Question A little concerned?

[WLLady]

i was just going to chip in and say put them in a big dog crate with fine wiring around the bottom about 10 inches high so the chicks don't run out, and put mama and chicks in and waterer and starter. mom will be fine eating starter. and keep them separate from the flock until they are fully feathered in and you find out if mom is a good mom or a not-so-good mom. good moms will cluck for her chicks to come running when you open the crate to feed and water. not-so-good moms will let you do whatever you want without calling the chicks. a good mom will likely be okay if introduced back to the flock in a month, where a not-so-good mom should be kept separate until she ignores the chicks altogether and they're big enough to go into the flock themselves.

i did have one mom that hatched and raised her chicks alongside 10 other hens, and everyone picked up and took care of the chicks LOL. the dog didn't stand a chance! all the other hens were super good and very motherly, which i found odd because they were all frey's specials and not supposed to be too broody, being hatchery egg producing birds. but they did great!

[kenya]

As everyone has said its something you have to supervise at first some hens are so protective they beat the crap out of everyone else and other hens are useless. If unsure leave them separate until fully feathered as everyone else has said.

[Killerbunny]

Yup, my first broody was a Freys RTL! Mama Bird is sorely missed, hung on to them for 12 weeks.

[Kbr42]

I actually do have a large enough dog crate that will fit into my coop @kenya.
In fact it's already wrapped to prevent my cat from getting at the chicks in the house..

[Penny]

I had a broody raise and hatch 5 chicks in a pen with 4 other hens last summer. They all free range during the day but I locked up the momma and babies during the day for the first few weeks while the others went out. I have another batch due at the end of this month...never even thought about moving Momma out of the community coop...??

[Kbr42]

Well, I threw caution to the wind and put my just hatched silkies under my broody Swedish flower hen in the coop......well....she is a tiger! She's even chasing the other broody hen out of the coop.......lol
Then the heat hit!!!! So, I've had the bring them inside during the night but they are outside during the day.

So, I have another hatch schedule for Friday July 13 and another broody hen.......I wonder how lucky I'll be...hmmmmm!

[Kbr42]

So, a little update here. More to my surprise than anything else. I put my first hatch outside with the flock. Momma was crazy with guarding them. Now 6 weeks later, she could careless about them! Last night she didn't even put them to bed! I had to go and bring her in and arrange the gang. Lol

I also, put another set of hatchlings out with the flock. This Momma is crazy about protecting them. But again everyone seems to be getting along. They are not in the hen house yet..too hot but should be soon.