My hen has chicks and is laying!

[abbeycreamcat]

Update on these little guys, after my last post I thought the mother hen must have stopped laying as there were 2 days with no egg, then I found just a few remains of shell, so it seems that they were breaking and eating them. My concern was that the chicks would develop a taste for them so next morning I let mother hen out - she had laid already laid - and she didn't even give them a so much as a goodbye glance as she left, despite them screaming the place down. I have brought them in to the house in a cat crate for the last 2 nights, I have not used a lamp and have just covered the crate, I have also given them a few hours each day on the grass in a small pen and they are doing fine so far.

 

[Carin]

If I were you I would just let them carry on and go out with their mother. They will follow her even if she do not care that much. I had the same story and the lone chick just went along with the flock and the one roo sort of adopted the little one and even let the chick cuddle half under him at night. The chick was about 3 weeks old when mama hen abandon her. I think they start to lay earlier when there is very few chicks as the previous time the same hen hatched 8 chicks. Then she was a very good mother and didn't start laying again for about 8 or 9 weeks

 

[abbeycreamcat]

Hi Carin, thanks for your reply

Unfortunately their survival rate would be very diminished if I let them with the rest of the flock, I don't have a problem with natural predators, but they are only very small bantam chicks and I think several of my cats would quite probably consider them fair game without a mummy to drive them away. The flock wanders freely around the farm where there are many hazards for such little chicks, and I also have a 6 month old Dobermann puppy who would find those cute little bundles of fluff so much fun to 'play' with if they came through the fence into the house yard.

 

[abbeycreamcat]

My 2 little chicks are doing ok without their mother, I have been putting them on the grass in a small pen during the day and bringing them in at night as it is late spring here, so the days are nice but the nights can get a bit chilly. They are 5 1/2 weeks old