Taking newly hatched chicks from the mother hen

[joebryant]

I have two broody hens setting (Is "setting" the correct term?) eggs. There's no way I want baby chicks, and I'm planning to give them away as soon as possible. Am I an ogre (yeah, yeah, I know) if I take all the chicks as soon as the person I've promised them to can come and take them? I don't want traumatized mother hens, but I also don't want to have to deal with any chicks right now. How soon will the mother hens recover.

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

It will certainly depend on the hen. Some of ours get over it within an hour, some within a day and we have had a few that have looked for their chicks for a few days. But most of them get over it pretty quickly especially if they cannot here them chirping.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Thanks, that makes me feel much better.

 

[Ridgerunner]

They will recover pretty fast. I'd suggest you wait until the hen brings them off the nest before you take them. That way, she should br finished with setting on the eggs and will break from being broody without you having to put her in a cage or whatever.

When I was growing up, we never had a "broody" hen. We had a "setting" hen. We would "set" marked eggs under her for her to hatch. She would "set" on them, not "sit". I believe the correct formal term is that a broody hen "broods" the eggs by sitting on them. I don't think I've been formal since the senior prom.