Hi! Ok this is all new to me and you're scenario seems closest to my situation and question(s). I currently have our mama hen and her two chicks in the rabbit hutch we built which I have in the coop. They are only 4 days old and so far so good but I need to move them to something bigger soon...
https://www.farmstore.com/product/p...n-pen-for-the-old-red-barn-ii-chicken-coop-2/ I was going to buy this and simply put it in the coop (which is a barn and outside are all netted). So they have more room but are still in the coop - I love your idea as the chicks have been "interacting" with the big girls since day one. Then 1) what do you think of this transition brooder 2) does Mom stay in the brooder (the link) when I transition 3) Do I transition later this week when they're going on 2 weeks old 4) when does the last step happen - do they literally live in the brooder until they're 4 weeks with feathers? Won't the mom get tired of all of it? Thank you!
When mother hens raise chicks, they go all the way, several weeks at least. She's unlikely to stop mothering them anytime soon, so any transitional brooder must be able to accomodate her, too.
The rest of your questions can be answered, in my opinion, all at once. You can keep the chicks confined, either in the hutch you have or the one you want to buy, but there's not much point in doing it for much longer. When blooie talks about transitioning chicks, she's generally (as I recall) transitioning chicks without a mother, ones she's hatched or purchased herself. Such chicks have no adult on their side in an existing flock and need a period of transition with the adults so the adults become accustomed to them and view them as part of the flock when they are eventually allowed contact with one another. With a broody hen, so much of that is moot. She brings them off the nest when she's ready and acts as their guide and defender from the other birds, who typically show little interest. Mom already belongs, chicks are a normal part of life they just accept. If they do peck at the chicks, mom defends them. Mother hens range in how good they are at mothering, but most do an adequate job.
What to do now and when to release them is up to you. Sometimes I segregate broodies while they sit, sometimes not, depending on my resources and space. By a couple days old, I let them come off their nests with their chicks and all have done so. Aggression from the flock can still happen, so some keep them confined longer, but by the time they are outgrowing that space you have them in now, I would say it's time for them to join the rest of the flock. The additional brooder really isn't necessary. The only issue you will have is that your current brooder is off the ground and the chicks won't be able to get back into it when their mother probably returns to it at night. You can make some kind of ramp, but at that height, I don't know if four-day-old chicks would figure it out. I would set them up some kind of shelter underneath the hutch, close the doors on the hutch itself once mom leads them out (they can jump safely from there just fine) and let mom bring them to their shelter under the hutch or set them up a spot in the coop itself. My current broody hen sleeps with her chicks underneath a piece of lumber that leans diagonally against the wall in the coop. It happens to be where she had her nest. She still gathers her five-week-old chicks to her at night, plus some six-week-olds whose mother has already abandoned them.
They definitely don't need to stay in any brooder for four weeks. Their mother will keep them warm when they need it, which is generally the factor in consideration when folks talk about waiting until they are fully feathered.
