Removing Momma Hen

[llauryan]

So I have 6 week old chicks that hatched in an incubator and a Hen adopted. We ended up getting 6 more chicks same age and momma hen only accepted two so we brooded them inside. The inside chicks are getting too big for my brooder and I was wondering can I separate the hen and add her back to my large coop. I have a smaller outside coop for a nursery. So I would be putting the inside 4 with our outside 10. Is that ok or is it wrong to separate?

 

[DobieLover]

Your hen and her 8 chicks should have been with the flock all along. What is your coop/run setup like? Can you post pictures? Has the flock been able to see mom and her chicks while she was raising them? Is she even still caring for them at this age?
Do you have a way to section off part of the coop to put the 4 indoor pullets in for about a week so the flock can acclimate to them and they to the flock? Then you can just open up 2 small doors so only the pullets can fit through. Which won't stop the broody raised ones from coming and going but it will at least give the littles a place to escape to until they can find a way to roost with the main flock at night.

 

[llauryan]

Can’t at the moment. They free range together with supervision in the evening at night. I have hens that get locked up in baby coop at night and some that get locked with my rooster in the larger coop. Yes she is still caring for them. Which is why I asked the question, she attacks the 4 chicks that she didn’t raise. I can make a set up in the larger coop for the pullets it’s big enough. But I can most definitely not put that broody hen and chicks in with them or she will kill them. She already almost has.

 

[gemmat820]

If she's still caring for the hens I would not force a separation. I would go with the other option of putting them in a separate temporary enclosure but close enough by that the other chickens can get to their scent over time. Then once she lets the chicks she has go, combine the younger girls.

 

[llauryan]

If she's still caring for the hens I would not force a separation. I would go with the other option of putting them in a separate temporary enclosure but close enough by that the other chickens can get to their scent over time. Then once she lets the chicks she has go, combine the younger girls.

She’s still caring for them big she’s such a good momma to them. I know she sees the other 4 pulleys as a threat so she has tried to kill them. No one in the flock is allowed to look her babies way! I will put the pullets in a small enclosure in the big coop. Thank you!