250 watts vs. real live chicken mom

[Fowl_Odor002]

greetings fellow fowls

one of my chickens went broody, so i placed fertile eggs under her and they have now hatched -born on memorial day.

the thing is that i am not sure about the mothering skills of this production red and i am not sure about having little itty bitty baby chick running behind their mom in my chicken run where I have 6 full grown laying hens and 6 pullets that are about 8 weeks old. I worry about the babys getting pecked at or not finding water or a thousand other things that could go wrong.

so the BIG question is: should I remove the babys from their mom and put them in my brooder?

 

[sumi]

Why are you unsure about your hen's mothering skills?
It may be better if you can move the mom and babies to their own separate area, instead of taking them away from her. Also depends if the rest of your flock is mean to the babies. Mine usually peck the young ones, so I keep them in a specially build "chick pen" for at least a week. I then let them free range, but with a fence between them and the rest of the flock so they can see the new additions, but not get to them until mom feels ready.
Mom will show the babies the water and she'll call them if there's food or a treat. It's really cute to see!

 

[Judy]

I just let the mamas raise the chicks in with the rest of the flock. She should keep the others away from her chicks. That way, when she decides to stop mothering, when they chicks are around 4-6 weeks old, the flock is already accustomed to them.

Hopefully if she sat on the eggs for 3 weeks to hatch them, she will also mother them just fine.

 

[NovaAman]

I only separate mine when it nears hatching time. I currently have 3 mamas with babies ranging 4wk to almost 2 weeks. The mothers do a good job scaring off everyone who gets close. Leave her be. Mother nature provided her with the skills she needs. Just relax. Sit back and enjoy watching. OH! I have 52 birds. 9 of those are males. And the mama send those boys running! They are not separated at all while ranging, or in the run. The biggest problem I have is when one mama tries to steal the other mamas chicks!