How long will a hen "mother" her brood?

[gimmie birdies]

sweet.

 

[Playford Flats Farm]

My ameraucana/Orpington mix is still mothering her babies who are now about four months old. I also just had a black sex link abandon and try to kill all of her babies when they were three weeks old. It really depends on the hen and the breed.

 

[gimmie birdies]

That is scary, I had not had that happen except that hen that didn't want to raise a duck.

 

[Rubysword]

Quick, off topic question: What color eggs does your orpington/ameraucana mix lay, @Playford Flats Farm?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

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... attentive... to them....

In my opinion the time of year that the brood hatched has a bearing on the amount of time that a hen devotes to her chicks.

 

[Playford Flats Farm]

Quick, off topic question: What color eggs does your orpington/ameraucana mix lay, @Playford Flats Farm?

She lays cream/very light brown coloured eggs

 

[chickmom3941]

We gave Bertha, our broody Australorp, four chicks to raise last summer, and she mothered them till somewhere around 12-14 weeks old. To this day (chicks are 17 weeks old), she still hangs around with them instead of the other biddies that she was raised with! One of her babies, Little Wing (a silver laced wyandotte pullet) is a huge mama's girl, and follows Bertha all the time, eats with her, sleeps with her, even occasionally tries to get underneath her. For the most part, Bertha still puts up with it, though I've seen her peck Little Wing a few times when she gets too demanding. It's so funny to watch, because Little Wing is almost as big as mama now, but still acts like a baby.

 

[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.

 

[Redhead Rae]

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.

Great, now I have to get a couple bantam hens so I can have them hatch out huge Delawares and Dark Cornish.

 

[pamonarch]

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

awwwwwwwwwwww....such a good mama! i want to try this come spring..our neighbor has a rooster, so maybe he will visit my girls in spring..