Farm juice

Mama hen with her brood eating watermelon

One of the perils of letting a broody hen hatch chicks is moving day. When you move hen and her chicks into a cage so they can grow safely. You can't move her too soon or she will abandon the unhatched eggs. You can't move her too late as the chicks will die of lack of food and water waiting for all the other eggs to hatch. So I take a gamble on when enough chicks hatched and are pushing mom to forage for viddles. I have learned after years of doing this when the right time is. I should have moved them last night but the severe storm hit at that time. So I waited a day and the chicks were on the move. I heard peeping chicks that were "I am cold" sound. Sure enough, got to the coop and 2 chicks were under mom in another next box and 3 chicks were wet and cold and newly hatched in the original nest box. I moved the eggs, chicks and mom and put them in their new digs. So why don't I just put mom and her eggs in the cage before they hatch? Because I have learned mama hen will bury half the eggs and most will get forgotten or buried under her cage nest. Also I need variety. I need all the hens to add their eggs to the broody nest. Let one hen hatch them all. I good broody hen does all the work for me. Also, a hen and her chicks need about a week to 7 days to be accepted by the flock. My flock will kill and eat baby poultry they do not recognize. A cage in the coop with mama and chicks, everyone respects her and her brood. Sure, the chicks get a peck once in a while, but they are not killed outright. The killing happened a few over 100 degree summers ago. Eggs hatched out in the woods and several motherless chicks ran around away from my flock. They were never right in the head and the ones I saved I sold off. So in summary, good broody hen is worth her weight in gold, even if she poops on you when you pick her up.