Keeping a Broody Hen and Chicks in the Flock - Yes, You Can! 

I had a broody hen. Got 12 fertilized eggs from a neighbor and she hatched them all out. Didn't separate or supply a 2nd coop at all. She just raised them as part of the flock from day 1.

Stacie.. you won't believe it yesterday evening she was all excited and wanted to get back out of the chicken coop with her babies so I let her out her rooster and her other sister wife was also outside.. she kept flying on the tree and I thought she wanted to get away from them but she taught them how to fly up on trees she was up there and calling them the whole time.. then she said on a 2×4 Scrap I had laying on a chicken coop and she went low with her butt and kept walking and I saw that she taught them how to sit on a roost.. so I ended up just carrying the rscrap wood around the corner in her chicken coop.. let them in and she ended up sitting on her Roost for the first time with the babies..

I let my broody hens set on eggs in the coop with the rest of the flock. No problems. During the day I keep them in a 16x12 run with the hen while the rest free range. They are all in the coop together at night. I do this for a couple reasons: We have many hawks in the area and we have lot of of neighborhood cats. After about four or five weeks I let them out with the rest of the birds. I've had few losses to predators this way and the little ones learn their place in the flock early.

That is some of the best information and advice I've seen shared here on You Tube. For the chicks going through the bigger openings in the fence, we put a strip of the small hole chicken wire along the bottom of the fence" You're so knowledgable in raising chickens and sharing your trials and error with everyone can help them with raising chickens. Your chickens all seemed sociable and respectful of mamma hen and her chicks. That treat time seemed like a great time was had by all the chickens. Kind of like a chicken social lol. Thank you for sharing all you share with everyone. I'm sure it's a big help. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

After last session having a broodie gal hatch some eggs it’s become our favorite part of raising chickens. I love watching mama teach the babies and lead them into the coop and she’ll transition them into the big coop. Love nature

Your chickens are well mannered. 🤗 I love when people take loving care of their flock and the chickens get so chill.

I have always raised chicks with their broody Mother hen amongst the main flock as well.

See that square wire where you're talking about the chicks getting out at the 4:00 mark? That's how you keep chick starter always available for the chicks and keep the big chickens away from it ;)

Thats great info. Nice to see the chicks i have just hatched 16 quail. But I also have a broody quail sat on eggs 10 days in now a very rare occurrence fingers crossed. All the best Dave

we have let the brody hen/hens to sit and hatch their eggs with the other hens. So far it has worked fine. We do give them chick starter but we also let the big girls eat it too.

My 4 year old broody hen is the best momma. She is very defensive of her babies and will not let any hen or rooster get close to them.

So informative and real! Thanks so much!!

I was bringing broody mom in and fussing constantly over babies the first and second year. Some old timer asked me once in the middle of TSC if I thought all farmers 50 to 100 years ago brought mom's and baby chicks in the house? Or had time to fuss over broody hens and chicks? So last year I took a few Xtra Large totes and out my broody mom's in those with eggs/ chicks. This year I have five broody hens and these girls had nests on the ground and started taking babies out after the 3 Rd or 4th day! Other hens and roosters really n along side of 25 babies!!

Hatched our first,🐣 today Thanks for your advice

Just had our very 1st chick hatch 2 weeks ago. Mum was sat on eggs in the main coop. The other eggs didn't hatch( bought from Ebay) Moved her into a spare coop with baby. After the 1st week she bought baby into the garden( i nearly died of fright when i 1st spotted her) shes doing so well. Even my other hens are keeping an eye on her😊 Not 100% sure if she would have been safe doing so if they had been locked in a run together. All happy free ranging round the garden, helping themselves to my raspberries 😁

My hen Mary had her first baby today. She's only a few days away from turning 7 months old, so she is a young mama! Your chickens look like they are all friends. Mine have cliques and they like to bully each other. Mary is closer to the bottom rank so I might end up separating them, but I will give her a few days to hatch everybody out.

Helpful video, thank you!

I have a broody right now (5 or 6 days in downing on which day you start count). She is in the coop in the most favored box. She has what I think are fertilized eggs. We have a rooster. We had some drama today when she left the nest to eat and drink. I’m considering sectioning off an area in the coop for her so this doesn’t happen again. She also got quite picked on by the others when she was getting food.

Great video very informative, I have my first chicken egg hatching right now, there silkies and the momma hen is sitting with her 3 sisters in the coop all sitting alongside her, would I need to remove mother and chicks away from the other hens or would they still be ok to live together?

This was SO helpful thank you!

Very informative video! GreAt share!

I had 4 chicks hatch yesterday under my broody. One got smashed by mom accidentally when I was tending to the coop and making sure there was water and feed for her and the chicks. I have two more eggs that didn’t hatch with the others. I’ll check today to see if they hatched as well. This was very easy so far. I just have to figure out the set up for her and the chicks. Right now I have a hard plastic dog crate in with the door opening in front of her nest. I. With food water and dust bath. I know this might not work for more than a few days. I removed the top of the crate this morning so if she wants to get out she can. I’m thinking of moving that crate into the run if it will fit. I have an enclosed yard off the run but I need to make some security adjustments. Thinking of putting the crate on blocks with a low ramp/or steps for them. But I’m still trying to figure this out lol

I am thinking about doing the same. A skunk got a couple in my coup so they got moved to the dog run in the fenced back yard. They kid let them out with the 2 pyrenees and are doing great. Skunk came back and dogs and a .22 handled it. But i would like to see if i can get a broddy hen out of the bunch and just let them do their thing in the back yard. Great video!

That broody hen is very pretty; what breed is she? And her chicks are so sweet. It was really heartwarming to see adult hens pecking happily alongside the little babies. 💜

I remember chasing chicks around. And it WAS fun hahhaha

Cute little chicks.

Very cool and good information.

I have a 1st time broody hatching right now.

wow! this was very helpful. Also i was wondering.......will the roosters pick on the young chicks and also........how old should the chicks be to go and run around outside?

My hen is very protective of her chicks, the other's stay clear of the chicks

I’ve been trying to get my hens broody I think I finally got one to become brood I had to completely lock them apart so they will be separated for awhile but idk for sure if she’ll stay on the eggs

I had a broody hen and her chicks in a separate coop and enclosure within the big enclosure , and one of my older hens got into the small enclosure and killed three chicks. Now I am going to have to keep the older hens separated from the broody hen and chicks. I thought that sort of thing easn't supposed to happen. A breeder friend said she doesn't even separate her broody and chicks from the rest of the flock.

great info

Got a pipped egg under my hen

Quite interesting. Thumbs up.

Do you move the eggs and hen over to that hutch? If so how does she adjust to the distribution. Thank you

So if I don't have a fenced in yard and my main chicken run is about 8.5 ft. wide and 12 ft. Long with the house 3.5 ft. Off the ground. I have a small coup 2'W x 4'L x 3'H that has 2 nesting beds sticking out of the back, that I raised my first peeps in. What do you recommend I do to start with? I am thinking about taking 12 to 14 eggs and try to get a hen to go broody and sit on them this spring.

I have broody hen on a nest in my brooder in my house. The temperature outside is just too hot for her to be in the coop all day. This way I can keep an eye on her and let out when she wants out. I do have a small coop to transition her and babies to before they move to the big coop. But I'm still not sure how all that's going to work. I've never let a hen be broody before. I've always raised the chicks. Like does momma and chicks stay in brooder for a week then mini coop for a week then free range with the flock? Or does mom go back with the flock and babies stay in mini coop. They are due to hatch July 14th. I'm kinda nerve.

saw ya at playte's shoutout! we also have a broody girl, we're just going to let her hatch a few. new supporter here and #14! you have such a pretty flock!

i just found this video, one of my three hens out of an easter egger, polish, and silkie is broody. shes been broody for at least two weeks now. im going in a two day trip and when i come back im going to be getting her chicks from the feed store. im worried since shes the silkie shes not going to be able to protect her chicks from the other hens, and i dont have any option for a second coop. im going to be giving her a private dog kennel for her and her chicks but i dont know how the other hens are going to react

I have a bit of an issue, my broody hen has fertile eggs under her. The problem is, the other hens in the coop are trying to lay in the same box as my broody hen. What should I do to stop this?

I have 3 bantams hens are 2 of them are broody we were thinking about putting fertilised eggs under them. We have a descent sized coop and a 2 metre run but in the day the hens are let out in my secure large garden what do you think??

I have a broody game hen sitting on 2 fertile eggs in the loft of a small coop. I am concerned about them plummeting to their death. Should I close the door and lock them in for a few days? The hen is a wild game hen that I adopted and have never handled. I could place them in the bottom floor f the coop?

Our mama hen prefers now to lay outside in the night time with their 3 weeks old baby chicks I am panicking because she is not in the protected area she should be in the night because of predators so I try to make it secure as possible the night area got fresh straw it's all nice and clean I have no idea why she likes to lay outside suddenly

What breed is that grey chicken ???

Thank you for your video. I am intrigued by this way of keeping them close. We have a fenced enclosure for our flock of one rooster and seven hens. In the enclosure is a coop the flock sleeps in. Also there is an old coop that they have access to during the day. One hen flew out of the enclosure weeks ago. Later we found her sitting on a nest she made in an overgrown flower bed. Apparently she had been going in and out of the enclosure when we weren't watching lol. Yesterday we made a partition in the old coop. At sundown last night we went to move her and the eggs into the partition, only to discover that some of the chicks had already hatched out and others were in process. We moved them all anyway. Would you recommend leaving them in the partition for a period of time? Any thoughts that came to mind as you read my story? Please share them. Be blunt, this is my first broody hen experience. I am here to learn. Thank you!

You can have ducks with a hen that has baby chicks at least my four ducks don’t care for them two of them are mallards and the other two are meant for egg laying so it might just be the type of ducks I have but they don’t careMight just be my ducks in general but we’ve had a big white X before with baby chicks and they don’t care either

So are what point do you put the hen and chicks in the smaller coop and yard? When she goes broody or after chicks are born? We just have one main coop right now, but we do have a large brooder box that we could modify to turn into a nursery coop.

My problem is other hens go and lay eggs in with my broody hen and they’re cracking her fertile eggs! She’s been setting for almost a week so any longer and they’ll be killing half developed chicks and ear them

Good video thank you. What breed is that momma hen?

What if the other non broody hens lay eggs and the broody one leaves her eggs and sits on freshly laid when she sees them ? What can be done then isolate her !

What ratio do you find end up roosters? Do the Roos get along ok?

But there are stray cats and they eat the chicks! So what should I do☹️☹️

And I am almost afraid we have two roosters and two hens off the baby chicks sadly we lost one Monday but also was probably a rooster..

This is the first time I've had hens laying on fertilized eggs. It feels like forever, one chick hatched and was dead. So sad. She's still sitting on at least 10 eggs. The temp is about 55 60 degrees here in Washington. We have a lamp/ light in the coop Will she keep them warm enough? I'm such a nervous Mama. Thanks in advance.

I dont know if my Rhode island reds and barred rocks will sit or not.

I have a rooster and two hens. One hen just hatched her eggs - and I only have one main coop. I’m debating separating bc I only have one coop and I’m worried out rooster will be mean to them?

Hi Stacie, can three months old chicks have oats, wheat, or corn added to their feed? If yes, can they handle whole grain or does it have to be crushed? Thanks.

Does your rooster bother the chicks.

What a pretty girl. I love your teeth. Lol. Thanks for the info. I have my first broody.

Well - just had a clutch of chicks cannibalised by the flock. She was in a small coop next to the main shed.

I have some pretty dominant hens in my flock that i feel might pick on the chicks too much even with momma hen around. Theyve beat up on broody moms ive had in the past who have “squared up” to them to tell them to back off. Would it be ok if i just left her and her chicks in a horse stall right next to the coop?? Would they still be aware of each others presence so i dont have to worry too much about integrating chicks? Also would a momma hen mess with other broody mommas sitting on eggs or chicks in brooders that are in that same stall if her chicks are in there? I have broody boxes lined up on the wall of the stall and brooders in almost every corner.

🐔🐤🐤🐤🥰

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What if the other non broody hens lay eggs and the broody one leaves her eggs and sits on freshly laid when she sees them ? What can be done then isolate her !