[RobH]

My chooks are current sat on few eggs which I’m expecting to hatch in a few days time. I’ve prepared a brooder with an infer red lamp to control the temperature over the next few weeks. What I’m on clear on is what ambient temperature I should start the chicks at and how I should reduce this over the coming weeks, and when should I finally stop using the lamp?

Also, when should I look to move chicks from inside out the new coop and run I have ready for them?

As usual the books offer conflicting advice so I’d be grateful of some practical experience.

Thanks in advance. Robert

[joyfull]

if they are to be raised by a broody hen then you don't need any other heat, they will get underneath her when they feel cool and also to sleep at night. Ideally they should have been moved - mum and eggs into their broody coup already so that they are safe away from other hens when they hatch. If you can get the broody coup ready then carefully lift mum up and whilst holding her under 1 arm move the eggs into their new coup keeping them all the same way up. Place mum down and shut them all in the dark for the rest of the day. Open them up again tomorrow and provide feed and water for mum. Check that she gets off her eggs once or twice a day (some hens do it by themselves but others need lifting off) but keep her in the attached run. When they hatch leave her well alone - the hatching can take a couple of days, keep the chick crumb and water close by (make sure the water is either in a chick drinker or a shallow dish with marbles in it as chicks can drown very easily). The chicks can go without food or water for a couple of days and then mum will bring them out to feed and drink. Remove any unhatched eggs and clean the nest area whilst they are out. She will do the rest - teaching them to eat, drink, scratch around etc. Mum will eat the same food as them. Broody hens will sometimes get lice/mite so she may need treating. Good luck 

[RobH]

Sorry the plan, as suggested in my books, is to separate the chicks from the hen when they hatch, hence the reason for the lamp and brooder.

[joyfull]

can I just ask why? - broody hens do such a good job and you don't have to pay for the electricity 

[RobH]

The honest answer is that’s the advice I have been given from 2/3 fellow keepers!?!

[joyfull]

take a look at my first hatch this year (the mum is one that my cuckoo maran hatched for me last year as well) it will be heartbreaking for the broody to sit for 3 weeks and then have them taken away from her unless she is of a particularly nasty breed. What breed of hen is she?
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=54129.15

[Nails]

RobH can i just say that i have just had my first broody hen, she has sat on 18 eggs for 3 weeks, she has looked after those eggs and gaurded them with her life, we moved her inside the shed away from the others to finish the job she started, she has 5 babies with her and i took the rest away as she had got off the nest and left chicks hatching etc as she was tending to the 5 she already had, why would you want to take the rest of her job away from her, if she attacks them or rejects them, then fair enough, but she is doing all the work, if you take them away from her you will be the one who has to clean then out, provide heat etc, as joyfull says it would be heartbreaking for your hen to all of a sudden go from chicks to nothing. My hen is doing a fab job with the 5 she has, and i am looking at putting the other 4 babies in with her, perhaps tomorrow when she goes into her run, i am hoping she can't count!!! So she will have 9 then all being well, if not i will look after the 4 babies, as i have others hatching in a day or 2, but i do think it would be cruel to take her babies away from her. Sorry if that sunded like a rant or having a go, that isn't the intention, just think with mum is best if she is looking after them.

[RobH]

I understand what you are saying. The problem is that when my first hen went broody we got a few fertile eggs for her to sit on, however we did not separate her. As a result the other two girls soon got in on the act and then all 3 are sitting on the eggs. So I’m now worried about what will happen when they hatch and in some respects feel it will be safer to remove the chicks.

[joyfull]

In which case I can't help you as I hatch all mine with a broody hen, you can buy cheap little rabbit arks which are great for a broody hen (I'm sure Caralou put a picture of one on here last year and think it was about £30) which will save you the cost of the electric and set up of a brooder. You could also try freecycle for a rabbit hutch.

[RobH]

Do you suggest I use just one of the hens to bring the chicks up?

[joyfull]

personally I would keep each hen with whichever chicks she hatches as she will be very defensive of them as soon as they do hatch.

[Nails]

Rob whichever of your hens is sitting, move her and the eggs, How big is your brooder??? Pop her in there with her eggs! (if its big enough that is) i have got to say leaving them with a hen is so much easier, i have done both ways now, if i have another broody hen i would let her sit again, but not all my hens are broody so i do it the artificial way, with the inncy, but i can tell you its harder work and get very messy, i would defo go for the natural way.
As for temp if you do decide to DIY i just have an infa red lamp hung from the ceiling, i put it close to them when i first take them from the inncy, and as they get bigger i move it up. you woill know if there to hot as they will move away from the lamp.
I will also add, that now my chicks have hatched, i am scared to put my hand in the brooder as Joyfull says they are very defensive!!!!!!!!! She will not let me get any where near her babies!!

[Nails]

Natures way!!!!!!!
I have just put 4 more chicks in with her, she has taken them as if they have never been away, she now has nine!!!

[joyfull]

lovely, nails, glad she has adopted the others 

[Nails]

Well she had done most of the work Joyfull, the 4 i have just added hatched in the inncy as she had left the nest, and i had one that was hatched and very cold, one that had chipped about a 5 pence piece hole and 2 pipping, but they were all so cold, so i thought it best to move them, and lucky for me she has taken these one under her wing so to speak.