when to introduce young pullets to flock

[Nanny Deb]

Rosemary, maybe you can help me.. I have had a Broody Momma and who is laying on guennie fowl eggs. today I put five extra eggs that are reading to hatch any minute.. She is in our coop and has been a very persistent hen. Sadly mid way thru sitting she got up and sat on different set of eggs and the other eggs got cracked by one of my heavy footed hens... ( silly Thats why I put the now hatching eggs under her today she may be there another 14 days poor girl to maybe hatch this bunch... my question is should I move her to a separate area with new babies ? or just leave her in coop and let nature be nature? Thanks again for your advice

 

[Lovem all]

I have 6 chickens and 1 Roo. One of the girls is broody and so lately it seems I only have 5 and 1 roo. That said, I bought earlier in the season 5/13/20 4 white baby chicks, so they are almost 2 months. I had raised them until last week in a fenced in kids plastic swimming pool, but recently moved them to the big 10x10 coup where I quartered off an area and enclosed them in it. They see the big chickens but no one can get to each other. Whats a good time to take down the wire and let them be all be together? I would love them to get some sunshine but I dont want to see them dead, hurt, etc... funny how you can get attache to chickens.

So I would wait till they are off of grower finisher then as long as they've been seeing each other they should be fine. The pecking order will be inacted though

 

[rosemarythyme]

Rosemary, maybe you can help me.. I have had a Broody Momma and who is laying on guennie fowl eggs. today I put five extra eggs that are reading to hatch any minute.. She is in our coop and has been a very persistent hen. Sadly mid way thru sitting she got up and sat on different set of eggs and the other eggs got cracked by one of my heavy footed hens... ( silly Thats why I put the now hatching eggs under her today she may be there another 14 days poor girl to maybe hatch this bunch... my question is should I move her to a separate area with new babies ? or just leave her in coop and let nature be nature? Thanks again for your advice

Unfortunately I have no experience with hatching with a broody, so hopefully someone else can chime in with their personal advice on this front.

IF I were to have a hen raise chicks I'd want to set it up so the hen's nest and some extra space was fenced off from the rest of the coop for a few days just to give the chicks a headstart, but after that let the hen raise the chicks with the flock - however I'd also take into account on how high ranked the mama is.

 

[Nanny Deb]

Unfortunately I have no experience with hatching with a broody, so hopefully someone else can chime in with their personal advice on this front.

IF I were to have a hen raise chicks I'd want to set it up so the hen's nest and some extra space was fenced off from the rest of the coop for a few days just to give the chicks a headstart, but after that let the hen raise the chicks with the flock - however I'd also take into account on how high ranked the mama is.

well I went ahead and just did it.. and she took the little ones just fine. Today she and the guenie babies escaped form the corner cage I had for her and the babies in the coop and they are having a ball outside. I on the other hand, I am panicing because Im not sure she will be able to get them back into the coop. And she and the babies wont let me near them.... ugh! being a chicken/guenie granny is tough!

 

[Sonya9]

well I went ahead and just did it.. and she took the little ones just fine. Today she and the guenie babies escaped form the corner cage I had for her and the babies in the coop and they are having a ball outside. I on the other hand, I am panicing because Im not sure she will be able to get them back into the coop. And she and the babies wont let me near them.... ugh! being a chicken/guenie granny is tough!

Are the chicks following the mama hen around and paying attention to her? If so she would take them all back to the coop at dusk. Never had keats so no idea. Worst case scenario you go out after dark with a box and a flashlight and collect them all.

Ideally when a broody is sitting on eggs the nest is in a private sectioned off corner of the coop so she can't get confused and sit on a different nest, and other birds can't access her nest. Moving the nest can be tough, the last time I did it I put the nest in the cat carrier and closed the broody up in it, after 2 days she got the idea.

Best to give them dud eggs and move the nest a day or two after she goes broody, once she has accepted the new nest give her marked hatching eggs (or just let her nest wherever she wants and give her store bought chicks at 3 weeks). When the chicks are a few days old then the hen is given the option to take them into the regular coop when she is ready.