[Linzntom]

I had a Scots Dumpy go broody a few weeks back ... sat on 13 (yes 13) eggs for a couple of weeks then got bored and left them. I candled them and decided to put 8 of them in the incubator as I thought it was a shame to bin them when they were half cooked.

Anyway, they have started hatching today and I'm thinking that rather than brooding them away from the flock (I only have 6 hens and a cockeral) I'd put them into a rabbit hutch in the hen house (converted shed) with a heat pad so it'll not get too hot for my hens. This way the hens will get used to the chicks but won't be able to attack them, and will therefore be more likely to accept the poor abandoned wee souls when they are big enough to get out the hutch and wander around the hen house.

The question is, is it OK to brood chicks on a heat pad rather than a lamp?

Linz

[wytsend]

chicks need heat from above as well as below...... you will need to keep them separated from the others until they are fully feathered..... the adults will kill them  or other vermin ( inc crows & rats) will take them.

Keep them indoors in a warm atmosphere for a few weeks and they will all survive.

[Sylvia]

I, too would keep them inside under a lamp until feathered up. If introduced carefully to the older hens they'll fine.

[jaykay]

Echo the above. Raise them under a heat lamp indoors til they're feathered, then outside on their own til they're bigger and then have them in a run where the existing hens can see them but not get at them for a while. There will be 'fuss' when you first introduce them but if they're their own little flock by then and they're a good size, they will be fine.

Your plan would lead to the chicks possibly being pecked to death by the adult hens without a mum to protect them.

[Linzntom]

Cheers guys,I thought as much....

I've introduced new chicks into the flock before (we had 8 hens originally but lost more than half to a neighbour's dog that broke into the run last year) without too many problems but, as you say, this was when they were a bit bigger and fully feathered.

I've got four under a heat lamp in a broody box in my spare room just now, and the other four are all still in the incubator but piping so it looks like when they do get introduced to the flock they will outnumber them (may have to build a bigger chicken run!) I was just hoping to get them outside quicker through this plan