Need help figuring what to do with Hen and her chicks plus my new chicks from hatchery

[ForFlocksSake]

One of my girls went broody a month ago so I separated her and gave her some fertilized eggs. Three hatched 3 days ago and mama is doing a great job caring for them. They are in a section of my run that we had set up specifically for raising chicks. It has its own small coop on the floor and the access to the main run is shut.

Problem im having now is I have 5 more coming from a hatchery today (ordered months ago, wasn't planning on having the broody hatch. That was kind of an impulse decision) Usually I brood in my garage for 2 weeks before sending them outside, but now the nursery area is occupied.

As I see it I have two choices:

1. encourage mama hen to take her babies into the main run/coop within the next couple of weeks then shut them out of the nursery area and put the new babies in there. Im not sure if thats something she will do since her "nest"

2. Remove mama hen when her chicks are 2-3 weeks and add the babies to other three chicks.

I know- not the greatest planning on my part with this. I was hoping hatch and delivery might happen close enough to pop the babies under the mom, but now I feel like thats too risky since it's been a few days.

 

[sean_wonder]

I would choose option #1. Separating her babies from her after 2 weeks would be very stressful for her, and her babies would be older & not likely to integrate super well with younger chicks (if I’m understanding your second option clearly…)

You are right, the best time to add extra chicks would be within the first 24-48 hours of her little ones hatching. Keeping them separate is your best bet for the safety of the ones arriving, and to reduce the stress of mama & her babies. Congratulations on successful hatch and lots of chicks!

Is there no way you could maybe set up another nursery area in the garage in time for the chick arrival, so you don’t have to move mama out so quickly?

 

[ForFlocksSake]

I would choose option #1. Separating her babies from her after 2 weeks would be very stressful for her, and her babies would be older & not likely to integrate super well with younger chicks (if I’m understanding your second option clearly…)

You are right, the best time to add extra chicks would be within the first 24-48 hours of her little ones hatching. Keeping them separate is your best bet for the safety of the ones arriving, and to reduce the stress of mama & her babies. Congratulations on successful hatch and lots of chicks!

Is there no way you could maybe set up another nursery area in the garage in time for the chick arrival, so you don’t have to move mama out so quickly?

Yes! I have the hatchery chicks in a box in my garage now. They arrived today (hatched yesterday). My broody hens eggs hatched on Saturday, so they are actually only 3 days older than my hatchery chicks. I have time to encourage mama to take her trio to the big run, just wondering how I do that. Do I just open the door? Right now she's connected so the other chickens see her and the babies but they dont have access to her or her private coop.

 

[ForFlocksSake]

If I moved mama and babies to the big coop, could I take them out in the dark and place them all in her original nest in the big coop? Shed wake up there with the babies.

Or is that risky?

 

[LaFleche]

You could still try to add the hatchery chicks, just keep an eyevout to see if they get pecked or singled out.

Many mama hens adopt every chock they can get their wings on, sometimes even after 3-4 weeks as happened here.

It helps when the new chicks are of similar colour as the ones the hen hatched.

 

[ForFlocksSake]

You could still try to add the hatchery chicks, just keep an eyevout to see if they get pecked or singled out.

Many mama hens adopt every chock they can get their wings on, sometimes even after 3-4 weeks as happened here.

It helps when the new chicks are of similar colour as the ones the hen hatched.

Thanks! I decided to throw caution to the wind. I brought one new one out and she panicked when she heard chirping like a baby was missing! She accepted that one, so I grabbed the other 4 and gave them to her. They’re all pecking the ground together happily! Took about 10 min to fully accept but she hasn’t acted aggressive towards them in any way.

And now I don’t have to deal with a brooder or integration!

 

[LaFleche]

Thanks! I decided to throw caution to the wind. I brought one new one out and she panicked when she heard chirping like a baby was missing! She accepted that one, so I grabbed the other 4 and gave them to her. They’re all pecking the ground together happily! Took about 10 min to fully accept but she hasn’t acted aggressive towards them in any way.

And now I don’t have to deal with a brooder or integration!

Congratulations!
It is always worth a try or two.

 

[sean_wonder]

Took about 10 min to fully accept but she hasn’t acted aggressive towards them in any way.

Oh wow that’s awesome! Sorry I didn’t see your previous posts earlier, got busy. Happy to hear she was so nice! If I realized you already had them I’d say give it a try, I thought you were expecting more chicks in a week for some reason.

 

[ForFlocksSake]

Oh wow that’s awesome! Sorry I didn’t see your previous posts earlier, got busy. Happy to hear she was so nice! If I realized you already had them I’d say give it a try, I thought you were expecting more chicks in a week for some reason.

It helped that she hatched a black, yellow and red chick and the new ones are black and one is red. I don’t think she can tell who is who now

 

[ForFlocksSake]

Just a thought- will she move to the floor of the coop to sleep with them when they outgrow the nesting box? I use Rubbermaid dish bins for nests. They’re a great size for that, but I think it’s going to get mighty tight in there in a couple of weeks with 8 babies.