Will broody protect my chicks?

[Aae]

She's on day 13 of setting.

I don't have the ability to easily separate the broody from the flock, so she's been sitting in one of the nesting boxes without much issue. I'm worried when the chicks hatch that my broody won't protect them from the other hens, because my broody isn't aggressive.

She puffs up and makes a repetitive chirp sort of noise when she see's me, but she's never pecked me, growled, or hissed. I have seen her peck hens that try to lay an egg with her, but she ends up giving in and letting them sit on top of her. Smh.

Will she protect them? Should I spend a lot of time in the coop for a few days after they hatch and make sure they're safe

I do have a large cage that I can put in their coop, but my coop is small and it would take up a majority of the coop. Is it strongly recommended I put the broody in the cage?

 

[SMorrison7k]

She will protect them, but unfortunately there can be casualties when raising with the general flock. There are pros to it to of course...like the chicks are fully integrated into the flock as they grow. But I am not comfortable with chicks being raised in my flock. I would personally move them to the large cage (do so at night so mama feels less disrupted when you move her). Is there anywhere you can put the cage besides in the coop?

 

[sirrobyn0]

I use to try to let the broody hen take care of the newborn chicks with the flock in the regular coop and run but always had issues. One time a couple of the babies fell out of the nesting box, by the time I found them one had died. Sometimes the mama hen seems to loose interest in babies a few days or a week after hatching, which leads to babies scrambling around and no one watching out for them, keeping them warm ect. Once in a while I'd get a great mama, who would really look after them until they were old enough to really take care of themselves, unfortunately for me at least the good mamas were the exception. So now I have a brood pen, and an integration pen.

This is how it Works. I let mama sit on the eggs until one or more hatches, then I move mama the babies and any unhatched eggs she has been sitting on into the brood pen. They will stay there under mamas care for a while. Maybe a month? I don't really count the days or the weeks I go by the size of the young ones and how they are acting. Then off the side of my main run I have what I can an integration pen, and a little coop, which is really a large dog carrier. Once moved to the integration pen everyone can see each other, but not touch because they are in a separate space. When the time is right I open the integration pen, the young ones can come and go as they please and eventually start going in the main coop to roost. This has worked the best for me so far.

 

[krismares]

This is a helpful thread as I have a staggered hatch happening. Moved mom and 2 hatched chickens to a brooder area right next to the main coop. The others can hear mama and babies and keep coming over to check it out. Hoping she will hatch a few more. Babies are close by and safe so mama can keep sitting and take care of them.

 

[Peeps61]

As far as the broody raising the chicks, I had fantastic success with one that hatched eggs under my azalea bushes a few years ago. She stayed under the bushes for about 2 days, then took the chicks over to the flock. The other birds were curious, but did not interfere with the broody or the chicks. She raised them with the flock with no issues. Of course, when you free range, you get casualties, and two of the four chicks did not make it to adulthood. The two remaining were roosters, and one was taken by a predator at about 1 1/2 years of age, and the other is my flock master. I've hatched several of his offspring out in my incubator. The broody knows what to do and if she's in a good situation with the nest, I'd leave her alone. She'll take care of her chicks and will move them when she is ready. Room is your biggest issue - make sure all the chickens have plenty of room and the broody can move her chicks when she is ready.

 

[Ohmyheart]

I've just had 3 broody hens raise chicks in the main coop. 2 silkies and one bantam Cochin. One silky had 6 chicks from TSC. The Cochin and other silky had hatch 10 out of 12 eggs. 2 never developed and I took them away about day 16. Now the two with the eggs shared duty. The other silky was on her own. The two moms did great together the third mom they didn't want near their chicks. I used the lids from my brooder buckets to separate them and keep the peace. The chicks went all over both side fine.

Now as for the big hens. RIR, Sex links, BR/BO mixes. They feared for their lives from those little moms. The only thing I would do just for peace of mind. Is put up a makeshift gate in the corner where the mom is that way the chicks can get up walk around. Food and water is real close and they don't have to fight to get any.

 

[dunnmom]

If it makes you feel any better, I had a non-aggressive broody hatch chicks recently. She was always sweet to me, so I had the same worry as you. However, after being stuck in the coop with her babies for a week, she was dying to get out. I took down her partition and let her take her week old chicks out into the general population.

She has done a wonderful job so far of protecting her young, much to my surprise. The other hens don't know what to make of her turkey puff posture, and generally let them be. If one gets too close to her babies she will charge them full force. She seemed to come into her fierceness after the eggs hatched.