Chicks & Broody Hens: Hatch to Independence

We breed Buff Orpington chickens, hatching and raising chicks using the natural broody instincts of this breed rather than artificially in an incubator.
You might be thinking that you'd like to give it a try with a broody hen of your own. In that case, this video will show you how we make the process work. We'll follow Gannet as she raises her chicks from the point where she sits on the eggs to when the chicks become independent. It will give you a practical demonstration of what to expect.
Music credits:
Artist = Earth Tree Healing
Composer = Claudine West
Website = claudinewestmusic.com/earth-t...

[@sachamanuelvirtualacademy8854]

Thank you, please continue or at the very least do not discontinue the channel, there is nothing like it.

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Thank you!

[@geordie1032]

A very good presentation, clear and informative. I found all the information I wanted without having to listen to long drawn out babble. Thank you.

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Thanks Geordie, that's really kind of you

[@GregHolman1221]

You are an exceptional keeper this is a perfect explanation of how theis happens and what to expect

[@EnglishCountryLife]

That's very kind of you, thank you

[@thandilemayila4944]

Beautifully presented, straight to the point:) :)

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Thank you 🙂

[@minassmilebrightenupmyday2540]

What an amazing video. Concize yet informative. Two thumbs up for this.

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Glad you liked it!

[@juliasabus3431]

Great video! Helped me with my chicks!!

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Great to hear!

[@KnackFarmer-theanswerismeat]

Very clearly presented Fiona! Thanks for the straightforward video!

[@EnglishCountryLife]

That's so kind of you to say! Thank you

[@terrijacobs1065]

Thank you it’s very well made👍🙋‍♀️

[@EnglishCountryLife]

That's kind of you Terri - thank you!

[@ronaldvicente6969]

Thank you!

[@EnglishCountryLife]

You're welcome!

[@malbolgiasspawn1364]

Thank you so much for your videos. I am about to receive some Buff Orpingtons and I'm trying to learn everything I can. ❤️

[@EnglishCountryLife]

How exciting!

[@MortifiedU]

Perfect, thank you. 2 chicks hatched 🐣 today 🎊

[@EnglishCountryLife]

How fabulous - enjoy!

[@oldchickenlady]

I mix the flock when the chicks are a lot a week or two old. That way, the Broody is still very protective and the other hens accept them.

[@EnglishCountryLife]

We certainly find early mixing works well

[@cherylangel1714]

My mama hen Mary, hatched out her first brood of babies last weekend. She also turned 7 months old. She is a Whiting True Blue. It's my first time having this breed. I think she will make a good mom, she was very nurturing to her disabled sister growing up.

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Its lovely when the chicks are tiny 🙂

[@cherylangel1714]

@@EnglishCountryLife It sure is. 🙂

[@jadinesimpson]

Thank u well done

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Thanks Jadine 🙂

[@rsllife9004]

Look so cute i am really happy with your content and nice to see thank+

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Thank you so much 🤗

[@thatdamhorserescue]

Finally found one lol I plan on letting my hens brood their own in a year or so. They're chicks yet. Got lucky and got one Roo in the clutch I bought. And staying busy making him my buddy lol

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Well worth taking the time to socialise them when they are young!

[@charlotteoliver1245]

We are getting chickens this weekend hopefully.

[@EnglishCountryLife]

How lovely, we hope they bring you as much pleasure as ours do 🙂

[@kellymorgan4783]

THANK YOU so much for your videos! I've had 4 chickens and a rooster (he's from a different source) for a year now and I'm keen to grow my flock but friends have been discouraging me from using my hens to take care of the task. Using incubators and keeping the chicks completely separate just seemed wrong to me so I'm THRILLED to have found your channel!

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Hi Kelly, our broodies do an excellent job, go for it!

[@SpinsterSister]

Such wonderful content! It was hard to see Gannet peck her chicks but at that point they are teens and need to learn. Have you thought of adding your video series to national poultry/homestead magazines and sites? Your channel is tops!

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Thank you! I'm blushing. Yes, Gannet pecking her chicks and chasing them away is the part that I found very difficult when I started raising chicks with broodies so I wanted to show it in action for anyone who is doing this for the first time. The chicks don't come to any harm and they are never injured in the process but it's still a natural process that can be hard to see. We're so busy at the moment, the video content isn't something that I thought of adding to poultry magazines but maybe that's something I'll look at. I'm still learning how to make a good video and I would want to make sure that the quality was right first.

[@jadinesimpson]

@@EnglishCountryLife you're such a Darling we appreciate your hard work and knowledge extended to the community.

[@selmaalves1501]

Lindas são 🐤🐣🐥🐣🐤🐥

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Thank you

[@ScienceisRadAF]

Anyone have tips for moving a hen and her baby chicks from a brood house over to a coop. Both are in the same run, so she can access either.. but the coop is more predator proof for overnight sleeping.

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Assuming the coop is not occupied by other hens, the best way is to move the broody hen and chicks is at night when they're asleep. Put food and water into the coop and leave the coop closed until late afternoon the following day. That should be long enough for them to adopt the coop as their space. You will need to close the brood coop. If the coop is occupied by other hens, I'm going to assume that the broody hen is happy for other hens to be in close proximity as this is unusual for the first few weeks but every group is different and you know your team. For the first night you need to move the hen and chicks at night in the same way, but close up the brood coop. The brood hen will try and hang around the brood coop the next night until it's almost dark but at that stage, you should be able to herd her into the main coop. You don't need to worry about the chicks as they will follow Mum. You'll need to repeat this for a few nights, but it will get easier, night by night. I hope that helps

[@vinnetteperera9785]

Hi Fiona , thanks for the great video. Do we need to have a light during the night ?

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Hi Vinnette, there's no reason to have a light in a broody coop, the chicks will be cuddled under the hen anyway

[@justesaint-louis864]

I just miss one information. WHEN can you allow the hen and her chkcks to join back the whole flock with the other hens and roosters? Can it be before the chicks get to 6-10 weeks old? More, can a hen be broody with the whole flock of hens and rooster and raise her chicks there, with the whole flock ?

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Hi! we cover this in our latest video kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZO2m6Wdd5inm6s

[@primitivedaisy]

I have two broody hens who are co parenting a brood of 7 chicks, born nine days ago. They are in a caged brooder in the main coop. Can I open it now so the moms can start exposing them to the outside? Or should I give them more time? Thanks!

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Hi! We let our broodies & chicks mingle on day two. It's important to say that we have a very placid flock and we supervise the first day.

[@raincoast9010]

That's not a chicken, that's a feather pancake.

[@EnglishCountryLife]

She's just feeling a bit deflated 😁

[@janw491]

Due to unfortunate circumstances I only have one chicken, the broody and have given her 4 day olds now 3 weeks old. She loves them now but will it be OK after weaning. Molly is a buff and the babies are barred rocks.

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Hi Jan, obviously all birds differ and we've no experience of barred rocks but in general our flock is multi generational Buff Orpington & they are fine all together

[@Lifewithexotics]

Question: If I have a extra pen, should I separate my broody hens chicks for a few weeks (from her) after she "weans" them? Thank you!

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Generally we let the broody hen & chicks mingle with the flock 24 to 48 hours after hatch. When the broody leaves the chicks she will generally return to the main coop leaving the chicks in the broody coop. If any follow her she will often chase them away.

[@ojenyionzore]

Hello would like to know whick kind of records do you keep for your chickens

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Hi John we keep electronic records of complete bloodlines.including hatch dates, broody hen, cockerel, band identifier, egg source (if bought in eggs for genetic diversity), breed etc. We also maintain sales records and bio security records. Obviously we keep full financial records too.

[@hectormaldonado4369]

Hi, Fiona. Very interesting video. One question: What if a rooster mates with a hen during her brooding process? Greetings!

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Hi Hector, the hen stops laying whilst brooding. They won't cooperate with any cockerel that tries to tread them, but if he did, nothing would happen

[@hectormaldonado4369]

@@EnglishCountryLife I thought so, since the broodiness is caused by a hormone, so the mating shouldnt stop the hormone from being released. Thanks!

[@tamarasimpkin]

Very helpful thank you. Ive just subscribed. I have a broody who I gave chicks to, she's a first time mum and is being very protective, seems to panic if the emerge from under her, they're only 2 days old today, would you say this is normal?

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Hi Tamara, it can be. Have you tried putting a drinker & feeder near her with chick crumb or mash in it? She nay start getting them to feed

[@tamarasimpkin]

Hi, thank you for your swift reply, yes, there is food and water very near by. Im wondering as it is a nice day, maybe put her and the chicks outside near the nest door so she can see it's ok to pop outside, this is her first time, and mine. @@EnglishCountryLife

[@EnglishCountryLife]

@@tamarasimpkin I wouldn't worry unduly, she will soon relax

[@ojenyionzore]

Would like to know how to select the breeders

[@EnglishCountryLife]

We choose based on size, breed standard conformation, colour & most important temperament.

[@StarGazeroftheMultiverse]

Hi Fiona, I have a broody bantam hen. I am planning to get fertilized eggs from a local farm. What number of eggs would be best to start off with? I was thinking maybe 10 or 12 eggs. What would you suggest?

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Hi Don, that depends very much on the size of the hen & the type of eggs. With large fowl eggs a very large Buff Orpington hen can cover 15 to 18 maximum. I suspect a small bantam would struggle to incubate 6. Obviously bantam eggs are smaller.

[@R1M1r1m1]

Can she raise the chicks with the other hens in the main coop?

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Its possible but as the chicks grow space becomes an issue - there are also more likely to be territorial disputes. We find it preferable for each brood to have a coop to grow in

[@marycarlton8104]

Hi Fiona, thanks again for the great information! We have a new broody hen currently hatching eggs. Is it normal for the hen to not sit on a newly hatched chick? We've found 2 chicks so far that were laying outside the nest and getting cold, even though our broody was continuing to sit on the eggs nearby. We think each one had hatched a few hours earlier and at this point were getting weak, so we put them in our chick ICU to dry out and get stronger. But should we have left them for the hen to care for them? We've never done this before!

[@EnglishCountryLife]

If the chicks are getting cold you've done the right thing. As new broody hen her instincts may be poor. Once they are stronger reintroduce them at roosting time under her wing. They should be mobile enough to bury themselves in her down feathers themselves so will be less reliant on her instincts. Keep checking on her for the 1st hour to make sure they're under her and pop them back in the ICU if you need to. You've done the right thing. Well done 👏

[@marycarlton8104]

@@EnglishCountryLife Oh great, thank you!

[@marycarlton8104]

Sorry, one more question: do you feed the chicks any water or other nutrition if they appear weak the first 24 hours? Our chicks are about 12 hours old and still not very active or completely dry.

[@cazbeatz]

I didn't know the mother hens will wean the babies, my Pekin Bantam had one baby polish chicken and I never separated them and they still live together 1.5yrs later, the mum is very protective of the baby still and will group with her against the other two chicken in the coop.

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Oh yes, with a large brood she will physically move to sleep somewhere else when they are large enough

[@cazbeatz]

@@EnglishCountryLife Ill have to keep that in mind in the future!! I only have one coop so its probably better mine didnt get sick of her baby, there is limited space to for alone time.

[@brynmorgan5669]

Thanks for the video! Very informative! Those Cream Legbars are also beautiful - will you be breeding them as well as Orpingtons?

[@EnglishCountryLife]

We only breed the Buff Orpingtons. We like all of the chickens running together in the same field and if we have cockerels for each breed they'll interbreed. With the Cream Legbars laying blue eggs and the Marans laying chocolate brown eggs, we know that we can guarantee only the salmon pink coloured eggs are pure Buff Orpington

[@anirthesengalparrot]

I have a broody hen but not sleeping in the nest at night she started yestrday but she didn't sleep in the nest i'm sure she's broody she doesn't get up of the nest but last night i checked but she was pearching with the others what does it mean?

[@EnglishCountryLife]

It means that she's not fully committed to brooding at this stage. Unless she's with the eggs for at least 23 hours a day, they won't successfully hatch. Many hens don't immediately go from not brooding to brooding. It's common for hens to have a "lead up" period where they display broody tendencies, but aren't fully committed. Time will tell whether your hen fully commits or whether the hormones subside and she returns to normal.

[@anirthesengalparrot]

@@EnglishCountryLife thank you as we speak now she's sitting on the egges normal will see tonight crossing my fingers

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Good luck!

[@samerbako2358]

Hi English country life I would like to ask you a question if a Orpington rooster was to breed with a legbar hen what colour eggs will the pullets lay

[@EnglishCountryLife]

It's difficult to know. You could get the normal salmon pink or you might get olive green. The blue gene is recessive so it's really down to whether the recessive blue gene can make itself seen in the blend.

[@samerbako2358]

English Country Life but what colour of eggs do legbars lay most of the time

[@EnglishCountryLife]

@@samerbako2358 they lay blue eggs. If you look at the eggs that Gannet is incubating in the video you'll see the pale blue colour

[@therian_forever12]

I'd love to do this, but what to do with all the males you end up with?

[@EnglishCountryLife]

The reason that we keep utility / dual purpose breeds is that they are good for both meat and eggs. Surplus males are part of our meat supply - free ranged , outdoor reared chicken.

[@therian_forever12]

@@EnglishCountryLife Thanks for your reply. I'd love to learn more about how you do this. No one seems to want to talk about this aspect, even though it's so much more humane to do this than buy chicken from the supermarket!

[@EnglishCountryLife]

@@therian_forever12 We are thinking of publishing a training video on a different site ( adults only etc.). If we do, we'll put a post on here to let people know

[@rebeccaweil1]

Oh boy another channel. Hurrah

[@EnglishCountryLife]

👋

[@jasminevervaeke6251]

My chicks are 4 weeks old today, I have buff orpington chicks and black gold laced orpington chicks. For some reason, since yesterday, the mothers picks at them and not in a nice way, she actually made a huge wound today to one of the buffs, the skin is ripped open, I put the chicken apart now because of the blood. But they do it to the other buffs too, she pulls feathers out and the weird thing is, they don't do it to the gold black laced. Now the buffs are really afraid of them and run away as soon as the mothers approach. To be clear, it are 2 mothers that looking togheter for their chicks. They we're very good mothers untill now. I don't know what to do

[@EnglishCountryLife]

You've done the right thing by separating them. At 4 weeks old it is possible that the brood hens are driving them off to independence a little earlier than normal. I have to be honest I have no idea why they aren't doing it to the Black Laced Orpingtons but if they are being vicious enough to draw blood they will have to be separated for their own safety. Once they are recognised as full adults you may be able to reintegrate them as adults into the flock in the same way as you would if you bought adult hens in. I'm so sorry that you are going through this. It must be very worrying.

[@jasminevervaeke6251]

@@EnglishCountryLife yes it is, I have another hen that is looking for chicks alone and they are allready 5 weeks, so a week older and she is still very good for her chicks. Now I know who I can use as mother and who not

[@jasminevervaeke6251]

@@EnglishCountryLife can I contact you somewhere in private? The chicks are still with the mothers, I only separated the one that was wounded. I been watching them all day, it seems they pick them hard, but the buffs try to run allready from the moment they went closer. Now I wanted to wait untill they went to sleep to see what would happen, and they are all in the coop, the 2 mothers and all of the chickens including the buffs under the 2 mothers. So I really am at a death end if I need to separate them or not

[@jasminevervaeke6251]

@@EnglishCountryLife kzbin.infoqdFgirJ3Uq8?feature=share here you see

[@EnglishCountryLife]

@@jasminevervaeke6251 Hi Jasmine, we do have an email address in our profile that you can contact us on, but if you are afraid that your chicks are at risk of injury we would always advise that you physically separate them as nothing else will guarantee their safety

[@hmmjenx]

At what age do you integrate the chicks with the established flock during the day?

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Great question. We have the brood hen and chicks in the coop with a run for hatching. Once the brood hen has ventured out of the coop with the chicks we will keep the run in place for 1 day then we remove it and allow them to roam the field with the other chickens. We could remove the run immediately but the chicks are just getting used to being out of the egg so we give them 24 hours to find their feet and really get some mobility.

[@hmmjenx]

English Country Life do you ever have issues reintegrating the brood mother? Currently have a broody sat on eggs (first time!) but each day when she goes out to stretch her legs etc her flock mates are pecking her! I’m hesitant to allow chicks around the flock so young as they’ve been so aggressive with the mum and we’re still a week away from hatch! (Mums broody coop is within the main pen and I have a run I’m going to place around it prior to hatch)

[@EnglishCountryLife]

There is a major attitude change once chicks hatch. The broody hen will go from being subordinate to the other hens to aggressively defending her chicks if the other hens come too close or threaten them. The key is space for the two groups to orbit around each other. Saying she aggressively defends the chicks sounds bad but in reality the other hens learn very quickly to leave her and the chicks alone. Does that help?

[@hmmjenx]

English Country Life it helps a lot! Do you just offer all of your chickens chick crumb/ growers pellets as they grow? Sorry! I’m intrigued by how a mixed age flock works!

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Great question again! The flock get the food that the youngest chickens need so if we have chicks and some egg layers they all get chick micro-pellets. These are tiny pellets that chicks can eat. They're far less messy than chick crumb. WE supplement the egg layers with crushed oyster shell at this stage do they get the right amount of calcium to form eggs. If you can't get hold of chick micro-pellets, quail pellets are an excellent alternative. They are the same size as chick micro pellets and are also suitable for egg layers.

[@axelcarrasco90]

Whose is you’re favorite chicken? Mine is ganet

[@EnglishCountryLife]

Our flock is mainly livestock. Only Gannet qualifies as a pet. She's very old, rarely lays eggs but is still very much at the top of the pecking order. She's definitely my favourite. [Fiona]