Chicks with Broody - how long?

[ZuniBee]

How long do chicks stay with the broody hen? Anyone know how to tell when the broody is ready to be back in with the other birds and leave the chicks?

 

[ozark hen]

I kept my broody with her chicks, inside a fenced area for a few weeks then released them in the mornings. Since my flock free ranges she took them outside and protected them from the other chickens during the daytime and at night they returned to the fenced in area inside the coop. It was several weeks before they started venturing out away from her.

 

[Marlinchaser]

I think you can leave her as long as SHE wants to stay, I let mine stay with hers till she decided to fly over the fence to be with big chickens first 2 nights she went back in with babies on third night she decided to go in big coop to roost, so babies are now on thier own.

Or if you want can seperate them once they are hatched, (Day olds do not need a mother), but then you have to make sure they learn to eat, drink scratch etc......

 

[BamaChicken]

Four weeks is long enough as long as you have a warm place for them when you separate them.

 

[Red]

Our hen let the chicks stay with her until they were just over 10 weeks old - she was still trying to let them sleep under her wings

 

[Kaneke]

banty-mama kept her surviving two cockerels close to her until they were nearly her size (estimate 12 weeks) and they had begun to get their adult feathers, and were seriously sparring with each other (RJF mix)

up until that point she ran off any others in the flock who got close ... within three days she was running her little cockerels off --- "go play on the freeway" ...

 

[KKluckers]

I havent had a broody on my farm here yet. Growing up my dad use to keep them with the hen, until they were big enough to go with the rest of the flock. It was really funny seeing a pile of chicks of about 6 weeks, with the mama hen trying to sit on top.

 

[speckledhen]

My Sunny began separating herself from them at about four weeks old. She went further and further away from them and on occasion would peck at one to push it away near the end of that four weeks.

 

[ZuniBee]

Seems like everyone has a different experience. Mine are 4 weeks old and she has had them outside all day for the last week. I have noticed her pecking at a couple of them but she can't really get away because they are in the same pen. She has stopped being so darned mean and when I go to get her she even squats now..... so I was just wondering if there was any sure sign or is it just best to pull her out and let the chicks be on their own. I might leave them another week...I;ll watch them this weekend and see what she does.

 

[ZuniBee]

I just went out to the coop and checked on the broody and the chicks. All 18 chicks are in a nest box at ground level and the momma is in a different nest box on the top. She has laid an egg today. So, I believe she is ready to go back to the flock!