Separate mom and babies? Or will she defend them? Ideas, please!

[arwmommy]

OK, so we are not there yet, but as soon as one of the pullets go broody, I am ordering babies. (We want them to be raised by her, not us for a ton of reasons). Some people say to separate the mom and the new chicks until they are basicly grown or the other hens will pick on the babies. Fair enough, however, I am thinking about farms with chickens, and I am SURE that farmers who always seem to have some babies hatching, don't sequester that mom and her babies--- they just go into the coop with the others and the mom defends them if the others start picking, right?


Obviously, in the wild (we will use ducks or other fowl here) they would be part of the flock, not on their own. It seems that this would help them integrate smoother, as well. I am all for separating them for the first few days, but feel that all in all, it might be more "natural" and certainly easier in the long run for them to be all together, and as spoiled as my babies are, it seems that sometimes we "over-engineer" things so they are perfect....... thoughts on this from you chicken experts out there???

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

Our mother hens will nest away from the flock, which is one reason why they are so prone to predators while setting.

Once hatched, the hen will still keep her chicks away from the rest of the flock as much as she can unless she has to take them into the flock to eat & drink.

If the hen is penned, we will move her to a safe location & if she is one of our free-rangers, she is left alone to tend to her brood.

Hope this helps


Jean

 

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

arwmommy wrote...OK, so we are not there yet, but as soon as one of the pullets go broody, I am ordering babies.

If you are planning on introducing baby chicks, not eggs to a broody pullet, there is no guarantee she will accept them as her own, especially, if she is already setting on her own eggs.​

 

[arwmommy]

I am aware of that, and will have a brooder as backup, but I am hoping if they are slipped under her at night, and are 2 days old, that she will assume they are hers. There are a lot of people here that have done that, and I hope it works for me, too!

Any other thoughts on the keeping the mom/babies with the flock (the other 2, in our case)? I will make her a nest box seperate from the others for a while, but they would be in a 4 x 8 run with a 4 x 4 hen house above (remember, they are bantams, so it isn't as small as it sounds!)

 

[arwmommy]

Just trying to give this a bump to see if I can get more responses!!

 

[silkiechicken]

I just leave the moms and the chicks together in the main run. My hatchling today is with mom and they are in a nest box in the main coop. Same thing last year and they were fine.

 

[zatsdeb]

I have had a few hatchings with my chickens and the hen will take care of the chicks as long as she can get to them. I had a chick go through the fence and one of my mean roosters killed it. He is no longer with us..
I usually keep them separate until they get bigger.