Mother hen and chicks

[Slopeve1]

Our brooding hen hatched six chicks last week, all doing very well. At what age can I introduce mother hen and chicks back to main flock?

 

[oesdog]

I think you should wait untill the chicks can hold their own with the big girls. I have a neighbor who just lets them all in together and hes lost loads of small chicks through being trampled and bullied and pecked at. When My bertha had hers I kept them seperated until the babies were about 14/15 weeks Bertha is back int he big pen too so she keeps a good eye on them. They are about 19 weeks now and she is still sitting on them at night!

It is funny but they are safe and that is the main thing.

All I can say is don;t rush it. Most chickens stop playing mummy around 6 -8 weeks so Bertha is unusual.

Oesdog - good luck

 

[Judy]

I don't even separate a broody and chicks, but not all flocks will accept new chicks. The chicks do have a place to escape to, but they don't do much of this that I've observed.

Here is a great article on adding chickens:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-adding-to-your-flock