Silkie mom attacking her chicks

[Cribbs74]

Hello all,

New to the forum! Not new to keeping chickens, but I have never had a hen raise her own chicks. We have a Silkie that has 4 chicks that are almost 6 weeks old. Silkie was a great mom up until a few days ago. She has started to peck and chase off her chicks whenever they come close. I have mom and the chicks housed in a coop with a run to keep them seperate from our free range birds. I was wondering of this is normal? I have let mom out during the day to spend time with adult birds, not sure if she is just feeling cooped up and wanting to get out. When I put her back with the babies she starts attacking them again. Nothing too aggressive just more of a get away from me type aggression (Silkies are not very aggresive anyway)

Another new development is she has started to lay again.

Thanks for any help.

Ron

 

[Veer67]

Your Silkie might be abandoning her chicks because she's out of her mother hen phase ( because she has started laying eggs).

 

[Veer67]

These pages from BYC might help you: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/214012/when-do-chicks-leave-mother-hen and https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/573761/do-mothering-hens-with-chicks-still-lay-eggs

 

[Cribbs74]

Thanks Veer,

It appears that this is normal behavior. I guess I will let her out during the day. I har her out th whole day today and she would stop by the run and check out the chicks for a few minutes then graze for a while. She went back in this evening and was fine with the chicks being around. I appreciate the info.