What is your setup to keep a broody in with flock?

[3nglishteacher]

Well, this thread sheds light on why my first gen. chicks are popping up dead periodically. I'll divide our pen today but how long should mom & chicks be kept separate from flock? Part of me worries that they'll never be accepted in flock the longer I keep them away but the infant mortality rate is unacceptable at present.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Safest time to integrate is when all are about the same size. But if they are popping up dead without visible injury, I doubt the others are killing them.

 

[oberhaslikid]

I hang a wire cage on the wall,Make a nest in one corner.Then after it gets dark out I move the broody to the cage hung on the wall and place the eggs under her.The next morning I check to see if she took to it.Most of the time they never know the difference.She is still in the hen house and on the same wall as the nest boxes.Shes out of the way and I feed and water her in there seperately from the others.I also leave the chicks in with her for a few days then move them all to a small pen.

 

[Beau coop]

I kept my first hatch separate until about 4 weeks old. When they were fully feathered I put them out with momma into the coop.

I learned a few things from first hatch. One, give them a roost. I didn't and now they refuse to go into the coop at night. They sleep on it. I have tried putting them inside and they continue to refuse. It is ok when it is warm out, but we'll see as winter approaches.

Also, I did not handle them much at all as babies. Now they are the most skittish things going. If I approach they go crazy trying to get away from me.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Hens that go broody have varying degrees of skills & abilities. That's why one approach won't fit every sitution. Some hens are more easily distracted & disturbed and must stay confined, others could successfully hatch a clutch in the middle of Grand Central Station. Some hens are more protective and could keep her chicks safe while walking through a den of foxes. Others will kill even their own chicks.

I have about a dozen mixed-breed bantam hens who go broody on a regular basis. I let them get settled on their selected nest site and give them some bantam eggs to satisfy them. After a few days of this I'll move them after dark to a separate secure place. I have a collection of wire dog crates & wire tops to rabbit cages I can use. I put the cages in a separate pen I keep for chicks & broodies. If they stick on the nest in the new place for a few more days, I'll then swap out the bantam eggs for other eggs from my standard-sized layer flock. I don't want to make any more bantams, especially bantam roosters!

I keep food & water in the cages, & there they have room to get up & poop. I shovel out & toss their broody poops so it doesn't get too rank in there. I don't like to bother them by candling the eggs, and don't force them to get up off the nest to eat or poop.

Once the chicks hatch they & their Moms can stay in the pen, and sleep secure in the broody cages. The Moms will want to stay with the chicks for anywhere from 4-8 weeks, more or less. They can easily hop over the fence to rejoin their flock when they're ready to leave. I keep the chicks together, separate from the flock, until they're 20 weeks old and can begin eating layer pellets. Until then they stay together & eat chick starter.

 

[IggiMom]

I never leave a broody in with the flock. And even when they DO defend their chicks, it can cause problems.

Big Momma, my broody hen, is out with the main flock now with her two little baby Seramas. Crumb. She is antagonizing everybody else. The whole flock is afraid of her.

They are three weeks old or thereabouts, and I couldn't leave her and the babies in the nursery room because she wasn't letting the other chicks eat! And she chased my other broody hen off her nest and I had to put her eggs in the incubator! I knew not to leave a setting hen in with the flock, but once they hatched I thought she would be ok. NOT.

Next time, she goes into a watermelon crate with the babies and stays there! I am not going to have her upsetting all the laying hens again!

As to how to move a broody, there is a VERY good thread on this; you put them into two boxes, put the boxes where you want them. There is more to it than this. If you want I will find the link and post it. I do not have it handy right now so let me know.

Catherine

 

[finewhether]

I tried to put my broody into a small crate yesterday. She lost her little chicken mind. She put up such a fuss, I put her back into the main coop, and back into her nesting box.

I have been raising my chicken for only a 4 or 5 of years, but have had a broody hatch out all my chickens except the initial ones in those years. My set up allows me to have a separate area for broody chicken to set and raise (if I chose) their chicks. When a chicken goes broody I wait a couple of days to make sure, and start collecting eggs for her to set on. Then when I’m sure she is broody and i have enough eggs I go out when all the chickens have gone to roost and move the eggs and broody hen to the Brooder hutch (10'X8'). She is calm because she was already roosting and she never (so far in all my trys) is scared when she realizes where she is in the morning. I only move a broody hen to a confined area in the daylight when I am wanting a hen to stop being broody, it upsets them, so they don't want to set and in 3 or 4 days they are normal hens again.​

 

[Beau coop]

Quote:
I have been raising my chicken for only a 4 or 5 of years, but have had a broody hatch out all my chickens except the initial ones in those years. My set up allows me to have a separate area for broody chicken to set and raise (if I chose) their chicks. When a chicken goes broody I wait a couple of days to make sure, and start collecting eggs for her to set on. Then when I’m sure she is broody and i have enough eggs I go out when all the chickens have gone to roost and move the eggs and broody hen to the Brooder hutch (10'X8'). She is calm because she was already roosting and she never (so far in all my trys) is scared when she realizes where she is in the morning. I only move a broody hen to a confined area in the daylight when I am wanting a hen to stop being broody, it upsets them, so they don't want to set and in 3 or 4 days they are normal hens again.

I gave it another try and moved her at roost time. Not a peep. Thanks!