Today is the day. . .

[Smart Red]

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.

Reassuring! Thanks. I suppose I shouldn't be second-guessing Mother Nature here.

 

[bj taylor]

ridgerunner, what is a 'creep cover'?
your explanation has helped so much. I was fretting how to keep the babies in the nest, get them out of the nest.
do you just take mom off the nest, count and mark the eggs & put her back on? today one of the other hens was on the nest. the broody was next door on a single egg. I pulled broody mom out & moved her over onto the clutch of eggs. she was not happy, but didn't fight any.

 

[897tgigvib]

Smart, sounds to me like between your strong intelligence, Ridge's good sounding ideas and feeder plan and So Lucky's advice, plus Mom Nature's goodness and Hilda's instincts, your new babies are in good hands. I'd just bet that Chickie's Momma will have great advice too if there are any problems. And, if needed, I can contact The Mama Chicken for you. But I think everything will be just fine, even though I know next to nothing about Chickens. Just have a good feeling about this. Ridge's feeder looks pretty awesome! Looks like 2x4's, some 1x4's, and some nails or screws puts it together in a nice enjoyable hour or so. Tape measure, pencil, and some kind of saw, and a hammer or drill or screw gun with the right bit'd be all the tools needed.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

wow, i like that idea of the feeder! i may just make one for my broody's little ones if and when they hatch. her first set of eggs were duds so i gave her a few fresh ones to give it another shot since she is very dedicated to getting the job done. and i've found out any hen that is either cochin or part cochin is hard to break of broodiness once started. :/ i keep finding the other cochins sitting longer and longer in the boxes trying to lay or just keeping any eggs warm they find. i pick them out of the boxes when i go to take their eggs and they just crouch down and slightly growl and scowl that i just had to disturb them. they instantly jump back in the box and plunk back into their spot like nothing happened as if they still had eggs under them.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Congratulations! I think a momma hen with her chicks is about the best thing ever to watch. It is so fun to watch the chicks run around under all the big chicks and they instinctually know which set of chicken feet belong to their momma!

 

[desertlady]

Ive got three broody hens fighting over the same eggs!! There are 10 eggs they are sitting on.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I let my broodies hatch and raise with the flock, but you may have a good reason to isolate one with the eggs. If they are actually fighting over the eggs, eggs can be broken. If they are that aggressive with the eggs its possible one could kill the chicks that hatch under another.

Lots of people have no problems with more than one broody working together to hatch eggs or raise chicks, but sometimes you can have serious problems. You may just have one of those unique situations where it does make a big difference.

If it were me and they are actually fighting over the eggs (not just figuratively fighting), Id either break one or two of them from being broody or lock them in their own separate enclosure with their own eggs where they cant get to each other. Im not sure what Id do in that situation, some combination like that. I really like my broodies to hatch and raise chicks.

Good luck with it. Here I am hoping to get three broodies all summer and you already have three

 

[thistlebloom]

Congratulations! I think a momma hen with her chicks is about the best thing ever to watch. It is so fun to watch the chicks run around under all the big chicks and they instinctually know which set of chicken feet belong to their momma!

This is off topic ( sorry! ) but Stubborns comment reminded me of when son #2 was just a little squirt and he was standing in the grocery checkout with me. He sidled up to the lady in line behind me and put his arm around her leg with his thumb stuck in his mouth, then looked up and realized with horror that she wasn't his mom!

 

[OldGuy43]

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.

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/uploads/6180_chick_feeder.jpg

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

Looks like a good idea, but OldGal had a question, "How do you keep the chicks out of the layer chow?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I feed all of them Starter or Grower and offer oyster shell on the side. Nobody gets Layer. The only significant difference in Layer and Grower is the percent calcium.