Our Buff Orpingtons have been setting and now we have at least 4 new chicks. We don't want to upset the hens by being too nosey. But . . . does the mother feed them? They don't seem to be moving off the eggs that aren't hatched yet.
What we'd like to do is raise them organically. The girls have been free range until we put in the garden, they still have access to the yard, but the layer mash is from the local feedmill and is full of "stuff". I would like to get the chicks off to an organic start, if possible. I suppose they have chemicals from their mothers already.
Anything else I should do with the new chicks?
Thanks
Kathi

Kathi,
Sounds like your hens started brooding eggs before they were finished laying their clutch or else other hens laid eggs in the setting hen's nest so that you aren't getting a simultaneous hatch. If the hens don't hatch out the rest of their brood within two days of the first chicks' hatching, you need to do one of two things. One, either remove the hatched chicks and care for them until the rest are hatched (keep separated no more than a week, MAX, or else risk rejection) and then place them back under their mother at night. Or, two, take the unhatched eggs and place them under another broody hen or into an incubator and let the hen off the nest to care for her hatched chicks (you could bring others back later, at night). Most hens will naturally leave the nest after a day or two once chicks have hatched, regardless of whether there are unhatched eggs still in the nest. The chicks must eat and drink (provide chick waterers so they don't drown) as soon as possible after hatching for best health. They are still absorbing yolk for a couple of days and will survive that long without food and water. Hens will hunt food (bugs, seeds, etc.) and hold it in their bills for the chicks, but domestic fowl don't do this very well. Most of us feed commercial chick starter to hen and chicks, but what you'd feed for an "organic" balanced diet, I haven't a clue. I'd go ahead and get some commercial chick starter in the meantime since you say the hens aren't chemical free, anyway. Then keep searching the net for organic poultry raising info. and switch over later. Good luck.