broody hen abandoned her 2.5 week old chicks - can they survive outside w/o her?

[TGRREZ]

i had 2 OEG bantams go broody and they hatched their chicks together in the same broody pen and have been co-parenting wonderfully for 2 weeks. however I sense they are finished and want to get away from the chicks. they keep running away from them and started pecking at them. one today was badly injured, scalped had to bring it inside. anyway, I think they are ready to the easy life, w/o chicks. the only issue is they chicks are only about 2.5 weeks old. they were raised outside. im in SC and its been about 82-85 I day and 65 at night. the chicks are like 1/2 feathered. doe anyone know if they could survive the 65 degrees at night w/o the extra warmth from the broody hens?

 

[bobbi-j]

If it were my flock, I'd give them a little supplemental heat at night and let the hens out of they're being that hard on the chicks.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

If it were my flock, I'd give them a little supplemental heat at night and let the hens out of they're being that hard on the chicks.

X2.

 

[Sonya9]

I would provide some heat at night too, probably with one of those "mama brooder heating pad" setups instead of a heat lamp.

2.5 weeks is way way to young to be abandoned, surprised to hear OEG Bantam hens would do such a thing! I have one hatching chicks as we speak and she is extremely devoted.

If it were me I wouldn't let those two hatch babies again!

 

[bobbi-j]

I would provide some heat at night too, probably with one of those "mama brooder heating pad" setups instead of a heat lamp.

2.5 weeks is way way to young to be abandoned, surprised to hear OEG Bantam hens would do such a thing! I have one hatching chicks as we speak and she is extremely devoted.

If it were me I wouldn't let those two hatch babies again!

Agreed. Two and a half weeks seems pretty young for the hens to wean them. My experience has been that they wait until the chicks are at least 4 weeks or so.

 

[TGRREZ]

Agreed. Two and a half weeks seems pretty young for the hens to wean them. My experience has been that they wait until the chicks are at least 4 weeks or so.

I would provide some heat at night too, probably with one of those "mama brooder heating pad" setups instead of a heat lamp.

2.5 weeks is way way to young to be abandoned, surprised to hear OEG Bantam hens would do such a thing! I have one hatching chicks as we speak and she is extremely devoted.

If it were me I wouldn't let those two hatch babies again!

yeah I was thinking more on the lines of around 4 weeks. I don't know what was going on with these girls. I think because its their first hatch, they are still learning the ropes.. there was no way for me to add supplemental heat for them at night given my current circumstances, also another reason I opted to let the hens hatch instead of doing the inside the of doing the inside brooder thing. I brought the scalped chick inside and dressed its head. it survived the nigh, its jumping and "being a chick" . now that I think back on it, this is the same chick that always acted "weaker" than the other chicks. i don't think its really a runt, it just came from another smaller bantam, i had stuck a few of her eggs in the nest when they started but this one hatched out even smaller than the other eggs from the tiny bantam. so perhaps then hens saw it acting weak too and thought it was a runt wanted to eliminate it..who knows. the Mama OEG's are fine now.

 

[bobbi-j]

You could be right about the hen trying to eliminate the weak looking chick. That would be my guess since everyone seems to have settled down again.