How do I take two hens chicks?

[FarrFreshEggs]

I had two Broody ladies. I gave my first hen three chicks Thursday night and she accepted them and has been doing a great job at protecting her babies from the rest of the flock. I gave my second hen two chicks Friday night and she seems to be adjusting to being a mother hen but isn’t has fierce as my first hen.
Today I saw on my camera inside the coop that my first hen was picking on the one of the second hens chicks. When I went to go look and make sure everyone was OK and accounted for, I noticed that that chick was missing. Long story short, that baby chick is now unfortunately dead. my question is how do I take the chicks from the two hens and just put them in the Brooder until they are old enough to introduce to the flock safely? I don’t feel it worth the risk of losing more chicks just to have it be less maintenance for me when it comes to raising and introducing new chicks to a flock i.e. integration.

I’m not worried about the chicks being put in the brooder but how the hens will react as my Brooder is inside the coop so they will be able to see each other. Should I put up a barrier so they can’t see each other at first? But they’ll still hear each other….

I’m kind of at a loss having a hard time as this is my first experience with broody hens and this is the first chick I’ve ever lost.

Any help, words of wisdom, knowledge, is greatly appreciated

 

[Evadig]

I’m sorry about the loss of your chick. I think it would be better to allow the chicks to see the big hens. If both hens are being nice to their own chicks, though, can’t you separate the two families? I’m not an expert (never had a broody hen) but that’s what comes to mind. Otherwise, I think it would be good to let the chicks see the hens through the brooder; it will make integration much easier. Hope someone with more experience comes along to help!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I’m not worried about the chicks being put in the brooder but how the hens will react as my Brooder is inside the coop so they will be able to see each other. Should I put up a barrier so they can’t see each other at first? But they’ll still hear each other….

Yikes, sorry this happened. We had 4 broodies at once, one year. One of the broodies was horrible and not to be trusted around any of the other hens' babies, at all! We had some tall, strong sheets of cardboard. We put a wall around that one, pronto! She could hear the others but not see them. Hearing is not a problem, you just have to keep your Broodzilla from being able to harm anybody else's babies.

Does this answer your question?

 

[WoDia]

To avoid any more losses, place them into the brooder. I let my own broodies keep their chicks, but I also separate each mom and her chicks to let her raise them in peace. Once each mom is over raising them, I let her back with the flock. Then, I place the chicks into the grow out building until they’re ready to join the flock as well. I never put chicks in with the flock, or around other broodies. I’m sure a lot of members here do. I may not have been much help, but I wanted to share what works for me. I’ve never lost a single chick from a broody attack.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

PS - of the other three, two co-parented four chicks together. The third just raised her own, but they were all good neighbors. All the broodies were Buff Orps. Go figure!

 

[Australorpfamily]

I had two Broody ladies. I gave my first hen three chicks Thursday night and she accepted them and has been doing a great job at protecting her babies from the rest of the flock. I gave my second hen two chicks Friday night and she seems to be adjusting to being a mother hen but isn’t has fierce as my first hen.
Today I saw on my camera inside the coop that my first hen was picking on the one of the second hens chicks. When I went to go look and make sure everyone was OK and accounted for, I noticed that that chick was missing. Long story short, that baby chick is now unfortunately dead. my question is how do I take the chicks from the two hens and just put them in the Brooder until they are old enough to introduce to the flock safely? I don’t feel it worth the risk of losing more chicks just to have it be less maintenance for me when it comes to raising and introducing new chicks to a flock i.e. integration.

I’m not worried about the chicks being put in the brooder but how the hens will react as my Brooder is inside the coop so they will be able to see each other. Should I put up a barrier so they can’t see each other at first? But they’ll still hear each other….

I’m kind of at a loss having a hard time as this is my first experience with broody hens and this is the first chick I’ve ever lost.

Any help, words of wisdom, knowledge, is greatly appreciated

The hens will more than likely try to get at the chicks if they can see them as they have bonded.-- at least my experience when I had to recently remove chicks. You could try to break the hens in a broody jail away from eyesight of the chicks? After a day or two they may calm down and go back to normal. That's what we did. Good luck.

 

[FarrFreshEggs]

Thank you all for your advice, input, and what works for you. I separated my second hen and her one chick. If I let her raise her one chick, do you think will that be an issue once it comes time to integrate since the one chick will then be alone? The rest of the flock can see them but can’t get to them.

My first broody attacks her flock mates if they look even sideways at her babes so I’m not so worried about her and her babies honestly. But the second one again isn’t as fiery as the first and I want to protect her and her chick.

 

[FlockVillemaire]

Thank you all for your advice, input, and what works for you. I separated my second hen and her one chick. If I let her raise her one chick, do you think will that be an issue once it comes time to integrate since the one chick will then be alone? The rest of the flock can see them but can’t get to them.

My first broody attacks her flock mates if they look even sideways at her babes so I’m not so worried about her and her babies honestly. But the second one again isn’t as fiery as the first and I want to protect her and her chick.

I am a 2-year newbie, now adding chicks with my broody virginal Olive Egger, Livvie. She is most fiercely protecting them all (now in week 2), but after I pick any of them up, she attacks THEM and I have to attract her extreme ire to protect them! (I now put them in a chick-accessible round of wire so she has a moment to calm back down.) I guess that she also would not do well because of this intense fierceness if any other of her 7 mixed flock sisters (who currently stay far out of her way) was raising chicks at the same time.

So with your cautionary tale, I would likely discourage any broodiness in any others until most excellent mother, Livvie's brood, was on their own??? (My peaceful Light Brahma could probably be OK with another broody's chicks nearby?) Perhaps in the future, picking a single broody for all the eggs/chicks would also work? I hope you do not have to remove the chicks from them both! But a single chick really should not be raised alone for socialization issues. If that situation occurs, immediately get a hatchery step-sister or two and add them at night ASAP before this less-protected orphan grows up any more, rather than breaking up both families!

I was able to successfully integrate my 8 original brooder-only chicks from 3 consecutive weeks of "chick days" (2-weeks total apart in ages) by adding the newest day-olds under cover of night! I may have been lucky, but I followed excellent guidance.