Mama hen weaning? Aggressive toward chicks

[Ladygrey17]

Hello,
My husband and I are new to raising chicks. We ended up with one chicken by accident about 3 years ago. He thinks she was about 3 when we got her. She rode over on a hay truck and stayed with us since.
She is a Catalana (I think) hen. Game hen. New to that terminology too. I will include pictures.
We knew we wanted to get some friends, make a little flock, but were quite sure where to get started.
We had only seen her interact with one other chicken before and they were placed in a confined area unfortunately, temporarily, and our hen almost killed the other hen. The other hen rode over on the hay truck another time and she was from the same flock prior but hay man took that one back with him.
So last spring we talked about getting chicks or something... not sure what to do.
This spring rolled around and at the end of March I started to research best way to go about this. I looked up hatching eggs near me. I found Blue House Farm in Fletcher, NC. (Great choice but this post is about something different so I will try to stick to the topic at hand) They offered shipped eggs and we thought we would try it.
Not knowing enough about hens and broodiness, we did get some fake wood eggs and I tried to get her a “clutch” so she would be ready. She wasn’t ready when we got the eggs and hindsight is 20/20. Unfortunately out of our 5eggs, only one hatched. We only ordered 3 but they kindly sent us two extra just in case shipping mishap.
The one that hatched is of course... a rooster lol. But we knew that was a chance. Since he’s our only one, we want to keep him. He is a Swedish Flower so at least he should be a good breed for non aggression. So he hatches, a week goes by and none of the others do. (That’s another story too) We knew at the end of the week we would want to go to Tractor supply and see if we could buy 3 chicks. They ended up telling us by law we had to buy minimum 4. We got 2 Golden Comets and 2 Cinnamon Queens. All hens since sex-linked.
We do a quick swaparoo once we got home and it worked out perfectly.
I was worried she would be aggressive to them. But I’m thankful that the swap really couldn’t have gone any better.
Next morning everyone is fine and everything has been okay since then. We don’t have the best run/coop but we are working towards a bigger run. I want to eventually have some grass available, some good soil, and a little chicken garden for them near or in the run. But right now not ideal. But we have added on to the coop. A separate apartment if you will but we have not separated them at night. They all go into the main one which is getting kind of crowded now with how quick they are growing.
Now roughly 7-8weeks later... our mama hen is turning on the chicks. We are assuming it is possibly weaning process? So yesterday was the start and she would chase them off. They all ended up perched on the house (working on getting an actual perch up higher soon). If they flew down, she’d chase them to where they would just fly up on the house.
Today... Still trying to scare them and chase them off. Everything will be fine and then she will move over to their space and run at them. She has now started to try and jump on them. The chicks are pretty scared of her which is hard to watch.
Can anyone give me some insight into what is happening and what we might need to do? We are having to separate them, put hen in house for a few and let the chicks out and then vice versa. It is definitely not ideal. We are thinking of putting mama hen in a dog crate in the run that is wire so she could see through and still be around chicks. Just feed her separately... not sure what to do...
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you. We are new to this whole process so let me know if you need some more info to better understand the situation.

I just realized the most recent pics are on husbands phone. I will add pictures later tonight! Of run/coop, chicks, and hen.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have had a hen wean at 2 weeks wanting to get back to sitting. (Other hens took over the sitting on the 2 week old chicks surprisingly. I also had a hen sit on baby ducks then 2 weeks later decide she didn't want to. Below is a chick that I got 10 weeks old or so. The hen had a hurt wing, and was depressed. She slept on the floor of the coop, so I gave her a lonely chick and they bonded.

 

[Ladygrey17]

I’m sorry for such a long post. I didn’t realize but I ended up writing a book. Just concerned. It also does seem since our hen has been a good mama thus far, she gave them majority of food. And now she’s really taking the time to eat for herself. Pics soon.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Welcome to BYC, where you are now a member of the wonderful community here. Yes, at 7-8 weeks old the chicks are fully feathered, and their mom is telling them she's done mothering them.

Since mom's aggressive "weaning" only started yesterday, i wouldn't be too concerned yet that she will physically hurt them. It usually takes 3-4 days or so before chicks (and mammal species too) get the message that they are on their own. But since she has a known history of being aggressive to another adult hen to the point of nearly killing her, it is Possible she may become too aggressive to her chicks too. (I think not likely, but possible.)

Giving the chicks some places where they can run and hide that are too small for former mom to follow can be helpful, as can giving more than one station of feed and water so former mom cannot prevent the chicks from eating/drinking. Also offer another perch where the chicks can roost separately. Confining former mom in a cage/crate for a few days where she can live near but not harass the chicks would be a good route too. Not only can former mom not harrass the chicks, but the separate cage/crate will reinforce to the chicks that their former mom is no longer a safe harbor, nor a warm cozy place to sleep under at night.

I think your broody's aggression toward the chicks will subside in a few days, once the chicks get the message they are on their own. If not, report back here for further advice. I'm glad she adopted feedstore chicks so easily; some broodies will not. Hopefully after a few days, you will know in hindsight the separation process went well too.

 

[Ladygrey17]

Just found an egg in the second house! So that kind of solidifies things. I just hate seeing her chase them. The rooster is starting to call hens for food. Haven’t had a chance to read posts yet, will soon!

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I’m sorry for such a long post. I didn’t realize but I ended up writing a book. Just concerned. It also does seem since our hen has been a good mama thus far, she gave them majority of food. And now she’s really taking the time to eat for herself. Pics soon.

I can be bad about writing "books" too. One thing I've hoped/assumed when I read longer posts of others, is that they won't mind reading my longer replies too. If your post had been short, I would have tried to keep my reply shorter too. Or simply waited for someone to answer your questions who is more talented at short and sweet replies than am I.

 

[Ladygrey17]

We have separated chicks from mama hen in sep houses tonight. Can we keep the rooster with hens? How does that work?

 

[Ladygrey17]

We have separated chicks from mama hen in sep houses tonight. Can we keep the rooster with hens? How does that work?
Pics of them as chicks and them now. We have mama hen in side condo tonight since that is where is laid her new egg. We have already collected.
See chicks on top of condo because scared of mama lol I don’t blame them. She’s pretty intimidating when she comes at them.
And if these were dogs, cats, or horses, I’d understand the social interaction a little better and establishing pecking order but hard to watch with the chicks!
Thank you for your replies! I’m reading ASap!

 

[Ladygrey17]

Welcome to BYC, where you are now a member of the wonderful community here. Yes, at 7-8 weeks old the chicks are fully feathered, and their mom is telling them she's done mothering them.

Since mom's aggressive "weaning" only started yesterday, i wouldn't be too concerned yet that she will physically hurt them. It usually takes 3-4 days or so before chicks (and mammal species too) get the message that they are on their own. But since she has a known history of being aggressive to another adult hen to the point of nearly killing her, it is Possible she may become too aggressive to her chicks too. (I think not likely, but possible.)

Giving the chicks some places where they can run and hide that are too small for former mom to follow can be helpful, as can giving more than one station of feed and water so former mom cannot prevent the chicks from eating/drinking. Also offer another perch where the chicks can roost separately. Confining former mom in a cage/crate for a few days where she can live near but not harass the chicks would be a good route too. Not only can former mom not harrass the chicks, but the separate cage/crate will reinforce to the chicks that their former mom is no longer a safe harbor, nor a warm cozy place to sleep under at night.

I think your broody's aggression toward the chicks will subside in a few days, once the chicks get the message they are on their own. If not, report back here for further advice. I'm glad she adopted feedstore chicks so easily; some broodies will not. Hopefully after a few days, you will know in hindsight the separation process went well too.

Thank you for your reply. It has assured us that we are trying to do the right thing. I will take your advice and just monitor but not worry too much about the process. We might try the cage thing if need be. I’m glad she did lay an egg because that helps identify what’s going on and she laid it in the other house. So that’s even better. She could stay in there at night and chicks in the bigger one until we figure out a better coop setup.
Thank you again. Yes having this forum during this whole process has helped when I’ve looked up something here and there. I look forward to our chicken journey here. A lot to learn!

How does it work when one of the chicks is a rooster? It seems he is starting to call the chicks over to food where he is like the mom used to. Will he become the “leader” in some sense now? I know we only have 5 hens and 1 young rooster so hoping it will be okay until we can expand our flock and housing. Can the rooster be put up at night with the hens?

 

[Ladygrey17]

I have had a hen wean at 2 weeks wanting to get back to sitting. (Other hens took over the sitting on the 2 week old chicks surprisingly. I also had a hen sit on baby ducks then 2 weeks later decide she didn't want to. Below is a chick that I got 10 weeks old or so. The hen had a hurt wing, and was depressed. She slept on the floor of the coop, so I gave her a lonely chick and they bonded.
View attachment 3123801

I’m new to the breeds. What breed is the hen and chick?
The hard part is finding advice for our specific situation since this is our only little flock. So it’s weird seeing the mom run them away lol. But hopefully they will understand soon.