Mama hen has ditched her chicks at 4 weeks

[2overeasy]

I just went back and read Ridgerunner's post more thoroughly. Basically, I've found all of that to be true. The hens took care of integration and I have a feeder hidden in the woods where they stay. I've also had to add additional roosting poles in the house to accommodate everyone (9-11 week old hatchery chicks, 4-9 week old BO's chicks, 4-3 week old EE chicks). All Things Chicken here at my house - makes me tired just thinking about it!

 

[Dun an Oir Hens]

Our broody sisters adopted 2 chicks each. We took the chicks home from my kids annual hatching project at school. One sister became more like an aunt than a mom but she did let them sleep with her at night while the other sister did the majority of care during the day - it was fascinating to watch. Now both sisters go to sleep on the roost and one chick flies up there and sleeps under her mom - the other 3 chicks sleep on the floor - for the first night or two they chirped for mom - it was pitiful but the moms didn't give in and come down. They still take care of them during the day for food and water but they let them range further away for longer times now.

 

[2overeasy]

You know, quite a few human parents could take a lesson from hens! When it's time to let 'em go, let 'em go. They will figure life out on their own. Tough love! Although we don't want our human "chicks" carried off my a hawk or eaten by a cat, metaphorically speaking it's just another lesson in life in survival.

 

[NHchicks]

Wow, I had no idea so many mother hens cut ties at 4 weeks. I thought the standard was pretty much 6 weeks. I thought maybe there was something wrong with my mama hen.

She not only ditched them, she pecked them away, so they're on their own. They free range all day, and at night they've been sleeping in the "nursery" - a dog crate all wire meshed over next to the coop. It will be interesting tonight, I'm thinking the mama hen will go back to sleeping in the "big" chicken coop, and I wonder what the babies will do - will they try to follow the mother into the big coop too, or be content to stay in the nursery by themselves?

Yes, it's hot here in NH, it's in the 80s and 90s this week, so at least I don't have to worry about the chicks getting cold.

One thing that really bugs me about having a broody hen hatch eggs is that the chicks don't get used to getting handled by people, the broody won't let us near. So now that there's no mother, I would pick these chicks up and take care of them, but they run like crazy and are hard to catch, if at all possible. So I'll just follow them around and make sure they have enough food/water, and see where they end up sleeping.

The mother hen looks COMPLETELY relieved - she's wandering everywhere, eating everything, I can only imagine how glad she is to get her life back.

She probably has a secret Countdown Calendar to Ditch Day somewhere. Ha.

I've got another mama hen whose chicks are about 2 weeks old. She doesn't like the other hen's chicks, so she's probably the biggest threat.

This has been a hard spring. I had to treat for mites, my rooster and a loved hen died, I had 2 hens go broody with no rooster so I had to buy eggs and manufacture that for them, they hatched within 2 weeks of each other, a fox has discovered our place here so the dog and I are hypervigilant right now, and now I have to watch out for orphaned chicks... Tiring.

 

[AlbionWood]

We've let three broodies raise chicks this spring - all first-timers - and all three quite parenting at 3 to 4 weeks. It does seem tough on the little ones, but eventually they do learn to cope. We keep the chicks penned in a run inside the chicken yard, separated from the main flock until they are pretty much feathered out, then raise the sides of the run just enough to let the little ones out so they can start getting integrated. It's hard on them because everybody pecks them - we keep hearing their little shrieks - but they deal with it and learn their way in the world... there are a couple of bold ones that I suspect are keeping score and waiting for payback time!

We have to keep the broodies penned separately to keep the other hens from laying eggs in their nests. I think next year we will open things up when the chicks hatch, and see how that goes. We have a large yard so there is room to hide. I do need to build another roosting shed so the new ones have a place to go.

 

[SarahDier]

I am glad to see mine isn't the only one ditching her babies. My little bantam girl has been fostering 9 chicks for almost 4 weeks. Today she decided she was done. She has been attacking each of them even when they weren't doing anything, to the point that they are all now afraid of her. It was sad to watch. She is in the main coop tonight with the rest of the flock and the babies are still in the nursery here in the house. Hopefully they sleep well and don't cry all night.

 

[nuthatched]

I am glad to see mine isn't the only one ditching her babies. My little bantam girl has been fostering 9 chicks for almost 4 weeks. Today she decided she was done. She has been attacking each of them even when they weren't doing anything, to the point that they are all now afraid of her. It was sad to watch. She is in the main coop tonight with the rest of the flock and the babies are still in the nursery here in the house. Hopefully they sleep well and don't cry all night.

She's weaning them, it's normal.