First time hatching with a broody momma.

[LonestarVol]

I have twenty hens and two roos. They all free range together all day long. I have a broody lady sitting on four eggs. She is utilizing one of the less popular nesting boxes. It's in the center of the coop and accessed only by a ladder. It's been about ten days now. The eggs were laid just a few days apart from each other, at most. Once she hatches these, do I need to worry about my two roos or the other hens bothering, or worse yet, killing the little hatchling? Do I need to separate her and the eggs from the flock at some point, or just let nature take its course? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hopefully they hatch all within the same day or two. Hens generally will abandon the nest by day 3 to feed chicks.

I always move the mother hen and chicks into a small pen within the coop. The rest can see and become familiar with the new family. I usually keep the separately for about 1-2 weeks as chicks need time to build strength, and to learn to follow mom. After that I start supervised mingling. Sometimes there's no problems at all, and sometimes other hens will fight with the mom. It all depends on your flock dynamics. You do ave to be careful that other don't try to kill the chicks. By 2 weeks of age most chicks can get away.

 

[LonestarVol]

Hopefully they hatch all within the same day or two. Hens generally will abandon the nest by day 3 to feed chicks.

I always move the mother hen and chicks into a small pen within the coop. The rest can see and become familiar with the new family. I usually keep the separately for about 1-2 weeks as chicks need time to build strength, and to learn to follow mom. After that I start supervised mingling. Sometimes there's no problems at all, and sometimes other hens will fight with the mom. It all depends on your flock dynamics. You do ave to be careful that other don't try to kill the chicks. By 2 weeks of age most chicks can get away.

That's pretty much exactly what I'd hoped to hear. I have a portion of the coop I can section off. I firmly believe the more exposure to the flock from day one would be far better than a separate box, six to eight weeks... and all that stuff.

Thank you for your input!!

 

[Jasfarm]

We just had out first broody raised chicks! We had 2 and potentially 2 more. It’s been fascinating to watch. We kept Debbie separate for about a week before opening her separate hutch within the coop/run. She has seamlessly integrated her chicks with the flock and roo. As I said earlier it’s been amazing to watch her mama chicken around!

If she is a bit higher on the pecking order, I wouldn’t worry, Debbie was head hen and she still keeps everyone in line and is a fierce defender of her chicks if someone gets too close.

Best of luck and enjoy!!

 

[LonestarVol]

We just had out first broody raised chicks! We had 2 and potentially 2 more. It’s been fascinating to watch. We kept Debbie separate for about a week before opening her separate hutch within the coop/run. She has seamlessly integrated her chicks with the flock and roo. As I said earlier it’s been amazing to watch her mama chicken around!

If she is a bit higher on the pecking order, I wouldn’t worry, Debbie was head hen and she still keeps everyone in line and is a fierce defender of her chicks if someone gets too close.

Best of luck and enjoy!!

This girl isn't at the top of the pecking order but somewhere around the higher middle, I'd say.

Thank you!

 

[Jasfarm]

This girl isn't at the top of the pecking order but somewhere around the higher middle, I'd say.

Thank you!

Oh, she will be a great momma

 

[Shadrach]

If she's hatched in a nest box in the main coop I wouldn't make any arrangements to confine mum or chicks. Everybody in the coop knows what's going on. Let nature take it's course is in general in my opinion the best long term option, particularly with senior or mid ranking hens. With juniors and pullets it may be wise to give the hen and chicks some added protection for a few days.

 

[LonestarVol]

My only concern with that is that the bearing box she chose is about four feet of the ground and only accessible by a ladder. If the checks fell from there I'm sure it wouldn't be beneficial to their well-being. She's behind the left, blue curtain. I was thinking of making the space in the top left of the second picture a better hatching place for her.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My hens regularly hatch in nests 2' or 4' above the coop floor. The hen has no trouble getting the chicks out when she brings them off of the nest. She says jump and they do, then bounce up and run to her. I saw a broody get her chicks out of a 10' high hayloft that way. They jumped, bounced, and ran to her.

I had a chick fall out of a nest one time. I let a hen hatch in a bucket nest with the top of the bucket 7-1/2" x 11". When the chicks climbed on top of Mama and fell off, they missed the nest and hit the ground 4 feet below. She was covering the side so they could not hit the nest in the way down. Four different times I picked a chick up off of the coop floor and put it back in the nest. It was probably the same chick each time. I retired that nest after that hatch.

It looks like your nest is big enough that the chick will not fall out if it climbs on top of Mama and falls off. I personally would not worry about that.

I don't know how much room you have in your coop or outside. I let my hens raise their chicks with the flock from Day 1 and have never lost one to another adult chicken. One time a two-week-old chick killed its hatchmate sibling while the broody hen did nothing. I had another 2-week-old get into a pen of 8-week-olds where the broody could not protect it. They killed that chick. I had a broody kill two of her own chicks and raise the other 6 fine, I have no idea why.

I have never had a dominant rooster threaten a chick. Other people I trust on this forum say they have had roosters kill chicks. Sometimes a cockerel or another hen will threaten a chick. Mama whips butt. None want to face an angry Mama hen. Some people on this forum I trust say their broody hens did not protect their chicks. Mine always have. With living animals you never know what will happen.

I think the more room you have inside and outside the easier it is for Mama to take care of her chicks. I don't know how much room you have but if room is that tight you may have trouble integrating them later if you separate at first. As you can see from the other posts many people do separate the broody and chicks, at least for a while.

If you do separate them I strongly suggest you make sure a chick cannot escape and leave Mama's protection. There have been posts on here where a chick was killed by the flock when that happened. No matter what you do there will always be some kind of risk.

Good luck!

 

[LonestarVol]

My hens regularly hatch in nests 2' or 4' above the coop floor. The hen has no trouble getting the chicks out when she brings them off of the nest. She says jump and they do, then bounce up and run to her. I saw a broody get her chicks out of a 10' high hayloft that way. They jumped, bounced, and ran to her.

I had a chick fall out of a nest one time. I let a hen hatch in a bucket nest with the top of the bucket 7-1/2" x 11". When the chicks climbed on top of Mama and fell off, they missed the nest and hit the ground 4 feet below. She was covering the side so they could not hit the nest in the way down. Four different times I picked a chick up off of the coop floor and put it back in the nest. It was probably the same chick each time. I retired that nest after that hatch.

It looks like your nest is big enough that the chick will not fall out if it climbs on top of Mama and falls off. I personally would not worry about that.

I don't know how much room you have in your coop or outside. I let my hens raise their chicks with the flock from Day 1 and have never lost one to another adult chicken. One time a two-week-old chick killed its hatchmate sibling while the broody hen did nothing. I had another 2-week-old get into a pen of 8-week-olds where the broody could not protect it. They killed that chick. I had a broody kill two of her own chicks and raise the other 6 fine, I have no idea why.

I have never had a dominant rooster threaten a chick. Other people I trust on this forum say they have had roosters kill chicks. Sometimes a cockerel or another hen will threaten a chick. Mama whips butt. None want to face an angry Mama hen. Some people on this forum I trust say their broody hens did not protect their chicks. Mine always have. With living animals you never know what will happen.

I think the more room you have inside and outside the easier it is for Mama to take care of her chicks. I don't know how much room you have but if room is that tight you may have trouble integrating them later if you separate at first. As you can see from the other posts many people do separate the broody and chicks, at least for a while.

If you do separate them I strongly suggest you make sure a chick cannot escape and leave Mama's protection. There have been posts on here where a chick was killed by the flock when that happened. No matter what you do there will always be some kind of risk.

Good luck!

Wow! It's nice to know they bounce Room is not an issue for my coop. I originally built it as an A-Frame, then added on, and on, and on as my new-found fowl addiction grew. The earlier pics I posted were taken this morning at the time of the post. This is what I've done for momma and the eggs...

Thank you for your reply. You are all very encouraging.