I have three silkies that refuse to get out of a nest. They hatched out a baby today and I'm worried it might get squished in between eggs or them. Am I being paranoid? Should I let it be? Will the other hens hurt it?
Silkies hatched a chick, now what?
I have been leaving the chicks with the Mommys for 24 hours then I move them in to the brooder. I do move any chicks from the second floor nestboxes to the ground floor ones. I had a couple of fatalities that I think were caused by chicks falling or being pushed out of the second floor boxes. And don't worry about squishing or anything from what I have seen even from my first time Mommys, they are gentle. Just make sure there is no aggressive roos. Obama, my white silkie roo always stands guard around the Mommys.
Ok, good. They are already in a ground floor box, but I was hoping to let the chickens raise the chick since they wanted to be mommys so bad. I have three roos, and two are silkies and one is a frizzle cochin. I don't think they'll hurt it. How long will they stay on the nest with the chick? When will they leave to feed it?
A friend let her hen hatch some of my eggs. She put them in a seperate area with chick starter and water, they followed their Mom and learned to eat and drink that way. You could try that except leave them with the others.
I don't want to take the chance of the guineas killing the chicks so I remove them since you have all nice chickens I would let her raise them.
I currently have Ideal chicks in a box in teh living room, but I think it would be great to watch hens and chicks interacting in the pen.
oh, it is! i have moved 16 chicks i hatched in the incubator out to two broody hens!!!! it's grand! i threw the guineas, ducks, and other chickens out, and they have taken over the henhouse!!!!!
Tragedy today :( I accidentally left the chicken house open last night and something got into my chicken house this morning, (actually I believe it was the neighbors cat as he keeps fighting with mine), and it killed a roo and my blue silkie hen that was setting. All the other hens were off the nest and the eggs were cold. Should I throw them out or let the hens set again? Who knows how many hours they were cold like that. I am really starting to dislike the cats, because they don't even eat the chickens they just kill them, errrrrrrr! Anyway, what should I do, as the red silkie is back on them (thanks to me)?
I would let them set on them, you never know. My gals are pretty good at tossing the bad ones. And so sorry about your birds. Sounds like you need to chat with your nieghbor.
Well, now I'm not sure if it was the cat or these gnats? I have another hen who is not doing well, just kinda laying around panting and everyone else is staying huddled.