In the wild, when a hen goes broody and raises her chicks ...

[Mum]

... would she naturally seperate herself from the rest of the flock, or, still remain within the flock?

The reason I ask is because I was under the impression that we (humans) remove/isolate a broody and subsequent chicks on the basis the chicks may get attacked/eaten by the adult members of the flock. So, the question begs to be asked: how do they cope in the wild?

Is seperation absolutely necessary, or merely desirable?

TIA

 

[FireTigeris]

Well I've never separated mine and the only time I lost a strong chick was when that snake got in.

I -do- mark the eggs and have a back up incubator- I mark the eggs to remove the extra eggs laid by lazy hens, and if my moving her one a day breaks her of broodyness (only happened once) I incubate the rest of the time.

 

[Mum]

Thank you for sharing your experience, FireTigeris.