Today is the day. . .

[Smart Red]

. . . I had marked on the calendar! Twenty-one days since I put five eggs under my broody Australorp. Totally forgot today was the 13th all the time my Gypsy was here. After Dad took her home I remembered and rushed outside to the coop.

I hear "peep, peep, peep" coming from underneath Hilda (who is sitting there chukking softly with her Mona Lisa smile). I don't know how many hatched or if they are still pecking their way out, but someone(s) is/are hiding under my Hilda.

Now I have to figure how to arrange for a spot the chicks can get to but the big girls can't reach to put their water and feed. Sigh! I really didn't expect these results since I found Hilda sitting on a different nest one day. Just goes to show Nature is a powerful force.

 

[897tgigvib]

That's really good news! It'll be a bit more work but you'll know what to do. Sounds like Hilda knows what to do too.

 

[lesa]

Perfect! Make sure you take some pics... nothing better than a momma with her babes!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Red, I assume you know the chicks should not eat Layer because the extra calcium can damage their internal organs. What I do is feed the whole flock Starter or Grower with oyster shell on the side. The ones laying eggs seem to instinctively know they need the oyster shell and the rest dont eat enough to harm themselves.

Any food I put out special for the chicks gets wiped out immediately by the adults even if it is exactly the same feed. So I built this to put over the feed for the chicks. The openings on the ends are big enough for the chicks to get in. It needed a bit of maintenance when I took this photo.

I love my broodies and expect to see pictures of Mamma and the kids when she is out walking them around.

 

[so lucky]

Your feeder protector is a great idea, Ridgerunner. Good thinking!

 

[bj taylor]

what an incredible thing. who would imagine animals/nature would take care of things without us interfering? i'm just starting my first broody experience. I don't know how many eggs to put under her (she's a buff orp). she's in the coop. I haven't figured out how to keep her & her eggs/babies safe from the others. it's complicated.

 

[Smart Red]

i'm just starting my first broody experience. I don't know how many eggs to put under her (she's a buff orp). she's in the coop. I haven't figured out how to keep her & her eggs/babies safe from the others. it's complicated.

It is complicated. The nest is up about 2 feet off the floor. I'm wondering how the babies will get out that first time.

I didn't build anything, but found that an unused freezer tray made a great little cage the chicks will be able to enter, but the bigger girls can't. I have food and water for the chicks inside that enclosure.

I intend to get some starter feed today, but plan to keep the layer feed for now since it is well off the floor and out of reach. I am also hoping that if I set up straw nesting material in a secluded corner near the cage, Hilda will decide it a good place to rest with her chicks -- keeping them safe at floor level. I figure that after I let everyone else out this morning I can check the chicks, get them their first drink of water, and introduce them to the food in the cage.

Not sure how this will work, but I suspect Hilda is top - or near the top - of the pecking order so she should be able to keep the others away from her chicks and injury. Wish me luck!

* * BJ, I put 5 eggs under Hilda because I knew each egg was from a different hen/breed. One egg broke last week. I would imagine 6-8 chicks would be all that would safely fit under a broody, but I really have no idea. There should be no problem keeping the eggs safe. What worries me is how she will keep her babies safe since neither Hilda nor I have ever done this before.

 

[so lucky]

Somehow the other chickens just realize that a mama hen is a force to be avoided. But it is always a good idea to have some places in the pen that the little ones can get to, that the adults can't, just to be on the safe side.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I really dont find it all that complicated. When a hen goes broody I take a dozen eggs (all mine are full-sized chickens so the eggs and hens are about the same size), mark them so I know which ones are hers, and check under her once a day late to remove any eggs that have shown up. Hatch is somewhere around 21 days later.

The hen brings them off the nest when she decides the hatch is over. Thats usually somewhere around 24 hours after it starts but sometimes it takes a full 2 days. It depends on how closely together the eggs hatch. Its amazing how broodies know when the hatch is over. Ive seen a broody get chicks out of a 10 foot high hay loft. She says jump and they do, then run to her when they land. My nests are around 18 off the floor so that doesnt look all that bad to me.

I have food and water at ground level so the chicks can get to it, and use a creep cover to keep the big ones out of it. I feed all of them starter or grower with oyster shell on the side. That avoids the risk of them getting too much calcium. It only takes a very few days for chicks to be able to jump/fly as high as a hen can reach to eat. Mama will take food out of the feeder to give it to her babies anyway, but at two weeks I regularly see the chicks walking around inside the hanging feeder. If they have access to good forage the broody will see to it they eat mostly grass, weeds, grass and weed seeds, and all sorts of creepy crawlies instead of the feed you offer anyway.

Some people isolate the hen while she is incubating and hatching, some isolate the hen and chicks while they are growing and worry about integrating them later, some do both or various other combinations. There is no right way or wrong way. All of them have benefits and risks. Sometimes someone has a unique situation where one way is better than another, but in most circumstances they all work. Its just whichever one you are more comfortable with.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Somehow the other chickens just realize that a mama hen is a force to be avoided. But it is always a good idea to have some places in the pen that the little ones can get to, that the adults can't, just to be on the safe side.

Something Ive seen a lot. Ive seen chicks maybe two weeks old leave Mamas protection and go stand next to the big hens eating out of the feeder. Sometimes the other hens ignore the chick for quite a while but it usually doesnt take long for one of the hens to peck the chick to remind it that it is bad chicken etiquette for the chick to eat with its social betters. The chick runs back to Mama as fast as its legs can carry it, loudly peeping and with little wings flapping.

Mama ignores this. The chick needed to be taught a lesson in chicken etiquette. It takes a flock to raise a chick. But if the hen that pecked the chick follows it to reinforce that lesson, Mama takes all kinds of offense. My broodies have such a bad attitude when their babies are threatened that no other chicken stands a chance against them.

Not all broodies are good. Occasionally you get a hen that is a total brute. But usually if Mama has enough room to work with, she can and will take care of her babies.