Letting Momma Hen raise the babies??

[chick0dee]

Hi All ~

I have a flock of two roosters and 4 hens. They have all been together since they hatched. All have the same Momma and Daddy. I am thinking about letting one of my hens lay on about 4 or 6 eggs. My question is....will I be able to leave all of the other hens and roosters in the coop and run?? Or will I have to remove the roosters before the chicks hatch?? I know "in the old days" we never interferred. This is a tight group, I figured the chicks would automatically be accepted. Am I right?

Comments, thoughs, suggestions......

Oh and I live in SW florida, and the days have been very warm..

 

[wvtim]

Do you have a hen that showing signs of being broody?

 

[The Breaker]

I would say yes the hen should guard them fiercely but that is if the hen even goes broody some hens never go broody what breed are they

 

[silkie4]

If you have a broody hen I would say to move her into her own area with the eggs. Our hens tend to fight over who gets to sit on the eggs or they will be sitting on 3 then a few days later there are more eggs! We separated ours and the chick hatched mid January. We just last week integrated the momma and chick back in with everyone else in the coop. Momma does protect the chick from the other hens but if the roo's want to chase the chick the momma just stands back and watches. I assume if the roo's were to try to hurt the chick the momma would get involved but I believe she is letting the roo show the chick who is boss!

 

[chick0dee]

Good morning ~

wvtim, I don't think I have a broody hen. If that is one that just sits in the nest box and will not get out, then no. I see Silkie4 commented that the hens may fight over who lays on the eggs. I guess I assumed that the more dominate hen would just take the roll.

To answer chickenboy13, they are all a cochin/amerucana mix. GREAT layers with beautiful large blue-green eggs!!

Thanks for the help