- May 20, 2014
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My 7-month-old hen Sweetie hatched twelve chicks 3 weeks ago, and was a wonderful mother...until a couple of days ago. Now she leaves them to go graze for most of the day and doesn't care where they are or if they are cheeping loudly for her. Last night she decided to sleep on the roost and leave them in the cold, until I put her in their little enclosure and closed her in so they had her for the night. This morning she tried to leave them but I put her back in their enclosure for feeding time and she chirped angrily the whole time...I finally let her out because I was afraid she might hurt them. Should I just consider her a lost cause and take over their raising myself? This is my first experience with a hen raising her own chicks and so far it feels like an episode of "Teen Mom," complete with me telling her "You had your fun, Sweetie. Now you need to take responsibility for these chicks, because I am NOT raising more babies!" Oh, also, she laid an egg the other day...is that another indicator that she's done with raising them?
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