How do you handle chicks with a broody mama?

[HennyPenny44]

My 8 chicks have been raised by my broody for the last month. In that time, I have not handled the chicks except to clean pasty butts or catch them when they escaped their enclosures. When I have caught them, they scream bloody murder and in turn, mama starts losing her mind and tries to get them back to her, all puffed up and frantic.

Ideally, I would like these chicks to be friendly with me like my first flock that I hand raised. They follow me when I call their names and compete over who gets held and petted. It’s so sweet. However, with these new babies, they won’t eat things like dried worms out of my hand and mama will just take the food out of my hand and throw it on the ground for them. They do, however, eat stalks of greens that I hold in my hand and run to me now that they know I’m the giver of treats.

If and when she abandons them which doesn’t seem like it’ll happen any time soon, will I be able to handle them then or just interact more? She is very protective of them and I don’t want her or them to lose trust in me if I start handling her babies before that.

 

[quackingdom]

I'd try to handle them and interact with them more, but try not to go so far out of their comfort zone that it makes them or their mom start freaking out. Maybe try continuing to get them used to eating out of your hand and near you, and then progress to touching them while they're eating.

I have some chicks that were raised by a hen, Fiona, that grew up to be very skittish. Then I had a couple that were raised by another hen, Nova, that are probably the friendliest chickens I have now. Fiona and Nova are both relatively tame, but Fiona was a bit more protective. And I definitely handled Nova's chicks more, especially after they became independent. So yeah, you can still work on taming them after she abandons them, though I don't know if that will necessarily make anything easier. But neither do you have to wait until then.

 

[yakitori]

It definitely depends on the broody since they are the ones who warn the chicks of danger. My broody lets me handle her however I want, and so her chicks also don’t mind me. In fact whenever I come up to them, they all pop out from under mom to say hi.

speaking of pasty butts, I have 2 with pasty butts, one being a runt... which is rather frustrating as I thought I wouldn’t have this problem when I let chicks be raised by a hen... they looooove taking a bath though. They fall right asleep...

 

[HennyPenny44]

It definitely depends on the broody since they are the ones who warn the chicks of danger. My broody lets me handle her however I want, and so her chicks also don’t mind me. In fact whenever I come up to them, they all pop out from under mom to say hi.

speaking of pasty butts, I have 2 with pasty butts, one being a runt... which is rather frustrating as I thought I wouldn’t have this problem when I let chicks be raised by a hen... they looooove taking a bath though. They fall right asleep...

I thought the same too about pasty butt but this experience proved me wrong. I had to clean the pasty butt baby away from mama because she was distressed when I initially cleaned the baby in front of her.

Yes, perhaps it does depend on temperament. Broody mama never liked being held or petted but still approached me when there was food involved. I was afraid of her pecking me so I didn’t handle her chicks initially. But I want to start to now. They approach me and even walk on top of my feet but I miss holding those cute little feathery things and I’m sure my young kids do too.

 

[K0k0shka]

It's hard to tame broody chicks to the same level of friendliness as hand-raised chicks. They will probably always be more skittish than hand-raised chicks. Spend as much time as you can interacting with them and bribing them with treats, but adjust your expectations that they probably won't be as friendly as your hand-raised chicks. I love the mama hen experience and watching the little family, but if I wanted to keep pet chickens that were super friendly, I personally wouldn't keep broody-raised chicks. I had a super tame broody this year and she let me do whatever I want with the chicks, so she wasn't the problem, but the chicks themselves just never warmed up to me. It was too much work I wasn't willing to put in, and it felt like swimming upstream (compared to my hand-raised chicks of the same age, who love me). It's just not worth it to me.

 

[am7039]

My 8 chicks have been raised by my broody for the last month. In that time, I have not handled the chicks except to clean pasty butts or catch them when they escaped their enclosures. When I have caught them, they scream bloody murder and in turn, mama starts losing her mind and tries to get them back to her, all puffed up and frantic.

Ideally, I would like these chicks to be friendly with me like my first flock that I hand raised. They follow me when I call their names and compete over who gets held and petted. It’s so sweet. However, with these new babies, they won’t eat things like dried worms out of my hand and mama will just take the food out of my hand and throw it on the ground for them. They do, however, eat stalks of greens that I hold in my hand and run to me now that they know I’m the giver of treats.

If and when she abandons them which doesn’t seem like it’ll happen any time soon, will I be able to handle them then or just interact more? She is very protective of them and I don’t want her or them to lose trust in me if I start handling her babies before that.
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I had the same experience with chick that were raised by momma hen. They freaked out everytime I cam near them and momma hen would immediately tuck them under her. She didnt even want me looking at them. It will get better. My hen just recently weened the babies from her and is now completely separated. Its definitely taken some extra effort but they begin to trust you. A couple are coming around more than others but each day it seems we make a little more progress. Two out of the 5 will now let me hold them. Just keep doing what your doing and they will come around.