Chicken bald back

[Feelag]

I have an Eglu cube and my bantams are just hatching a clutch of 11 eggs from some Sebright banties (5 hatched OK, 1 dead two more hatching and not sure about the other 3). The hens and chicks are currently sat in the nest box of the Cube but it is obviously too high for the chicks at the minute to get out of the nest box and to have some food and water (currently located on the roosting bars which I have covered with a carboard and a plastic tray from a pet/dog crate).

What have other people done when hatching chicks as although my banties can cope with the rungs on the Cube, the chicks will not for some time yet and I would like to keep them safe in the Cube until they are old enough to sit in the run with the mums. I've seen people saying that they have taken the roosting bars out which will work for a while but then what have others done about the ladder? Any suggestions welcome please?

 

Thanks.

Sheelagh

[Minnie&Moose]

Hi - I let our cochin hatch out chicks in our cube earlier this summer (she refused point blank to settle in the eglu I'd converted for her!). I only kept broody and chicks in there for just under a week - after that they moved to the eglu and run. But, while in the cube I did the following to make sure it was safe for them:

- taped over the ventilation slot in the nest box with masking tape,

- removed roosting bars and filled droppings trays and nest box to the same height with tightly packed bedding to make a solid, level surface throughout the whole cube.

- as soon as the chicks had hatched & dried I removed the partition wall between the nest box and rest of the cube so that they couldn't get stuck or squished anywhere.

- before the hatch started I locked the cube door and stuffed newspaper in the gap where the door slides across - I think a chick could fall out there so not worth taking any chances.

- taped over the gap between the top of the droppings trays and the back of the cube with masking tape.

 

Once the chicks had hatched I lifted the broody in and out over the back of the cube (with the roof pushed forwards - the chicks moved so fast I was worried they'd leap to their deaths otherwise). I also I then rigged up a clear tarp over the top of the cube, secured to the run below the back of the of the cube with bungees so I could leave the roof partially open to give the birds light but nothing could get in (we have lots of magpies and crows around).

 

However, I really wouldn't want to keep chicks in the cube for any longer than I did - it worked fine for the first few days and gave chicks and mum plenty of space (our cochin is a BIG girl!) but I don't think it would be safe after that. They need to be in a secure place all on one level. I'm not sure I'd trust our chicks (now nearly 10 weeks and bigger than our bantams) using the cube steps even now - they pile out of the eglu so fast in the morning that they run straight over their mum and I think there'd be a horrible accident if there was any kind of drop.

[Feelag]

Thanks for the info. I have had 7 chicks hatch successfully and run around in the cube. However, they are now running around in an enclosed run and have been lifted back into the cube at night and lifted out each morning with the 3 broodies.

 

The speed at which they are growing is amazing and their ability to jump is incredible.

I am thinking of fashioning a longer wood ramp which will reach down to the ground and see if the chicks can negotiate this and take themselves off to bed each night with their mums. My last set of chicks 3 years ago in a wooden hen house were very quick to do this, and I won't be able to catch them soon they move so fast!

 

For the run on the ground, I have been using the cat's carry box lined with paper and shavings, and have now purchased a larger plastic kennel to put in the run so they have some shelter on the ground also during the day, as the chicks are growing at such a rate.