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Is It Bad to Take Chicks Away From Their Mothers at a Young Age?

post #1 of 8
7/18/12 at 4:54am
Thread Starter 

Three chicks finally hatched underneath my Barred Rock, Misty. I'm pretty excited! But while I want to let Misty raise her own chicks herself, my dad wants to take them and let us raise them so Misty will start laying again sooner. But will this harm the chicks or mother? I don't want to take the chicks away in the first place, and especially not if it will cause harm.

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post #2 of 8
7/18/12 at 5:04am
It will NOT cause any harm to the hen or the chicks.
Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought....Abraham Lincoln (Freedom carries responsibility)

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.....Judge Learned Hand  (The more sure your are that your way is the only right way, the more likely you are wrong.)
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Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought....Abraham Lincoln (Freedom carries responsibility)

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.....Judge Learned Hand  (The more sure your are that your way is the only right way, the more likely you are wrong.)
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post #3 of 8
7/18/12 at 5:15am
Thread Starter 

Okay, thank you!
 

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post #4 of 8
7/18/12 at 7:02am

Agreed that it will  not harm them , however I find that it is easier to let a broody raise chicks.  They do all the work for you!  If you think of the trade off of your time and energy to take care of these chicks and build them an enclosure, feed and water and all the other little things you will need to do, you might find that the cost of a few eggs is well worth it.  My broody does a much better job of teaching babies what to eat and how to be a chicken (she is dedicated 24 hours a day) than I can for a few hours a day.

 

I would also feel guilty taking them away after she did all the work to hatch them :(

 

Good luck with your decision.

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post #5 of 8
7/18/12 at 9:56am
Thread Starter 

Hopefully I can talk my dad into letting Misty keep them. Sometimes I let the three chicks out of the nest so I can play with them, and after they tumble over each other and peep cheerfully for a few minutes, they start to chirp loudly for their mother and I'll take them back. It makes me sad to hear them chirp like that. You have a good point: Misty will do all the work for us and all we need to do is provide her with food, water, and clean bedding. We wouldn't have to go through the trouble of teaching the chicks not to fear chickens, like we had to do with the Leghorn chicks we got a couple years back.

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post #6 of 8
7/18/12 at 10:35am

I would let the hen do her job.    It is much easier on the chicks and the hen.   Last month my bator was full of eggs, when I had 3 hens begin sitting on one egg each.   I emptied my incubator and those hens thought they were amazing... hatched out 13 chicks each in less than a week:). 

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post #7 of 8
7/18/12 at 10:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AZ_HenHouse View Post

Agreed that it will  not harm them , however I find that it is easier to let a broody raise chicks.  They do all the work for you!  If you think of the trade off of your time and energy to take care of these chicks and build them an enclosure, feed and water and all the other little things you will need to do, you might find that the cost of a few eggs is well worth it.  My broody does a much better job of teaching babies what to eat and how to be a chicken (she is dedicated 24 hours a day) than I can for a few hours a day.

 

I would also feel guilty taking them away after she did all the work to hatch them :(

 

Good luck with your decision.

 I agree with the above.. way, way more cost and work effective to let Misty do the work.

 

Norma.....

 

 

 

 

 

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Norma.....

 

 

 

 

 

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post #8 of 8
7/18/12 at 3:31pm
Thread Starter 

Okay, thank you all so much!

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