Can I take week old chicks from their mama?

[Krystalinnea]

We just hatched our first chicks about a week ago and I have separated them with mama in the coop. The problem is they are silkies and I have larger chickens who are going in the pen I have them in and picking on the mama and her babies. If I take the babies away will the mama rejoin the flock? Or do I need to find a way to separate them all? I have a small brooder box but mama will not comfortably fit with the babies… I was thinking about just taking the chicks in and letting her rejoin the flock… thoughts??

 

[nchls school]

We just hatched our first chicks about a week ago and I have separated them with mama in the coop. The problem is they are silkies and I have larger chickens who are going in the pen I have them in and picking on the mama and her babies. If I take the babies away will the mama rejoin the flock? Or do I need to find a way to separate them all? I have a small brooder box but mama will not comfortably fit with the babies… I was thinking about just taking the chicks in and letting her rejoin the flock… thoughts??

It will take a while, but, yes, the hen will rejoin the flock if her chicks are taken from her.

 

[KarLee A]

I only have one silkie too and the rest of my flock are all different and bigger breeds. I never separated her and the chicks from the flock and they did well, she protected them. Not sure how it would go now that you have had them separated but if she's a good mama she will protect them. My silkie defends her rank and her babies against my brahma and she's a big bird. I bet if you got some chicken wire and wired off a part of your coop with food and water for a couple weeks, the other hens would have the chance to get used to them. IMO It's always better to have mama teach them how to be chickens than us.

 

[JedJackson]

You can, but do you have the heart to listen to the babies crying out for their mama? I know I don't!

 

[BarnyardChaos]

If I take the babies away will the mama rejoin the flock?

Yes, she will. She may prance around looking for her babies, and be quite irritable to everyone - but after a day or two she'll be just fine. The babies will cry for her for a day or two as well. But then they'll settle into their brooder and be just fine. Unfortunately, this means you'll have to go through the integration process when it's time to re-introduce them to the flock. Mama absolutely will not know they are hers.

You can, but do you have the heart to listen to the babies crying out for their mama? I know I don't!

We have a few small cattle farms surrounding our place, and one larger operation for feeder calves. Every spring and fall, when they separate the calves from their mothers, the bawling and crying and mooing is NONSTOP for four days!!! My heart aches every time I walk out the door during this time. The first time I heard it, I was so alarmed that I drove down the road to see what the hell was going on... and saw a holding pen with maybe 100 crying little calves, surrounded by as many bawling mamas. ... silence of the lambs comes to mind. Last week, just as soon as the calves and heifers from the feeder operation quieted down, the neighbor on the other side of us decided it was time to separate his as well... and it has started all over again. aarrrggghhh!!!
We don't normally separate ours like that (we have less than 10, and they go to our feeder pasture much later), but there have been a couple of times I had to separate a mother from her newborn for health reasons.... it's awful.

 

[nuthatched]

Can you seperate momma too?

 

[JedJackson]

Yes, she will. She may prance around looking for her babies, and be quite irritable to everyone - but after a day or two she'll be just fine. The babies will cry for her for a day or two as well. But then they'll settle into their brooder and be just fine. Unfortunately, this means you'll have to go through the integration process when it's time to re-introduce them to the flock. Mama absolutely will not know they are hers.


We have a few small cattle farms surrounding our place, and one larger operation for feeder calves. Every spring and fall, when they separate the calves from their mothers, the bawling and crying and mooing is NONSTOP for four days!!! My heart aches every time I walk out the door during this time. The first time I heard it, I was so alarmed that I drove down the road to see what the hell was going on... and saw a holding pen with maybe 100 crying little calves, surrounded by as many bawling mamas. ... silence of the lambs comes to mind. Last week, just as soon as the calves and heifers from the feeder operation quieted down, the neighbor on the other side of us decided it was time to separate his as well... and it has started all over again. aarrrggghhh!!!
We don't normally separate ours like that (we have less than 10, and they go to our feeder pasture much later), but there have been a couple of times I had to separate a mother from her newborn for health reasons.... it's awful.

I've experienced that as well with the neighbor's cows. It truly is heart wrenching!

You should do what works best for your chickens, but yes, the babies will peep for a long while, so be prepared.