Best time to remove chicks from mom?

[Ginmary]

I have my Serama hens sitting on 8 eggs. I will want to sell the chicks. When is the best tie to remove the chicks from the hens so that it is less traumatic?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I can't answer that. I personally don't think there is a time that losing one's offspring isn't traumatic.
Even after they were 3 months old, I had a mother hen fly up to attack me when I picked one of the chicks up.
I had a hen hatch chicks in an extremely cold November. I brought the chicks indoors and waited till it got above freezing to return them. It was about a week and a half later. As soon as I brought the carrier into the yard, the hen left the foraging flock and ran up to the carrier delighted. I'm sure she though she would never see them again.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

Remove them at dusk when she settles in..... and hope she doesn't cause too much ruckus. You could remove them immediately, no problem. That way they won't imprint on momma hen and be more docile towards humans.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

I agree with Shamo..

Remove them immediately after hatching. Put them in a warm brooder. You can always leave a couple for mamma if possible. My hens seem satisfied when they have at least one or two to be a proud mamma to. Then again, I had some hens who seemed to be quite liberated when there were no more babies in her care.

Some mothers are more maternal than others and bond deeply, some just want to brood but not raise them, some never get broody at all. One of my serama hens killed her first two that hatched. I saved the third chick which was in the process of being beaten up and subsequently killed by momma like the other two when I found the sad scene. In this case, removing them all was the option! (That little chick is now is extremely lovey with me and is a great serama momma!).

I also agree with ChickenCanoe, the hens know their babies. Speaking of a non-serama standard sized breed, I separated a single chick from her mom simply because I had another hen with a few more babies and I had no space for two other hens in one confined space. (The mother hens will fight each other) So I put the one chick with the others and then put then mother hen back with the flock. About 10 months later, I had this one chick (now grown) out with the flock freeranging for the first time with the regular flock, and the mother hen immediately recognized her and walked straight up to her and watched. She hung around for a bit, just watching her. She paid no attention to the others, just the one that was, at one time, hers to care for. There’s no doubt in my mind she knew who this young hen was. The chick (now grown) didn’t recognize the mother, but the mother recognized her child. I observed her doing this several times for the next week or two.

This may seem cold, because serama mammas indeed do it best when it comes to incubation, but I think using an incubator to hatch and then sell is most humane. The babies also have a better chance of getting bonded with humans....but not always... just a better chance, especially if handled gently and frequently.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I agree with Shamo..

I also agree with ChickenCanoe, the hens know their babies.
...
This may seem cold, because serama mammas indeed do it best when it comes to incubation, but I think using an incubator to hatch and then sell is most humane. The babies also have a better chance of getting bonded with humans....but not always... just a better chance, especially if handled gently and frequently.

X2
If one is planning on selling chicks, it is much better to hatch them in an incubator than under a broody hen. That's just the kind of harassment for which the hen will never forgive you.

 

[Ginmary]

Thanks. Unfortunately, none of the eggs were successful this time. They were eggs that were given to me at a poultry show. 5 didn’t develop very far but one almost made it all the way. It was fully formed when it died in the shell.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thanks. Unfortunately, none of the eggs were successful this time. They were eggs that were given to me at a poultry show. 5 didn’t develop very far but one almost made it all the way. It was fully formed when it died in the shell.

Acquiring eggs from another source adds lots of variables that make it hard to come to conclusions. There is no guarantee how old the eggs are, how they were handled and stored, what the humidity and temperature were in the storage environment, how frequently they were turned during storage, what was the nutrition provided the breeders the weeks prior to egg collection, how old are the breeders, had there been extreme inbreeding of those breeders, et. al..