeks old. I also have 10 chicks inside in the brooder. They are 4 weeks old. Each day the Momma hen takes her babies out in the run. I recently tried to introduce the 10 chicks to run.. but the Momma is very aggressive towards the new ones and wants to protect her babies. I feel bad for the 10 bc they aren't doing anything wrong and are so scared. She had one bleeding the other day. I have put them together 3 times and she just seems to get more aggressive. Should I take her out? The chicks get along fine but momma isn't happy. Not sure what to do bc I only have 1 run for them. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[donrae]

If you really need to put the brooder babies out, you'll probably have to pull the momma out. She sees the other chicks as a threat to resources for her babies and isn't likely to learn to accept them.

Why not put the momma and her chicks in with the main flock?

If you put all the littles out and pull momma, you'll have to provide some heat for them, at least at night.

 

[MtnMomma86]

Well due to a coyote the Momma is our last grown hen and we have one nasty rooster. While in the run, they are safer during the day. I thought about maybe dividing the run in half? I have two coops for them to use. How long does it normally the for them to get use to each other? This is my first attempt at adding new chicks.

 

[MtnMomma86]

This is our current set up