Broody Rookie - Couple Questions

[Regaj]

I've raised a very small flock of White Leghorns for four years now. Presently I have three hens and a rooster. They live in a 4x6 coop with six nest boxes. They don't have a run, per se, but I have two connected 168' lengths of Premier One electric fencing that encloses their domain. So they have a pretty decent piece of land to call their own - around 7,000 square feet, with several large trees, bushes, and regular grass inside that area.

One of the hens has gone broody. First time that's happened with any of my girls.

My original batch of six chicks, picked up from the post office when they were just a couple days old, spent their first month in a large box in my living room. So I'm very familiar that method of raising chicks, gently easing them into their larger outdoor adventures.

Now, with a hen sitting on a couple of eggs in a nest box inside the coop, I'm debating how that "natural" method might work, if I let her bring them to hatch.

I could, of course, intervene when they hatch, and take on all the new-chick duties like I did with my original chicks. But I'd like to know if it's possible to let momma do all that nurturing.

I don't really have a great way to isolate either momma or the chicks-to-be, so I'm wondering how that situation might work - chicks suddenly appearing in the midst of other adult chickens? Would they hurt the chicks? Would momma continue to stay down on the floor of the coop with them until they're old enough to jump up on the roosts? Is this even a way to get new chicks started?

Sorry for what probably seem like dumb questions!

 

[LaurenRitz]

I prefer to let the broody do the work. If she's a good Mom she'll protect them from the others, teach them, and they'll be chicken socialized from day 1.

A good broody is an amazing asset.

If she's not a good Mom she might quit on day 18, or kill the chicks, or not know how to care for them.

Unfortunately the only way to know is to let her do it, but be prepared to take over if necessary.

A lot of it depends on the individual temperament of your chickens.

I let each brood once, and I watch how she responds, and how the others respond to her. If she's a good Mom, she can brood whenever she wants.

If you let her brood, mark tge eggs you want her to keep and remove the others every day. The other hens will see this as a great opportunity to get chicks without doing any of the work

 

[Happy hen lover]

I agree with above post . It's so much easier and they grow up (feather out faster) etc. better and are wiser. No integration issues. My broody is a dumb girl got her fertilized eggs she only hatched one them, then walked off and left it to the pirrhana hens and I found it dead that day in run,! So good to know if they're good mommas or not. Well worth letting them brood if their good girls. I too don't have a way to separate them, so I would love too do that but I think you have better luck if separated. But it was a surprise so I would ride it out and see. But that's just me.

 

[Regaj]

Thanks, guys. It's encouraging to hear that, should things come together well, new chicks could be introduced and integrated within the flock by their momma.

At this point I'll ride it out and see what happens. Fingers crossed that things go well!