Will mama hen protect her chicks?

[kara_leigh]

I have a broody hen that is sitting on eggs that are set to hatch this weekend. If I leave her with the chicks in the coop, will she protect the chicks from the rest of the chickens? I don't anticipate any problems (but who knows) b/c they are all really accepting of new birds, and I have easily and successfully integrated new birds into my flock.

She has already proven that she has no problem kicking butt. The other day I gave them all a treat of fresh baked bread pudding, so I got her out of the coop to make sure she got some. The ducks can be pretty rough and are quite the bullies, and they were trying to keep her from eating any of it so she went all kung fu on the ducks and chased them away from the pudding.

I really don't want to isolate mama with her babies from the rest of her flock, as I'm afraid she will get really lonely and depressed. She is attached at the hip to a couple of the other chickens. If I absolutely HAVE to, I will, though.

If I do have to isolate them, at what age (babies age) can I let them free range together again?

 

[JulieNKC]

My broodies raise their chicks with the rest of the flock. My littlest tiny bantam hen is raising a group of EE chicks right now, and has been doing wonderful. My rooster is also very protective of the chicks, and will defend them, call them to food, etc.
I prefer to keep them with the flock because if you separate them you just have to try to introduce them in the flock later, this way they are already accepted in the flock once mommas done.

 

[MamaRoo]

The other chickens give mamma silkie and her brood a LOT of space. When they're locked in the pen, she and the kids have half, and the other chickens cram themselves into one corner of the other half.

 

[Myron60]

My New Hampshire Red hatched 4 chicks and would run off all the other chickens, including my Orpington rooster, now about 4 weeks later she pecks at her babies and runs off with the other chickens. I have a group of 8 chicks that are around 10 weeks that my wife and son bought, that are not excepted by the flock. I am trying to introduce the babies with them since mom has turned mean to them.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

It sounds like she is aggressive enough to protect her chicks,but who is going to protect the rest of the flock...the first thing mine does when taking her chicks out is clear the way, chasing everybody away..if the rest of the flock doesn't have anywhere to go they could get injured. I'd keep them separate for a few weeks unless there is plenty of room for all.
The other thing chicks can get confused easily separated from the hen and easy for another to kill, so until they are older they stay separate..they won't be hanging with the rest of the flock anyway, but stay off on their own

 

[pertybirdy]

I have a broody hen (I hope! only day 2!) I have been wondering the same thing! I have a large dog house with a homemade wire door that I am going to move her to (and leave in the coop) if she keeps it up, I wonder if that will be enough seperation for her once the chicks hatch.. guess I will just wait and see. MIne get a lot of free range time so I hope that will give them enough distance without having to actually put them on my patio which is very isolated from the coop.

 

[Super Spy]

We have a hen named star who is a little black banty cochin. She is the only one of our 8 girls that has ever gone broody, and she is an awesome mom. We have a smaller room attached to our main room that she will brood in and everybody leaves her alone. When the chicks hatch she will wait a couple days and then get them up to start walking around the coop. The other girls will only make the mistake of getting to close once or twice before they get the idea they are not supposed to touch, and then they leave them alone. Right now the 7 babies are only a couple months and they are fully integrated into the flock, mama has completely cut them off. Letting a mama raise them is definitely easier than trying to raise them yourselves (which we are doing with a couple chicks that she didn't accept when we bought them

) But yea, all of our chicks are completely integrated(even the ones we are raising), the mama should be able to keep the other hens at bay. It all depends on what kind of mama you have and how the other girls react to the chicks though. Like our hens curiosity is destroyed when they get yelled at by mama, and then everything is fine.

 

[MamaMarcy]

I just wanna come over for some bread pudding

I have 2 muscovy ducks co-sitting a clutch of duck & chicken eggs. I was wondering the same thing. And what to do when the chickens hatch before the ducks...

 

[kara_leigh]

Well, one of the chicks hatched late last night or early this morning. It was pipping yesterday, but wasn't out yet by the time we went to bed last night, but was out and dry when we woke up.

So far, none of the other chickens are bothering them.

Mama is still sitting on the other 4 eggs. If they don't hatch, how long should I wait before removing them? Today is day 21 since I put them under her.

Here is baby #1


It is half Ameraucana, half Production Red, you can see its puffy cheeks.

 

[kara_leigh]

It sounds like she is aggressive enough to protect her chicks,but who is going to protect the rest of the flock...the first thing mine does when taking her chicks out is clear the way, chasing everybody away..if the rest of the flock doesn't have anywhere to go they could get injured. I'd keep them separate for a few weeks unless there is plenty of room for all. The other thing chicks can get confused easily separated from the hen and easy for another to kill, so until they are older they stay separate..they won't be hanging with the rest of the flock anyway, but stay off on their own

Mine have 5+ acres that they free range on, so the rest of the flock always has somewhere to go. I don't think one little hen is going to hog 5 acres. They will be fine.