What a nice little momma and chickies!

As far as how long she stays in momma-mode, it depends on the hen... and her hormone levels. You could fix up an outdoor pen with a simple box house inside... sort of a chicken tractor. This would, by default, prolong her mothering days.

I do this with my broodies and it works well. When they start getting cramped, I begin letting them free range with momma in the afternoons and then lure them back into the pen with crumbled hard boiled egg. Having the tractor located in the chicken yard helps the hen to keep her place in the flock and lets the other hens and the chicks get used to each other safely.

Eventually, momma will remember that she is a hen with a LIFE, for goodness sakes! She may or may not start taking them into the big house at night. You kind of just have to play it by ear. She won't want to leave them until they are fully feathered and by then the weather will be warm enough that they won't need her at night. Usually by this time they learn to stay away from any mean hens you may have. So if she abandons them, they will still be okay in the chicken tractor until they get older.

If they don't start using the big house on their own by fall, you may have to put them in a dog crate or the like for a couple of days INSIDE the chicken house. That way they will accept it as home.

I've never had a brood of chicks that didn't do just fine. I've lost the odd hatchery chick, but my Sussex hens always raised every chick they hatched. They teach their babies well and equip them for real life. I much prefer natural incubation.

Good luck with them and if something comes up that worries you, be sure to post about it. You might also visit Velvet Sparrow's site. I think you know how to get there, but I'll post the link anyhow.

Here is a link that might be useful: Velvet Sparrow's Website - Bookmark it, folks!

Thanks so much Maggie. I had read VelvetÂs siteÂthat was about the only thing I could find. A lot of my concerns are with the cold weather here and having to keep the hen indoors. But so far so good. TheyÂve been in the entry room for 24 hours nowÂthey tend to stay around but not directly under the heat lamp so that tells me they need it.
I LOVE the idea of the chicken tractor for the chicks. WeÂre still having cold weather and will for the next month or so weÂll wait but get one built so itÂs ready for a nice spring day. Except for VelvetÂs site and your advice I havenÂt found much on this. I have learned so much in watching the hen care for the chicksÂnoticed how in the first days they would pull at her wattles and even try to peck her eyes and she just let them. I have rasised two batches of the mail order chicksÂthose chicks are kind like a bunch of orphans in daycareÂwe do the best we can and they grow up fine (my broody was one of those mail order chicks) but I would so much rather do this the natural way. I hope a couple more of our hens go broody this summer and raise chicks. We will have to figure out some broody boxes in the chicken house for that.
AgainÂthanks MaggieÂyouÂre a life saver!

You're very welcome, Claraserena! I think raising chicks with a broody hen is the very best.

The only "downside" is that you will end up with about half of the chicks being cockerels. This won't be a problem until they start to mature around September, but you would be wise to give some consideration to what you will do with them. We eat ours unless we need a replacement rooster... and even then I would keep only one. Too many sex-starved young cockerels will make your hens miserable.

That is such a cute picture! Love the kiddie pool too!

My silkie hens usually stay with their chicks for the first 2 months or so, sometimes longer. They stay with them until they start laying eggs again (usually in 2 months). By then the chicks are usually big enough to fend for themselves.

I have turken hens that are great broodies but LOUSY mothers, I had the one hatch a bunch of guinea keats and chicks, had to get FPS (fowl protective services) to take them away as she was stepping on the poor little bitties.

Yes--I'm hoping agianst hope that we have more females than males and know we will have to kill the males. I keep looking at them trying to figure out Boy? Girl? We just lost two nearly year old pullets to a predator (probably a fox) so our male female ratio is skewed. WE might just order 4 or 5 females next month. Or we could kill one of the roosters. But so far they (3 roosters) are getting along. The old man (2 years)is in charge, the 10 month old Colummbian Wyndandotte is just fine with being number two and spends a good deal of his time making sure that the 10 month old Silver SPangled Hamburg (lowest male in the pecking order)does not get any of the females. The SSH is quite shy and lonely--always off on his own. But so far there have not been fights. Dominance is just a quick charge and the loser heads in the other direction. So we don't need any more males. The only thing that makes it possible for me to kill the males is that they do get so agressive and it's really a matter of protecting the females.

If your three roos have it worked out, and you are okay with having three, I'd leave all three. Sounds like a lot of their energy is directed at keeping #3 from getting any females... and that saves some wear and tear on the girls. If you were to remove #3, it would change the roles of #1 and #2... and they'd have to work it out again.

If you don't get enough new pullets from this batch of chicks, you could add some as you mention. This would help keep everyone happy.

Maggie - I noticed VelvetSparrow isn't posting too much anymore. Did she get run off or run away?

Roxann

I don't know. I did notice that she has not been around for awhile, but rather assumed that she was just busy with other things. Now that she has a website that covers most of the common questions, perhaps she feels people can refer to it for the answers. I don't post as much as I used to either.