Where to have broody hen raise chicks?

[RebelEgger]

Miss Velma insisted on being broody, so as a Mother’s Day gift to her I allowed her to remain on 4 eggs, one from each of my ladies. Congrats PJ, you’re going to be a dad!

She has been incubating her soon to be hatched babies in the coop with the rest of the flock.

I was thinking the whole time of allowing her to remain there and raise her brood with the flock, thinking this will help them integrate much easier.

Of course as hatch day gets closer,
I’m having anxiety about all the things that could be wrong with this plan.

Please share your thoughts or personal experiences with having your broody raise her babies with or away from the flock.

I do have a separate space I can put them in, but it is completely removed from the rest of the flock, and mine no longer free range as we have had a terrible fox issue this year and lost 7 of our flock over the winter, 6 hens and our head rooster, Phillip.

We are currently building a new coop (stay tuned for that post lasted this summer!) which will be able to accommodate this particular situation, but until then… here we are.

Broody Velma:

 

[DobieLover]

I was thinking the whole time of allowing her to remain there and raise her brood with the flock, thinking this will help them integrate much easier.

If no one has harassed her during incubation she should do well raising her brood in the flock. I do that all the time. The rooster will help keep things calm. Because she is right there with her flock they all know chicks are coming and should accept them readily.

Does your flock already eat an all flock type feed with oyster shell on the side because of the rooster? If so, you are all set. If not, switch.

If you've never seen a broody do her thing you are in for a true treat. It isn't just watching her and the chicks but the interactions of them with the rest of the flock. I have a hen who has never even thought about being broody. But she is fascinated with the broody hens and their chicks and likes to defend moms that get into scuffles and walk around with them at a distance. Three times I have seen her jump into broody hen fights and break them up driving off the non-broody girl. I call her Aunt Alecia.

 

[RebelEgger]

And just because I love my boy and think he’s a total stud, I’ll share his pic with you for some eye candy

(These are pics from a few months ago, hence the plastic up for the winter)

 

[RebelEgger]

If no one has harassed her during incubation she should do well raising her brood in the flock. I do that all the time. The rooster will help keep things calm. Because she is right there with her flock they all know chicks are coming and should accept them readily.

Does your flock already eat an all flock type feed with oyster shell on the side because of the rooster? If so, you are all set. If not, switch.

If you've never seen a broody do her thing you are in for a true treat. It isn't just watching her and the chicks but the interactions of them with the rest of the flock. I have a hen who has never even thought about being broody. But she is fascinated with the broody hens and their chicks and likes to defend moms that get into scuffles and walk around with them at a distance. Three times I have seen her jump into broody hen fights and break them up driving off the non-broody girl. I call her Aunt Alecia.

‘Aunt Alecia’ lol That’s awesome.

Everyone has been leaving mama Velma alone, and daddy PJ while he is a gentle boy like his daddy was, when we I go to check on Velma he goes right in the coop and keeps an eye on me while I interact with her.

Thank you for responding and sharing your personal experience. I was really looking forward to seeing the process of them being raised with the flock, and you have made me feel better about trying this.

I guess I will just monitor the situation and if I need to move them I will. I will keep you posted on how it goes!!

 

[RebelEgger]

We have 4 beautiful babies today! Mama seems to be doing well and seems happy, they seem happy. I have their food in with them, still figuring out how and where to attach their waterer.

My main concern is dad. I have seen him twice now pick up a chick and drop it. He doesn't pack aggressively at it or shake it, he just picks them up and drops them. I may move them to a separate coop for their protection. Or should I let it go a day or 2? Is everyone just figuring out their roles and these new little beings? I don't want my sweet little fluff balls to get killed/injured on purpose or by accident.

Have you experienced this @DobieLover?

 

[Shadrach]

Congratulations to Velma and PJ.
Congratulations to you for not moving Velma and her eggs while she was sitting.
Interesting that PJ picks the chicks up and drops them. It's not a behaviour I've seen. At the age of the chicks as long as they are not held which can easily lead to them being crushed no matter how carefull one is, watching them follow mum as she scratches for food for them and seeing them get tossed around until they learn to get in front of mum, rather than behind where mums legs often propels the chicks backwards as she scratches should provide some reassurance as to the robustness of chicks. Chicks tumble off coop ramps, nest sites and objects when ranging without any ill effects in my experience.

If you are likely to go wrong it is here.

I don't want my sweet little fluff balls to get killed/injured on purpose or by accident.

They are not your sweet fluff balls and the quicker you unload this fantasy the better. The chicks are Velma and PJ's and you need to accept this. Velma and PJ as the parents are the ones who should decide on how they bring up their offspring, not you, unless you're prepared to be there 24/7 and speak chicken.
I have never had a rooster harm a chick. Leave them to sort their parenting out. If it goes wrong then this is something one has to accept and if one knows why it went wrong then the time to use this knowledge is the next time Velma goes broody.
You've done everything right so far, don't mess it up by interfering now.

 

[RebelEgger]

They are not your sweet fluff balls and the quicker you unload this fantasy the better. The chicks are Velma and PJ's and you need to accept this.

Shadrach, thank you for your advice and comments. I always appreciate hearing from senior more experienced members of the BYC community.

Having said that, I did not mean to imply that I was some starry eyed dim wit who had a fantasy that they were my babies. I only meant that naturally, I do care for them and that I only have their welfare in mind. And, no I don't speak chicken, but I do have the set up to move them to should the rest of the flock, dad included, become a little too rough with them and they need to be separated.

It is my full intention to have them raised with the rest of the flock and learn all the chicken things they can learn from them, however, I will remove them and raise them the way I have raised every other batch of chicks so far should I need to. I will not allow them to become harmed if it can be and needed to be avoided.

I hope you take my meaning well, just please don't assume that caring "chicken tenders" are living in a fantasy land just because they express love or concern for those beings in their care.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm glad all four hatched. I also let my broody hens hatch and raise the chicks with the flock but my coop and probably run are different from yours. I'm not trying to scare you or discourage you but let's chat about a few things.

Sometimes my hens bring the chicks off of the nest within 24 hours of the first ones hatching. Some have waited until they are in the third day, well over 48 hours. Since all of your eggs have hatched the odds are it will be sooner than later. I set food and water on the coop floor where the chicks can get to it when the hen brings them off. The other chickens tend to treat any food I put out for the chicks to be a special treat, even if it is exactly the same feed they normally eat. I have to work to keep that food available. Also, chickens scratch a lot. They can cover any food or water on the coop floor in bedding. I put a piece of plywood on top of the bedding and set the water on that to reduce the amount of trash going into it but I have to clean bedding off of that plywood to stop them from scratching that in the water. The way I feed it stays pretty clean but you may have to do something with the feed too.

My coop is an 8' x 12' ground level walk-in. Yours is elevated and with your small number of chickens may be fairly small. Do you have enough room to put food and water on the coop floor? Do you have enough room for four more chickens. But lets talk about what happens next. My nests are 2' or 4' above the coop floor. When my hens bring the chicks off they never go back to the nest. The hen settles down on the coop floor when she warms the chicks or at night when they are sleeping. If your nest is near coop floor level she may take them back in there at night. It doesn't matter but I did not want you thinking she needs a nest. A lot of people on this forum seem to think that.

My pop door is about a foot above the coop floor and the run outside. The chicks can't all jump that high right after hatch, though you may be surprised at how well they can maneuver in just a couple of days. My broody hens tend to keep the chicks in the coop for a couple of days before they go outside. Once they go outside they go out every day and spend all day outside, with the hen bringing them in the coop to sleep at night. I have over 3,000 square feet available outside so they are not at all crowded.

With your coop elevated you probably have a ramp. I don't. What often happens the first few days is that when it is time to go inside the hen hops/flies up to the top of the ramp and calls her chicks. They crowd under the pop door but cannot get to her. They do not know to go to the foot of the ramp and walk up. They will learn in a few days but for the first few days you need to be out there as it is getting dark as they may need your help getting in the coop. Instead of a ramp I build steps both inside and outside of my pop door out of pavers. They may not know to use a ramp but they can climb those steps pretty well.

I don't know what your facilities look like or how your broody will behave. Each hen is different and we have different facilities. Good luck and enjoy.

 

[bobbi-j]

Congratulations! If it were my flock, and I felt the rooster was getting too rough with the chicks, I’d be more likely to separate him than I would the hen and chicks. That being said, I have never had a rooster harm a chick. One of the sweetest exchanges I have seen was when the broody - desperate to get outside and take a dust bath - ran out of the pop door, into the run and instantly flopped down and started “dusting”, leaving her babies in the coop, terribly confused. Along came the rooster and stayed right with those babies until Mama returned. I had never seen a rooster babysit like that before.

 

[RebelEgger]

Mama and Chick Update:

I got home from work and went to check on the little family. Mama only had 2 babies with her. The other 2 were near dead in the run with injuries all over them. I am assuming that PJ's curiosity about picking them up and dropping them expanded to maybe tossing them around a little - but this is just an assumption. They were both barely alive but hanging on, I had to break their necks and put them out of their misery.

Mama and the remaining 2 babies are now moved to another coop by themselves and are doing well. That experiment failed. Next time I raise chicks in the coop near the flock with a broody they will have their own separate space built in - a look no touch barrier.

I'm sad that 2 little ones had to lose their life but glad I still have 2 left. Just wished I had gone with my gut and moved them sooner. Lesson learned.