Mother Hen abusing her children

[raising2chicks]

So my black hen (i think shes a bantam) kept sitting on her eggs for a month, but they wouldn't hatch....so we got 4 eggs from a family friend and 2 of them hatched out rhode island reds. The mother has been taking care of them for about 2 months, but now shes doesn't hang out with them and when she sees them she yells and pecks them and even Kicks them!!! Also, she doesnt sleep with them anymore. Can anyone tell me why she's acting this way? Please and thank you.

 

[sourland]

She has decided that it is time for them to be on their own and is weaning them - natural behavior.

 

[raising2chicks]

She has decided that it is time for them to be on their own and is weaning them - natural behavior.

Can there also be another possibility such as mother hen realizing they're not her biological children so she's hating them?

 

[bobbi-j]

Can there also be another possibility such as mother hen realizing they're not her biological children so she's hating them?

Nope - Sourland is correct. Chickens don't care what they hatch out. People have been known to use a broody to hatch anything from chickens, to ducks to turkeys and have the hen raise them as best she can. I also have an 8-week or so old broody raised chick who's mama has decided it's time for him to be independent. Soon she'll start laying again if she hasn't already.

 

[sourland]

Can there also be another possibility such as mother hen realizing they're not her biological children so she's hating them?

Chickens are not governed by emotions - her hormones are telling her it is time to start preparing for the next clutch of eggs, and the kids have got to go. 'Hate' is pretty much limited to the human race.

 

[Vickie 51]

Can there also be another possibility such as mother hen realizing they're not her biological children so she's hating them?

She's just letting them know it's time to leave the nest. She "laid" them, hatched them, got them up and running and she's now done.