How long will a hen "mother" her brood?

[Redhead Rae]

I have a BO that hatched 10 chicks for me 10.5 weeks ago. I thought they weaned their chicks around 7 weeks, but she is still a very loving, attentive mother to them. She still sleeps with them, protects them from older birds, finds food for them, etc.

This pic was taken when they were 7 weeks, but is emblematic of how well she cares for them. If you look closely you can see all 10 babies

 

[sylviethecochin]

Depends on the hen. Seven to eight weeks is normal, and I had one hen abandon hers at four weeks, and of course, silkies will sit with the chicks as long as the chicks will sit with them. It's extremely varaiable.

To quote someone's signature (and I don't remember whose) "Chickens don't read the books."

Good hen. You must be so proud.

 

[21hens-incharge]

My Bitty cared for her first brood for about a year. She was back to laying long before she was done calling them for food and mothering.

Her second brood she was done with by 9 weeks.

It all depends on hormones.

 

[FrankieDoodle]

I have a BO that hatched 10 chicks for me 10.5 weeks ago. I thought they weaned their chicks around 7 weeks, but she is still a very loving, attentive mother to them. She still sleeps with them, protects them from older birds, finds food for them, etc.

This pic was taken when they were 7 weeks, but is emblematic of how well she cares for them. If you look closely you can see all 10 babies
View attachment 1203133

I'm not sure, but that picture is adorable!

 

[Redhead Rae]

I'm not sure, but that picture is adorable!

I'm saving it for the 2019 calendar contest.

 

[Trifele1]

As others have said -- it depends on the hen.

We had three broodies this year. Mathilda (Crested Cream Legbar -- first time mom) was done at 4 weeks -- a short hitter. Luckily she was co-parenting that batch of chicks with Genevieve, our experienced 5 year old Australorp broody. Genny took over and mothered the batch until about 9 weeks, then firmly kicked them out.

The mothering star of the year in our flock was Martha, our 1 year old Black Orpington. She was a first-time mom, and parented her chicks through 16 weeks! Actually she is still very friendly to her chicks, even though they are 21 weeks old and full grown. We saw one of them trying to get under her just the other day -- it was hilarious.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I had an old english bantam that hatched out a wyandotte rooster. by about 4 weeks he was bigger than she was, and even when he was grown would walk around her talking in a baby voice. He also always expected her to feed him. For a long time I didn't think he was a rooster, because he always acted like a baby.

 

[21hens-incharge]

If a hen is not actively broody they won't adopt.
Bitty was murderous to new chicks unless she was broody. When broody I could give her anything near egg shaped and she would stuff it under ( gave her a rock lol). I gave her chicks after 3 weeks of being broody and she was the happiest thing ever.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Depends on the hen. Seven to eight weeks is normal, and I had one hen abandon hers at four weeks, and of course, silkies will sit with the chicks as long as the chicks will sit with them. It's extremely varaiable.

To quote someone's signature (and I don't remember whose) "Chickens don't read the books."

Good hen. You must be so proud.

I am. I'm glad I took a chance on her. She only hatched 1/30 of this year and was only 6-7 months when she went broody. I definitely want to hatch some of her eggs. I want as many broodies as possible. Incubators and brooders are such a pain to deal with.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I had a hen that raised 2 ducklings. When the ducklings got older, they were running about the pen and saw their mom and the both stopped and it was like one said to the other, that is our mom, and they both did a duck-y bow greeting to her.

I had different hen that hatched out a duck and with in about 2 weeks figured out it was a duck and ran her off. It was sad because the duck still wanted to love the momma hen.