When will Mum lay eggs after hatching her babies...

[pookado]

Hi All

I was just wondering when(approx) a Mum hen will start to lay eggs again after hatching

beautiful babies. We believe the chicks are approx. 7-8 weeks old.

..

I put a hardboiled egg in the coop - and later discovered she had hidden it deep inside the hay... is this normal?

Cheers,
Melissa

 

[silky ma]

My silkie hens start to push their brood away between 6-8 weeks old. Within 1-2 weeks after that I start to get eggs.

 

[Matt A NC]

My girls have always started laying before they left the little ones. Normally when the chicks are 6-8 weeks old, but 'Big Sis' stayed with Stella till Stella was 13 weeks old. I think that was because Stella was her only and first chick.

That was always the warning sign that momma was getting ready to give them up. It was cute to see all those babies bouncing around the opening of a nest just waiting for momma to hurry up. They just didn't understand why momma wasn't walking them around the yard.

Matt
Morganton, NC

 

[bantymum]

I find that once the chicks can forage and feed themselves and are 6-8 weeks old ,the mum will start to lay again, perhaps she is going to go broody again quickly so remove the egg and wait till the rooster does his job or let her have a rest from chicks for a while.

 

[Pinenot]

Our chicks are almost 5 months old, mom is still trying to take care of them and she just started laying again.