Broody hen not accepting baby chicks

[schatzi011]

I ended up already putting the chicks and hen in the crate on the floor of the chicken run. The hen is madly following around the chicks, and they are haphazardly staying near the hen. At first, I stuck the chicks in the crate, but they all immediately wiggled out. It is the same crate I used for the previous batch of chicks and I never even knew they could wiggle out. Anyway, so I put the hen in the crate, she freaked out for a couple secs till I stuck the chicks in there with her. Now they're all in the crate and the chicks are all tucked back under the hen.

The chicks are definitely attached to the hen and they much prefer her over me!! I notice that the hen still pecks the chicks, but it seems to make them run underneath her. Like when they're too far away and she's concerned, she pecks them back towards her body.

I've been checking on them like every hour or so, but now I'm calming down that everything will be alright. Mice get into the run, so hopefully they don't kill any of the chicks tonight. If they make it through the night in the crate, then I think it will be a lot easier from here.

 

[Topbless]

BYC!!!

Hummmm I am just learning from here.!!!
I am addicted to this thread.

 

[50-45-1]

Sounds like a successful adoption! Congratulations!
Please put some marbles or rock pieces in that dish of water, its a pretty sad sight, coming out to drowned chicks in a water dish.
Great job!

 

[schatzi011]

I didn't realize they could down in such a small amount of water. Is it because they fall asleep in it? They easily hop in and out of the little bowl. And yes, that would be really sad. I'll just put in some rocks from the ground.

 

[NatJ]

I didn't realize they could down in such a small amount of water. Is it because they fall asleep in it?

Sometimes they seem to fall asleep in it.
And I think sometimes they step on each other in it, and the one on the bottom gets held under for too long.
I've seen chicks that managed to drown in the little round chick waterers that screw onto jars. It must be difficult, but they manage somehow!

 

[schatzi011]

All is going well. I've released the hen and chicks with the rest of the chickens. The other hens don't bother the new chicks at all. And at night, the broody hen stayed with the chicks while the rest of the chickens went into the coop.

The only thing left is to get the chicks trained on where to eat their starter food. I'm going out of town for a couple weeks, with someone stopping in to check on them. I don't want to feed everyone starter cause they'll finish it off too quickly. So I used a stool with little cut outs, and put the starter feed in a dish inside. So only the chicks can get to that dish. I just need to teach them how to go and find that with their food.