Unexpected chicks from broody hen...when to move them??

[snowknitter]

We have a broody hen we didn't want to get rid of ...

So a friend slipped some fertilized eggs under her. Well, one just hatched today! So exciting!

But, silly us, we never expected anything to happen...so she is still in her nesting box with the other layers!

So, what do I do now? It"s 18 in off the ground so I am guessing I have to move her as the chicks will not be able to get up and down once they start moving around.

So, when can I move her and not disrupt things too much. Once they are all hatched? How many days should I wait? Should I totally separate them...or just have a box on the ground in the coop? I am more of the all-nautral approach and don't want to have too many separate pens...is there any way I can still keep them and the other laying hens all together?

This is our first time with chicks...though we are no stranger to adult chickens...

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[n8ivetxn]

Hi! I just had to overcome the same problem!

We took a scrap piece of plywood and some rubber matting (drawer liners work, check wally world kitchen dept).
Cut the width to fit inside the coop opening.
Staple the rubber to the top of the plywood for traction.
Then added a length of 2x4 along the sides, to keep the chicks from "de-railing."
At the top, where the ramp enters the coop, we draped a piece of the matting over the threshold and several inches down the ramp, for easy cross-over for the chicklets.

It works! - I wish I had a photo of it....It has been a challenge to get the hens to work with the chicks, teaching them to use it....you may have to watch them a little and make sure they "get it."

Hope this helps!

 

[n8ivetxn]

I used a natural approach too, I wanted everyone to be together. Let the mammas raise their chicks in the flock for better integration and less work for me....I'm glad I did it....They were my first chicks too! - I'm still a nervous wreck, I worry about them like they're my own
- So much fun! They run around so fast, I didn't think chicks could move like that!

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

After all the eggs hatch, and it can take two days, the third day she will want to leave-she'll know if there are any more to hatch. If you have small nest boxes. I would pile up some straw or pine chips below the nest to make a soft landing in case they jump out unassisted. It not too far. Is there a corner of the coop she can make a new nest? If she is a dominent hen you have nothing to worry about...a new nest could be a large cardboard box on it's side, drop a leaf down if you want and let her come and go as she wants. Really, it's not that far a jump, the hen will have to talk them into it, if you help you may get attacked just saying. You could put an intermediate block in their if still worried

 

[snowknitter]

Thanks for the replies and ideas!
We may have to do a ramp...or somehow get them to the ground and hope they stay there without being bugged by the other hens...


Just checked and we 3 chicks now and 1 cracking!

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

How exciting! You can build a ramp, but new chicks will be afraid to use it, and you will want to clean up the nest soon. Just have one person hold the broody and remove the chicks to a box on the floor and put the broody in it, do it after roosting time. My hens all prefer one certain corner, on the floor...it's the natural spot. Remember she will be fiesty so tuck her well and expect a peck or two.

 

[n8ivetxn]

Believe me, the other hens won't bother them!

Mamma will make sure of it!

Achickenwrangler#1 is right, after about 36 hours she'll quit the nest. I had just cleaned the coop (i.e., nursery!) and dusted for lice/mites the day hatching started. My broodies (2 sharing a clutch moved the chicks onto the fresh coop floor and I snatched the nest box and surrounding material and cleaned it all up....

Congratulations! New chickie parents!

 

[snowknitter]

We have 5 chicks...and still 4 eggs left...how long should I leave those I eggs?

Anyway, I have built a next box and I will put it in a corner of the coop. Tonight after dark when they are all settled in I will get my husband to help me and we will move the family to the floor!

She won't walk away from the chicks now that they have been hatched, will she?

And, should we leave her alone as much as possible? Will us being around bug her and potentially make her up and leave? I have a 5 year that checks the coop every hour!

Ugh...so many questions! I feel like a new parent! ( and I just had twins a year ago!lol)....It's all so new. I have had week old chicks in the past we got from a farm and raised them under heat lamps but this is so differnet...and yet they are probably being raised better...by a momma chicken!!lol

 

[AZ_HenHouse]

We have 5 chicks...and still 4 eggs left...how long should I leave those I eggs? Wait until she gets up and decides it is time to quit--she is smarter than you realize


And, should we leave her alone as much as possible? Will us being around bug her and potentially make her up and leave? I have a 5 year that checks the coop every hour!

I have a 15 year old that was checking the coop every 17 minutes, had to send him to work with dad today to leave the poor hen alone.

 

[n8ivetxn]

She won't leave the chicks behind! - However, it's unusual but always possible for a hen to reject little ones, possible, but not probable....

It didn't bother my girls for me to be in coop - I was actually in the middle of emptying, dusting (for lice/mites) and cleaning the coop when I heard the first little "cheeps" coming from under the hens!! I was trying to get the "nursery" cleaned up before they started hatching....