Chicks and Mama

[blizzardfris]

Hi! About 3 weeks ago 2 eggs hatched. Mama has been taking real good care of them. I had them separated from the other flock-- I have 12 other chickens, one rooster, 4 guniea hens. They have a big area that they all roam. Can mama and babies be in with the other flock yet?

 

[roostersandhens]

If were you I'd wait 'till they are at least 5 weeks old.
Good Luck!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Absolutely, and the earlier the better. While they are still young, Mama is full of hormones that make her defend those chicks from all comers. If you move her now, she'll integrate those chicks into the flock for you, and will fight off any hen that gives the chicks trouble. This saves you all the trouble of integrating the chicks when they're older, and is one of the main advantages to using a broody hen instead of a brooder with lights.

If you wait much longer, her hormones will start to settle and she won't be as worried about the chicks and won't defend them as well. I'd integrate them into the main flock ASAP. We once waited until the chicks were five weeks old, and the integration didn't go nearly as well. We finally had to move the chicks into a separate pen and try to integrate them again at 18 weeks, when they were big enough. Mama's hormones had settled to the point where she just wasn't as attentive, since five weeks is a pretty common age for a broody hen to wean her chicks.

We have a group of five week old chicks and their mama in the pasture with our 75 hens and a rooster and two goats right now. They've been there since they were 10 days old. Not a problem at all, although there was some sparring as Mama warned off some of the more aggressive flock members. They all found a corner of the hen house to sleep in, although at five weeks Mama is starting to wean them a bit and they are starting to sleep on the perches.

One thing we do when we put Mama and her chicks in with the flock (usually when they're a week old or a bit older) is to put a feeder with chick starter and a waterer outside the pasture fence where Mama can see it. Since she knows what the feeder is, she'll cluck to her chicks and practically force them outside the pasture to eat and drink (the chicks can scoot right through the wire, but the older chickens are too big). This solves the problem of the chicks needing different food from the laying flock.

The only caveat is make sure your Mama will defend them. We did once have a broody raise chicks but then not bother to defend them, and we lost several before we figured out what was happening and took her chicks away and put them in a brooder (and never let her raise chicks again). Most mama hens are pretty vicious about defending their chicks, though.

 

[blizzardfris]

great thank you!

 

[Mrs. K]

I strongly agree with Won Sunshine, I too am a believer in keeping the hen & chicks with the flock. Mine are separated only a bit more than 24 hours.

When you separate the hen & chicks away from the flock, the hen loses her pecking order. When you reintroduce the hen and the chicks are older, her hormones are falling as she is getting over being a broody hen, her urge to protect them is deminishing, and she has to fight for her own pecking order.

If you have the hen with the flock the entire time, everyone (even the roo) kind of tiptoes around the broody hen. She is quite high on the pecking order. She is given a rather wide berth when she brings the chicks out. And she defends those babies harshly.

Mine right now, are 3 weeks old, and I saw several in the food bowl, right with the layers this morning. They didn't stay there long, but they were pretty tolerated, and not pecked viciously. Once I lost a broody hen and most of her chicks, 4 escaped, and came back to the coop at night. They were only 4 weeks old, and if I tried to introduce 4 week old chicks to an established flock of layers that would be a nightmare. However, they were all used to each other, and never had a problem.

Once you go broody, you never go brooder...... if you can help it at all!

Being you have kept them separated, you do need to watch closely and see how it goes, but I agree with Walking on Sunshine, sooner is better.

I also agree, not all animals make good mothers, or mother the same way. We have cattle, and some give their calves a lick and a promise, and move that calf 5 miles by morning. Others, I think are going to lick the hair right off the calf. Just like people, some are good mothers, and some are not. If you have a hen that is not a good mother, don't let her do it, in fact I would not keep her in my flock.

Mrs K