Wild Chickens In My Coop

[HIChicks]

Good Morning. I live in Hawaii and we have lots of feral chickens. Many on my property are mixed as the previous owners did have some domesticated chickens but we removed many. I attempted to catch and care for a few before realizing the time and $$ needed made it much cheaper to just buy fresh eggs as they are plentiful here. Yesterday one of the feral hens hatched a dozen chicks in my small coop. I have in the past attempted to aid my hens with snacks and feed for the chicks. But all the chicks have perished for a while now. The last ‘batch’ were receiving some banana (previous feed caused wet butt for many) but this discouraged scratching and failure to respond to the hen clucking for food. I did not feed the chicks yesterday because they refused to leave the coop and I had hoped they would venture out today, but it is raining and will do so all day so I doubt they will make it out. I do have some chick starter and placed some in the coop but now we are likely going to have to support the chicks or they will surely die. Need some advice on feeding them. What is recommended, how do we encourage scratching still? How often to feed? Water?

 

[T-R-O-U-B-L-E]

@Shadrach

 

[Shadrach]

Good Morning. I live in Hawaii and we have lots of feral chickens. Many on my property are mixed as the previous owners did have some domesticated chickens but we removed many. I attempted to catch and care for a few before realizing the time and $$ needed made it much cheaper to just buy fresh eggs as they are plentiful here. Yesterday one of the feral hens hatched a dozen chicks in my small coop. I have in the past attempted to aid my hens with snacks and feed for the chicks. But all the chicks have perished for a while now. The last ‘batch’ were receiving some banana (previous feed caused wet butt for many) but this discouraged scratching and failure to respond to the hen clucking for food. I did not feed the chicks yesterday because they refused to leave the coop and I had hoped they would venture out today, but it is raining and will do so all day so I doubt they will make it out. I do have some chick starter and placed some in the coop but now we are likely going to have to support the chicks or they will surely die. Need some advice on feeding them. What is recommended, how do we encourage scratching still? How often to feed? Water?

Hello HiChicks.
Welcome to BYC.
My first question is what happened to the hen that hatched the chicks?
Chick starter is fine for the short term.

 

[HIChicks]

Hello HiChicks.
Welcome to BYC.
My first question is what happened to the hen that hatched the chicks?
Chick starter is fine for the short term.

Oh she is there. She was pissed when I cleaned out the old hay and shells and the 1 that didn’t make it. She is unusually tame or at least isn’t totally freaked when I put the food and water in. The chicks just don’t want to leave the elevated and enclosed section.

 

[3KillerBs]

Oh she is there. She was pissed when I cleaned out the old hay and shells and the 1 that didn’t make it. She is unusually tame or at least isn’t totally freaked when I put the food and water in. The chicks just don’t want to leave the elevated and enclosed section.

Their mother should lead them to food when she thinks that they're ready.

Remember, their yolks last them 3 days before they really *need* to eat.

 

[HIChicks]

Oh she is there. She was pissed when I cleaned out the old hay and shells and the 1 that didn’t make it. She is unusually tame or at least isn’t totally freaked when I put the food and water in. The chicks just don’t want to leave the elevated and enclosed section.

Their mother should lead them to food when she thinks that they're ready.

Remember, their yolks last them 3 days before they really *need* to eat

Good Morning. I live in Hawaii and we have lots of feral chickens. Many on my property are mixed as the previous owners did have some domesticated chickens but we removed many. I attempted to catch and care for a few before realizing the time and $$ needed made it much cheaper to just buy fresh eggs as they are plentiful here. Yesterday one of the feral hens hatched a dozen chicks in my small coop. I have in the past attempted to aid my hens with snacks and feed for the chicks. But all the chicks have perished for a while now. The last ‘batch’ were receiving some banana (previous feed caused wet butt for many) but this discouraged scratching and failure to respond to the hen clucking for food. I did not feed the chicks yesterday because they refused to leave the coop and I had hoped they would venture out today, but it is raining and will do so all day so I doubt they will make it out. I do have some chick starter and placed some in the coop but now we are likely going to have to support the chicks or they will surely die. Need some advice on feeding them. What is recommended, how do we encourage scratching still? How often to feed? Water?

 

[3KillerBs]

They are totally adorable!

Put food and water in a place where they can get to them and Mom ought to do the rest.