Hens and Chicks

[BlueBelle33]

Hello,

I have two Mother Hens with baby chicks. A New Hampshire with five chicks four weeks old and a light Sussex with four chicks only one week old. I had both hens in separate pens with there chicks but now the New Hampshire is free ranging with her chicks. My yard is quite large, I have another Hen with a 5 month old cockerel and a Rooster. The Rooster love all his chicks and looks after the flock well so I was thinking of letting my light Sussex out with her chicks. Is it a good idea to allow both hens free range together with there chicks?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Nobody can give you guarantees with chicken behaviors but I’d try it. The only risk I see is that one broody might want to take over rearing all the chicks, not just hers, so the hens fight. Some broody hens want to brood every chick they see. But by now the hens have imprinted on their own chicks and the chicks have imprinted on their hens.

With feral chickens this situation happens all the time. They never did go extinct because of it. With a lot of free ranging flocks this situation is pretty common and there is hardly ever a problem. No guarantees but with a large yard I think the odds of you having no serious issues is tremendous. I would not hesitate to try it.

 

[chickens really]

I do it and had no issues...The chicks are imprinted to their Momma...The Hens should be fine....Give it a try....

 

[centrarchid]

Your yard is likely large enough. Be prepared for possibility of drawn out fight between hens. They will at least squabble at least a little. If fight serious, then split them up for a while so they can regain their whits and feel the soreness that will work to keep them apart. If resources tight they will occupy same home range but will avoid each other. If more resources available, then they can have have largely non-overlapping ranges. Make certain recent released hen has good location to take chicks to roost that does not restart conflicts. I like hens with chicks to go to roost smoothly and quietly with as little discord as possible.