- Thread starter
- #11
Yup, just to add to this.. Broody mom's leave their chicks at varying ages. I've had about 15 different mother hens and it just depends on the mom and the chicks. The average age is around 5 weeks tho so your chicks are right in that normal range when the mom left them.
The chicks sometimes fight to stay with the mom and she sort of runs them off a bit but they quickly learn to be on their own and they then band together as a little group of their own. Depending on what the mother taught them, they may have to learn to get up on the roost on their own or they may crowd together on the floor in a dark corner to sleep.
But the long and the short of it is it all works out. Just make sure they have access to a safe place to sleep (where predators cant get them) and if they try to sleep somewhere inappropriate, just move them to where you want them.
They will learn and over time, find their way to fitting into the flock.
Hope this helps,
Guppy
ok thanks. I was going to wait until they went to bed tonight and put them in the big coop because they are real buggers to catch. Ok, correct that, dang near impossible to catch. there is an enclosed run and in that enclosed run is the big coop, where all the big chickens are, and 2 smaller coops, 1 store bought and 1 rabbit hutch, with their own runs, where they have been for the last 4 weeks. Each momma had her own coop and chicks. I noticed today that the other momma has also kind of left her chicks off and on but they all took a dust bath together lol
thanks for the info. I'll move those 4 tonight if momma goes up there. I did put a small self-standing roost in there for them.