mom loosing interest

[gwill23]

The mom of my 4 week old chicks is loosing interest. I have been letting them out to free range together for over a week now and they all seem to love it. I noticed yesterday that the mom was away from the kids most if not all day and didn't come back in until that night. This morning she came out when I opened the door and just went out with the other chickens leaving the babies to themselves.

Is this normal? The other mother who has 3wk old chicks doesn't let the 4wk ones stick around the others very often so they are on their own pretty much.

 

[pgpoultry]

Hi,
Yes, quite normal. Mom will now go back to egg laying and probably won't want anything else to do with her chicks.
you probably are going to have to look after the little ones a bit, though, as they are not really old enough to be completely autonomous,

sandie

 

[al6517]

It is normal as the mother is trying to wean the chicks to fend for themselfs and at 4 wks they should be just fine, she has already taught them to eat and drink and keep cool and warm and dry, that's all they need to learn and the mom just want's to get back into condition as brooding young ones is very taxing on their systems.

AL

 

[gwill23]

good to know. I noticed last night that she was a little grouchy with the kids. Pecking them and such. Not too hard but firm. When should I just put her back in the main coop?

 

[al6517]

Whenever you please................. just find a place for the chicks to hang out until their integration to the main flock.

AL