When do you let them venture outside?

[bawkbawkbawk]

My broody Mille Fleur d'Uccle has been mothering chicks now for a week and it is going so well! Here is an update on the happy little family:

http://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2014/07/19/meet-the-flockers/

They have the run of the coop and the attached pen now, but mama hen seems to want to take the little ones for a spin in the "big world". Should I let them explore (supervised, of course)? Will they stay with her?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Will they stay with her? Wow, what a question. How do you think motherhood works? Hens have been raising chicks for thousands of years from hatch until they are weaned. The chicks will stay with the hen.

I understand you don't have the experience so this is not that bad a question, but a broody hen takes care of her chicks. The only way they should get separated by much of any distance is if the chicks get stuck on the other side of a fence. Chickens do not have a great concept of gate, so if they get split when the hen goes thorough a gate it's possible they could get stuck on opposite sides of the fence, but they will want to get back together. They will desperately want to get back together. I've had a rooster leave his other duties to stay with the chicks and take care of them until the hen figures out where the gate is when this happens.

The chicks will scatter a bit looking for food but they will not go very far.

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Will they stay with her? Wow, what a question. How do you think motherhood works? Hens have been raising chicks for thousands of years from hatch until they are weaned. The chicks will stay with the hen.

I understand you don't have the experience so this is not that bad a question, but a broody hen takes care of her chicks. The only way they should get separated by much of any distance is if the chicks get stuck on the other side of a fence. Chickens do not have a great concept of gate, so if they get split when the hen goes thorough a gate it's possible they could get stuck on opposite sides of the fence, but they will want to get back together. They will desperately want to get back together. I've had a rooster leave his other duties to stay with the chicks and take care of them until the hen figures out where the gate is when this happens.

The chicks will scatter a bit looking for food but they will not go very far.

x2

 

[gander007]

I have chicks who went out with Mom-ma at two weeks but normally at 6 weeks ....

 

[mautri]

I have 4 month old chicks, I also have 3 year old chickens. I can't remember when I let them out to free range? I think when I did I coaxed them back to the pen in the evening with mealy worms. Has anyone else had experience with whether the chicks will automaticly stay in the fenced yard and go back to the pen? These young girls seem flighty with a lot of energy.