Almost time to seperate mom from the chicks?

[Moochie]

They are 5 weeks old now.
Today while giving them some melon flesh, I noticed mama didn't call them or let them eat it from her mouth. Instead she ran away from them and when they tried to eat it, she made this shrill noise. I thought she was getting to rough with them so I just took the flesh away from them. I took her out but she was making the weird clucking noises and the chicks were crying for her.
So she doesn't like to share food with them. Is it just a start? What other signs are there when I should seperate her?

 

[Enslaved-by-Ducks]

They only need mom for the first 4-5 weeks of life. When they learn how to eat and drink on their own, mom is not needed anymore accept to fight off other adults. Chicks who are bought from a store don't have mother to help thgem out so they learn on their own. So mom is only around the babies long enough to teach them to eat. You don't have to wean them away from mom and the crying is not what you think it is. They are fine.

Let mom go her own way and before you know it, mom will not recognize them as her babies. You're worring too much...lol

 

[2overeasy]

Sorry I don't have an answer for you, but it's a great question. Something I'll need to know in a few weeks, too. I hope someone answers. The silly posts seem to get the most responses, unfortunately! But I like reading the light-hearted, fun stuff, too ;-)

 

[PunkinPeep]

I leave well enough alone when it comes to baby chicks and broody mamas. When she's done, she'll stop mothering, and they'll keep being chickens and growing up. I really don't think this needs to be monitored. The great thing is that having a broody hen raise the chicks gives her the opportunity to acclimate them to the flock and the flock to them. That way you have fewer integration issues later.

 

[Moochie]

I'm not worrying, I want to know what other ways to tell when she's done with them. She hatched them herself and she's been a pretty good momma.
We keep her seperated away from the rest of the flock, there's two halfs of my frontyard which is divided by the driveway. Her and the chicks are kept on the smaller half, where they are kept in an enclosure so momma won't beat up all the young pullets or get into fights with my silkie rooster (which puzzles me). She still sleeps with them though!
When should I take her back to the main yard? How will the roos and her old pals react to her?

 

[Donna in Montana]

I've always let the chicks stay with Mom.. eventually they decide if they want to hang out with her but more often then not they'll either establish their own little "click" or pair off with some other chickens. I have several groups that seem to want to stick together, the oddest being The Three Amigo's, a goose, black duck and a rooster. Whenever the rooster, Golden Boy, crows the goose, Big Bird, will put his two cents worth in.

My best little mother hen, Oreo, kept her first brood away from the rest of the chickens all summer. She was always running to stay up with them. Those chicks always stayed together. After Oreo's first little family her second family was on their own in a short time.. maybe 3-4 weeks. They didn't have nearly the time being 'mothered' but turned out fine. Right now Oreo is broody although she didn't have any eggs she was sitting on. We put a couple of little bantam eggs and one guinea egg under her (would put more guinea eggs in if we had any!) and hope she stays broody until they hatch. This was a hard winter on our birds between the foxes and hawks. We're down to five hens and five roos as well as I can tell. We've gone from 9 to 4 guineas. I think only one is a hen. Our whole clutch of guinea eggs late last summer got too cold before "Mom" started setting and not one hatched. Usually we have a dozen keets.

All of this rattling on to say not to worry... they'll take care of the situation.

They are so much fun to watch...

 

[Moochie]

I've come across a problem today though. I took mumsy into the main yard and her old pal Moochie didn't even recognize her. Moochie sparred mama! Then Melvin (top roo) was following her around, dragging his wing, dadeeda... But then the cochin roo started follwing her too and didn't try to mate but spar, then Melvin and the cochin roo were fighting and mama was in the middle. She wanted to get out of there so bad, she looked so scared!
When I came home she wanted to get out of the enclosure and the chickies were in their own little click. So I figured that I could put her back but nope, putting her with her old fam is kinda dangerous. I do not want her to get hurt!
Now what? Should I put her in the main yard everyday for a few minutes til everyone is used to her?

And that cochin rooster is the bottom roo, what the heck was he trying to do? Not even the 2nd ranking roo came near, when Melvin is around he knows he'll get his butt kicked.

 

[Enslaved-by-Ducks]

You need to let mom re-establish herself in the group. It wont take long. If mom wants to be with the babys still, you will know because she will try to get to them. If she is back with the old group, and seems ok, leave her be. She has to get back to the old flock or else if you wait too long, they may not accept her back and then you have another huge problem.
Roo's will always fight over the hens and that's natural. Let them do their thing. Just watch that mama isn't getting too beat up but some rough play in the beginning is natural.

 

[McGoo]

Quote:
My momma hens have been a mix - some stay with their little ones for months and others relinquish fairly early on. What I do is let them mix with the others at about a week old. Momma lets everyone know darn quickly to stay away from the little ones. And actually, my roo likes to protect the little ones. I have raised 4 sets of babies using mommas and released to all within about a week and never had a problem... that said I do keep them sleeping separately for about a month.

Not sure if my method would work for you. all the best.

 

[gavinandallison]

I think it's about time you integrated them all. My broody silkie hen hatched 1 silkie and 2 barred rocks, she mothers them still (4 weeks) and our silkie roo protects them like his own!