Update from “Chickenopolis”: How We Welcome New Baby Chicks on the Farm
As many a Flockster knows, once you begin to keep chickens, it’s almost impossible to stop the urge to grow the flock. Whether it’s a desire to add new genetics, explore new breeds or simply to replenish the flock after culling or predator attacks, at some point you will want to introduce newcomers into the fold.
There are a few paths to take when you decide to add new chicks. You can purchase them from a breeder, incubate your own eggs or let one of your broody hens hatch her own. Here at Valentines farm, we strive to allow our chickens to embody as much of their innate “chicken-ness” as possible. This means, when we have a broody hen, we like to let her have the experience of raising her own little flock.
In years past, we have bought chicks from a breeder and hatched our own in an incubator, but beginning last year, when one of our hens became aggressively broody, we decided to let her do her thing. And thank goodness we did, as it was such a rewarding and educational experience for us and mama hen alike!
Typically, whether you buy or incubate, taking care of the chicks and then introducing them to the main flock takes a fair amount of work. Chicks require plenty of attention and care in their first few weeks of life. They need to stay incredibly warm, under a heat lamp set to 95 degrees, get lots and lots of water and, of course, food. Once they are old enough, joining the main flock can be challenging.
Chickens don’t take too well to inviting newcomers and having their strict, hierarchical system disrupted. New chicks are often bullied, pecked at and even killed if not introduced properly. You have to slowly allow the main flock to become familiar by keeping the chicks in a separate but adjoining area so they can try and get used to each other before really letting them into the mix. Needless to say, it requires much more attention, care and work on the part of the Flockster and causes more stress for the Chickens.
That said, incubating your own or allowing your broody hen to sit on her eggs and hatch her own also comes with it’s problems. Incubating your own means going through all the above, as well as also taking care of the eggs in the incubator. Allowing a hen to raise her own means collecting the fertilized eggs you wish to hatch and placing them under her until they hatch. Both of these options mean once the eggs have hatched you have no idea the sex of the chicken until they reach about 6 months and begin to crow or lay eggs. These methods mean you will end up with way more roosters than your Hens can handle (you never want more than one rooster to every 10-15 hens), and less egg layers than you were anticipating. Not to mention, choosing from your own fertilized eggs means less genetic diversity over time.
After doing some research we came up with a clever way to deal with these issues and also allow our hens to raise a flock all her own. Now, when one of our hens goes broody we pop some fake wooden eggs under her to sit on for a week or so. She doesn't know the difference and will diligently sit on those wooden eggs until she hears the first peep from a chick.
While she sits, we order chickens from a breeder, allowing us to choose the variety and ensuring we get only females. Once the chicks arrive, under the cover of darkness, we replace the wooden eggs with the day old chicks. Once mama hen hears the first peep, her maternal instincts immediately kick in and she will then begin to raise the adopted little chicks like they were her own. When we let Mama Hen do all the work the chicks have her protection from the other hens plus her expertise – she will teach them how to forage, hide from predators, bathe and interact with the others. She will also provide them with the warmth they need. This takes the pressure off us and makes the chickens happier and healthier, which in turn, gives us an abundance of the richest, most nutrient packed eggs! Win-win all around!
But, of course, there are times when you need to add to your flock and there is no broody hen to help you out. We recently welcomed 13 new baby chicks on to the farm and are raising them ourselves. We will be back with an update once they are old enough to be introduced to our main flock. For now they are happy and healthy and growing every day!
