Taking Chicks from the Hen

[joneus]

I'm letting my broody hatch some chicks for a friend. What is the most humane way to take the chicks from her? I'll have them for about 10days before they'll be picked up and taken to VT. Should I take them & raise them in a brooder from day 1? Or should I let her at least have *some* of the fun of raising her babies while she can still have them?

What sort of behavior should I expect from her after I take the chicks? Will she spend a lot of time looking for them? Or will she get over it fairly quickly once they're gone. I feel really awful about doing this to her.

 

[sumi]

One of my hens lost her chicks to a predator attack in January. She was devastated. She spent days walking around, looking for them and "crying". It was so sad to see!
Leave your hen some chicks of her own, please.

 

[joneus]

One of my hens lost her chicks to a predator attack in January. She was devastated. She spent days walking around, looking for them and "crying". It was so sad to see!
Leave your hen some chicks of her own, please.

That was my first thought when I was making arrangements for them to be picked up. I want to keep 2 just to let her raise them and then give them "back" when she's over being a mom.

 

[Eggcessive]

You could do a couple of different things. First you could put some new eggs (dated) under her now, take the new chicks out when they are hatched and put them in a brooder. She probably will continue sitting until the second group of eggs hatch. Or you could just take the chicks away when you need to--she will look for them a day or so, but then will give up and go on with her life. I recently took a couple of d'uccles away from a hen, and she had been co-parenting with another broody and her chicks. After she looked for the removed chicks, she then just started helping to look after the other hen's chicks.

 

[Eggcessive]

It is very impressive to watch a broody raise her chicks for 4-5 weeks. Those chicks are much more independent and fit into the group much better than those raised in a brooder without a mother.

 

[mstricer]

You could just leave her with one and she will be happy. It is your choose. With one you get to watch and she is happy and only has to watch over one.

 

[1muttsfan]

You could do a couple of different things. First you could put some new eggs (dated) under her now, take the new chicks out when they are hatched and put them in a brooder. She probably will continue sitting until the second group of eggs hatch. Or you could just take the chicks away when you need to--she will look for them a day or so, but then will give up and go on with her life. I recently took a couple of d'uccles away from a hen, and she had been co-parenting with another broody and her chicks. After she looked for the removed chicks, she then just started helping to look after the other hen's chicks.

I would not reccomend putting new eggs under a hen after brooding for 3 weeks. Hens don't eat much while brooding and tend to loose weight. 6 weeks of consecutive brooding is very hard on hens. If you can't let her raise a few for herself, then take them away at hatch and remove her from the nest and break her.

 

[jak2002003]

If it was me I would just leave her 2 to raise.

 

[Paulajon]

I have an EE that has been broody since April, she hatched 4 chicks, the first one hatched died think it was to cold so as soon as the others hatched I brought them in, she is still sitting and I am letting her do her own thing for now she is seperated from the of the chickens, I keep food and water with her, she leaves the nest everyday, other hens sneak in and lay eggs in her nest so for now just letting her do her thing, any new chicks that hatch now I will leave with her as it is warmer and I am now keeping the free rangers from getting in with her. she was fine with me taking the chicks as she has other eggs to tend to.

 

[joneus]

Hmm... I guess I need to be better about cleaning out my in-box.

Thanks for your replies! I've been going back & forth on what to do. So far, it looks like 3 (out of 8) have hatched. I'm going to give her a couple more days of sitting on the nest and once it gets nice out again, I'll let them "free range" in the run while everyone else is in the yard so I can get an idea of how many I'm dealing with. If its just the 3, I'll talk to my friend about her taking my hen until she gets bored with being a mom (and then I'll go pick her up & bring her home), but if its more than that I'll take all but 1 or 2 (will a single chick be okay in this instance?) and let her raise them until she gets bored with them.

Maybe its because I'm a mom, but I cant stomach the thought of taking her babies away from her.