I have a broody hen who is sitting on 10 eggs. They are due to hatch on the 23rd. What happens then? Should I let her take the chicks with her to mix with the other chickens I have? I don't have a seperate coop for them,they just have a small pen I made for the broody to keep the others away from her nest. Will the roo(their father) and the other chickens I have try to hurt the babies? I'm getting pretty worried about this.
Back in the old days, folks just let them join the flock and trusted the hen to protect them. My grandma didn't separate them from the others. I think most folks on here would advise a pen for them until they get older. Does your flock free range? Mine does and, if a hen hatches a brood, I will let her mix with the others after about a week. Anyone else have a bad experience by doing this?
i wouldnt keep them together. good chance of the others messing with them.you could make a small encloseure to use for little of nothing for them to stay in.i use a circular pen made out of fiberglass that is approx two feet tall.i use a piece of lattice for the top and move it around the yard to keep them on fresh grass/bugs.its about 8 feet in diameter.i have two broody hens with their babies in it.
GotCochins? : i wouldnt keep them together. good chance of the others messing with them.you could make a small encloseure to use for little of nothing for them to stay in.i use a circular pen made out of fiberglass that is approx two feet tall.i use a piece of lattice for the top and move it around the yard to keep them on fresh grass/bugs.its about 8 feet in diameter.i have two broody hens with their babies in it. I will have to figure something out..I don't want anything to happen to the lil' babies. My husband and I are in the process of building a good sized pen inside our barn to put 12 chicks that I hatch (in a bator) when they get a bit older,before I put them with my flock. Maybe we will haveto build a partition and put the broody hen and the babies until they get older as well.....eeekk lots to do before the 23rd.
I just had two hatches (long story, but it involved three hens on one nest and one hen in another) I removed the chicks due to the near death of one of the chicks - one is really a mess, but such a fighter and doesnt seem to be suffering, so I'm gonna give it a chance (plus I cant even kill a fly - dont know how I could dispatch this chick, but I will if I need to?)...I may be raising a blind chicken though, but I've heard it's been done. The other chickens must have thought these little ones were prey or something - and these chicks have three mothers on the same nest, so they should have been protected? Now I truly believe that babies should be kept away from the rest of the flock until they're much bigger - mine usually dont mix until they're several months old, which is apparently a good practice for our flock.
Quote:Thanks so much...I guess building a seperate room in the coop will be in order. I don't want anything to happen to the babies.
I always seperate mine (mostly because the hen prefers to stay on her nest for more than 3 days so the chicks yolk sac would be depleted). I think you should seperate her from the rest of the flock.
Quote:Thanks for the advice.... I will try to figure out something and where to keep her and the babies.
I've got eleven 5 week olds in the same coop and run as a brood hen with 7 week old chicks. The broody will protect the chicks and keep the older birds away and keep things straight. The teens walk gently around her and don't get to close to the little ones. Its a site to see when a week old roo thinks he's as big as the teens and tries to but chests and peck at them. One quick peck to the noggin sends the little one running. Broody will take care of the little ones, only reason I would take chicks from a hen is if you needed her laying.