Happy Chick Home
Chirping
How long after hatching eggs do momma hens start laying eggs again?
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
They are all different.Two days later I witnessed her in the nest and she indeed laid an egg. Another egg the next day.
Hormones can't decide what to do I guess. Her broody sister raised my 10 purchased week old orphans last summer. Never laid an egg for 3 months while she was with the chicks.
I've had two different broody hens wean their chicks at 3 weeks. They left the chicks to make their own way with the flock and the chicks did. One of those hens, my only green egg layer at the time, started laying again at 2-1/2 weeks. I walked down there and saw the chicks wondering around peeping and totally confused. I thought some predator had gotten the hen but nope, she was sitting on a nest.At 4 weeks old and quite immature, not fully feathered, the hen was abandoning them.
Ain't that the truth.They are all different.
Why? It is part of nature. The broody hen's job is to raise the chicks until they can take care of themselves. Your hen has done that. A lot of broody hens wean their chicks at 4 weeks.It is heartbreaking to watch.
Yeah, it's hard to see but just let them figure it out.Thank you. It is heartbreaking to watch. I'm considering giving them a bit more tlc to make sure they get enough to eat. Trick is catching them. I guess I need a fishing net.
All true...but....regardless of all the work and stress broodies supposedly save us, there are downsides. Weaning can be a hard time to observe.Why? It is part of nature. The broody hen's job is to raise the chicks until they can take care of themselves. Your hen has done that. A lot of broody hens wean their chicks at 4 weeks.
If you let her raise them with the other flock members she has spent 4 weeks teaching the other hens to leave her babies alone. Her chicks have learned how to behave in the flock environment. If you have minimal space in the coop and the run it makes this harder, but with multiple feed and water stations those chicks should be able to take care of themselves. If you kept the hen and the chicks isolated from the flock it is now your job to integrate them since you did not let the broody hen do it for you.
Not really just nature. People domesticated chickens a very long time ago and have been interfering ever since. Without selecting for good mommas the result will be all sorts of parents.Why? It is part of nature. The broody hen's job is to raise the chicks until they can take care of themselves. Your hen has done that. A lot of broody hens wean their chicks at 4 weeks.
If you let her raise them with the other flock members she has spent 4 weeks teaching the other hens to leave her babies alone. Her chicks have learned how to behave in the flock environment. If you have minimal space in the coop and the run it makes this harder, but with multiple feed and water stations those chicks should be able to take care of themselves. If you kept the hen and the chicks isolated from the flock it is now your job to integrate them since you did not let the broody hen do it for you.