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Actually, that does not make her a bad mother - it is how a vast (not all, but a high number) of broody hens "wean" their chicks. Even when the chick is older, once mom has had "enough" - she will peck at the chick - and it seems meaner too, the peck - to let that chick know, it is now on its own. Which is why more than one chick is best, they have each other to hang with and are not so lonely.
I have had a broody mother her "chicks" until they were almost a full year old. Mother and "daughters" would lay eggs together, and at night the daughters would cuddle under her. Yet she kicked her actual egg son out of the group when he was around 10 weeks old.
This clutch she kicked her girls out of the group and mothered the cockerel longer
But I have a broody who starts laying when her chicks are two weeks old and she leaves them within a few days. She is not mean to them - she leaves the area where they are and picks a new place to hang out
So then I become mom - thankfully this time of year, they just need to be brought in at night - no additional heat or anything.
Actually, that does not make her a bad mother - it is how a vast (not all, but a high number) of broody hens "wean" their chicks. Even when the chick is older, once mom has had "enough" - she will peck at the chick - and it seems meaner too, the peck - to let that chick know, it is now on its own. Which is why more than one chick is best, they have each other to hang with and are not so lonely.
I have had a broody mother her "chicks" until they were almost a full year old. Mother and "daughters" would lay eggs together, and at night the daughters would cuddle under her. Yet she kicked her actual egg son out of the group when he was around 10 weeks old.
But I have a broody who starts laying when her chicks are two weeks old and she leaves them within a few days. She is not mean to them - she leaves the area where they are and picks a new place to hang out
