Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[woffle]

We've proudly watched one of our Orps sit for the last three weeks (for the first time). Wednesday through yesterday we had three of the six eggs she was sitting on hatch (we had one fatality during hatching, two eggs didn't do anything and the mum abandoned them).

 

So - they're all in a separate run with a broody box attached - she was a fantastic sitter - came off the eggs once a day of her own accord for a drink, poo, dust bath and something to eat. When the chicks hatched she sat for the two days + it took for all to emerge. We kept the box shut once we saw the first chick so that they all had chance to hatch and fluff up etc.

 

Now - if we leave the door of the broody box open she will seemingly be quite happy to spend all the time outside scratching around, feeding and herding the chicks around with her. Occasionally she'll park herself down on the grass and gather all the chicks under her.

 

Given the youngest is not much older than 24 hours I'm curious as to whether I ought to be restricting her to the box to make sure they're all kept warm (they also have food + water in the box). Or should I just leave her to it and leave her and the chicks to do their own thing? When's it considered ok for them to be out and about?

 

Obviously if they were all indoors they'd be under a lamp etc but the pragmatist in me just thinks we ought to trust her to get on with things...

 

Proud mum + chicks:

 

The three musketeers by onehillside, on Flickr

[Benaberry]

oh how beautiful are they? . We've got an orpington baby very similar in colour to your darkest one (only one of three to hatch along with some Belgian bantams under our broody Barnevelder) from our splash boy Jack up the garden, now 2.5 weeks old. There wasn't much difference between the four to start with, but Fraggle the orp is now distinct from his/her nest-mates, and so sweet. Unfortunately, there's what looks like a very prominant comb starting to develop, so I have a nasty suspician little Fraggle is definitely a boy.

 

Like you, Annie our broody was an absolute star once she got into it (bit of a hiccup at the start), and stuck like glue to the nest as they all hatched. Not sure I'm afraid about leaving the broody box open - I'll confess I've just let mum get on with it - in the first couple of days she stayed mostly inside the cat box we had rigged up for her in a partitioned bit of the WIR and we only occasionally saw the babies, from about day 3 onwards we started seeing much more of them as they spent more and more time scratching around. I've been inclined to think she knows what she's doing, when they seem a bit chilly or something has spooked them she's been quick to gather them all back under her feathers for a snuggle, and it's not unsual to see her now with extra heads poking out in odd places as she sits there looking proud

 

Worried now though that I've been doing it all wrong, and it's more by luck than judgement that all four chicks are doing well hopefully someone a lot more knowledgeable than me will pop up soon!

[Redwing]

I would leave the broody to it, she knows what she is doing

 

Take this opportunity to give the next box a good clean and add some mite powder

 

Congratulations

[sjp]

it sounds like she's doing everything right. the chicks will soon tell her they are cold too

[woffle]

Well - consensus opinion wins out! I'll leave them to it.

 

I've already done the nest box this morning when she and the chicks were rooting around. Fresh bedding and a generous squirt of mite powder all round.