When to introduce mama hen and chicks to flock

[Mo'sMenagerie]

Hi-this post is very informative. I have a broody with 3 youngin's that are three days old, and right now are in a chicken tractor in the main run/yard with my other chickens. I'm worried how I am going to get them all integrated and back in the main coop. The flock consists of 2 adult hens and 4 pullets all roosting in a moderate size coop, but there really isn't a way to close her off with the chicks inside of it that I can figure. I wonder if I could just move her into one of the nesting boxes that's part of the coop? The other concern I have is that the door and stairs to get down out of the coop is about 36" of the ground, and I'd be worried about the babies getting down/up that high.

 

[Mo'sMenagerie]

Hi-this post is very informative. I have a broody with 3 youngin's that are three days old, and right now are in a chicken tractor in the main run/yard with my other chickens. I'm worried how I am going to get them all integrated and back in the main coop. The flock consists of 2 adult hens and 4 pullets all roosting in a moderate size coop, but there really isn't a way to close her off with the chicks inside of it that I can figure. I wonder if I could just move her into one of the nesting boxes that's part of the coop? The other concern I have is that the door and stairs to get down out of the coop is about 36" of the ground, and I'd be worried about the babies getting down/up that high.

 

[FlockParty]

I know this is an old post, but I find myself in the same steps as these others did. So I figure I'll add my story too.

We have a flock of 6 right now, 5 hens and a rooster. We just had 5 new chicks hatch. Momma Suzy and the babies have been in their own roost with an attached run enclosed inside the main coop enclosure run. We got a starter chicken coop with our first batch of chickens a few years ago. We decided it would be the safest thing to separate Momma hen in while she raised her babies. Thankfully our coop is big enough, we just walked it right inside so they could still see each other during the days.

They're now a week and a half old and yesterday morning we went out to open the little run door on the nursery coop and the access door was wide open and all the chickens, rooster, and chicks and all were all hanging out all morning together!! Momma Suzy must have done well protecting her babies. Everyone came running out all at once like a flock. The babies ran over to the compost with everyone and started running all around like nuts.

I couldn't stop myself from separating them again. The chicks are no way big enough to jump up into the adult coop yet. So Momma Suzy and her babies will be held up in the little coop within the big coop for at least another week I'd imagine. And from what I've been reading it seems they can get together a lot sooner than I thought. I guess Buff Orpingtons, in general, are sweet so... yay!

All and all, everyone's met much sooner than I planned, and thankfully we all survived.

 

[Chick and duck mom]

I'm new to chickens. My hen hatched 2 chicks. They're about 4 weeks old. I have kept them separated from the other hens at night with a dog crate in front of their nest box. During the day, I let them loose in the coop and close the coop door. Wanted to keep the cats away from them also other hens. Only beginning my 2nd year with chickens. My question is do I take away the dog crate at night and let them be with the other hens and 2 roosters. It's cold he at night and they're not fully feathered. Any ideas would be great.

 

[BroodyBecca]

I'm in the same situation I started letting Moma and chicks integrate today by opening her gate. Chicks are eating adult food and hens are eating the babies food. Do I need to worry? I also have a large open top water pan (old roaster) do I need to worry about chicks failing in? Thanks for the help!

The starter food is better for all with oyster shells available for calcium. The layer pellets will have too much calcium for the babies. The water may be a problem loosen. Can you put a wire cage over so they can drink but not fall in maybe? X

 

[MrsThousand]

At a week old, I moved my hen and her chicks to a grow out area in the main coop. It was blocked off from the other birds and had its own food and water.

After two days of them staying in there, I opened the gate and allowed them out,.....supervised

After a week of that I removed the gate. The others would go in and visit, but mom was so mean they didn't stay.

After a week of that... all the walls came down.

At three weeks old they would all sleep under mom, in the pine shavings under the poop board.

By 4 weeks, mom had had enough of the floor and moved back to the roost. Two days of sleeping on the floor without mom, and the chicks figured out how to get up on the roost. Then they would sleep ON mom on the roost.

Occasionally the older girls remind the babies whose boss. Then mom reminds them that she's the boss of her own kids!

I love your detailed response! Thank you for sharing!

I have a mini coop with a little run inside of a large run, which has tunnels running from either side, one to a giant run on the left, and on the right the tunnel leads to their coop and another little run. My hen went broody in the mini coop and hatched eight eggs. I kept them separate for a week, but they could see each other through the hardware cloth on the mini run. To give them more space after a week, I added a gated area outside of the mini coop, but still in the big run. The babies could fit in between the bars and leave at their leisure, but would stay close to mama for the most part. Two days later, I left the gate open to the new area I had made for them, and supervised their interactions. My rooster and seven other hens completely avoided mama and her babies.

Tuesday Today is day two of letting them mingle while still having a place to escape if needed. So far, so good! I was really worried because the broody hen was at the bottom of the pecking order. It’s wonderful to see the flock showing respect to her and her chicks.

 

[GlicksChicks]

The answer to this really depends on the temperament of your chickens. You will get many different answers telling you how long to wait.

I personally had my mother hen and her chicks in a caged area for maybe a day or so and then they were running all around the coop. There was a little bit of fighting from 2 hens, but they were only fighting mama, not the chicks. Since then there has been 0 signs of aggression. My rooster even cares for them.

 

[Chicken Mama LDP]

Hi, I have 4 R.I. Reds and 10 Barred Rocks who are 16 months old. 2 of my R.I.s have never gotten a full plumage of feathers on their backside above their tail. At first, I thought they were molting. Now I know that it's not normal. Some of the other hens are missing feathers under their tail around their vent and starting to lose feathers in the same area above their tail on their back. Has anyone ever seen this and if so what is it? and how can I fix it? The picture I'm attaching is me giving 1 of them an Epsom salt bath and keeping her isolated as the others were starting to peck at her and pull out more of the little feathers she has.

Also I have added chicks to my flock around May although the old flock still doesn't like them. They don't hang together but, I am concerned that whatever they have may spread to the rest of the flock

 

[Chicken Mama LDP]

I'm new here. Sorry, the only post it has for me to choose from is a "post reply" ??