What's the longest time your broody has raised chicks?

[arrowti]

My broody hen is still protecting, herding and laying on/with her 9 week old chicks, despite the fact that they're fully feathered and probably capable of taking care of themselves at this point. The cockerels are almost as big as she is!

So it had me wondering - what's the longest one of your broody's has stayed with their chicks? When do yours typically 'stop' mothering their chicks?

 

[sylviethecochin]

Sylvie went for sixteen weeks this last winter--she hatched them in the very late fall, and they were still hanging around with her next spring. Usually, she goes broody every seven weeks, so she raises them for about six weeks.

There's not really a "typical" length of mothering time. I would say that my hens average seven or eight weeks. I've had one hen go for only four weeks, and others go for as long as twelve, Sylvie's brood being the exceptional variable.

 

[andreanar]

I have a little bantam buff cochin who hatched some eggs, her first time being a mama. The "babies" are 13 weeks old and she is still mothering them a bit. They are bigger than her, but she sometimes still lays on top of them. There are 3, 1 is a cockerel. I do notice they are becoming their own little flock. A flock within a flock haha

 

[microchick]

I have a BBR bantam hen who is into raising her brood of 5 chicks going on 10 weeks. She still sleeps with them, watches over them, protects them and attacks any bird that gets too close to them.Funny in that they are as big almost as she is.