When does mummy hen abandon her chicks?

[frias]

Last week I put Spotty and her 8 week old chicks in with the other hens. For 4 nights Spotty continued to sleep with her babies in the broody coop then she started to lay again and returned to the big coop with her friends. A week later she doesn't want to know the chicks and they now sleep alone. Is this normal?

[di]

I think our first lot were only five or six weeks....but my memeory struggles to go back that far!It was afterall as far back as Spring/early summer!
I would certainly say that by eight weeks your chicks(or rather hers!)will have feathered up adequately enough to not need the warmth from mummy hen.
It really saddened me when Dandelion & Marigold lost interest in their babies,they were such perfect mummies...not only did they lose interest in being mum but actually got really spiteful with them...reducing their babies to quivering wrecks hiding in a corner too scared to eat!...needless to say we took that as our cue to seperate them.

[RichmondHens]

Yes - in fact most of my broodies "abandon" their babies earlier, at 5 - 6 weeks. Once the chicks are fully feathered (which they will be by 6 weeks) they do not need the hen anyway. The hen will return to lay, as you have found out, and loses interest pretty quickly in the babies. After a while she won't recognise them as "hers", just as familiar members of the flock.

[walldanzig]

mine where 6 weeks she was chasing them around away from the food

[Snadger]

Isn't nature harsh at times! Survival of the fittest I suppose!

[frias]

Thanks. Spotty has done well then as she was still making sure the chicks had their food first until 8 weeks old. In fact she still protected them from the other girls for the first few days they were put all in together. She does now see them off the titbits but they seem capable of holding their own. It does help that they can fly where as all the others are ex-batts and don't actually get airborn. The chicks have investigated the main coop but prefer to go to bed earlier than the others and return to the broody coop. Eventually Rose will have to join the big girls but only when her 3 brothers go I suppose. It seems funny that only a week ago they were still trying to sleep under her wings.

[kirsty b]

One of my mama's decided at about 6 weeks that she had had enough, but the other still looked after the chicks for about 2 weeks after that. I was planning on extending the perches this weekend to make them bigger to fit all the birds on.....
Never mind, another battery rescue will come along soon.......

[RichmondHens]

A couple of months back I sold some Welsummer pullets to a friend, and their brother was left behind. At around the same time some slightly younger chicks were "abandoned" by their mum. Lonesome George (as we named the cock) decided he would become protector of the younger ones. He even decided to go and sleep with them in their coop, and when I went to check on them he was actually brooding them, two chicks under each wing! And at the time he was only 8 weeks old himself!

[MaureenHall]

Awwwwwwwww that's so sweet But Wellies are sweet anyway (I'm biased!)

[Eco-Chic]

Aww a rooster showing his feminine side

I wish I could have seen it though, so cute.

[snakeshack]

at what age can I abandon my 4 kids , the youngest is nearly 17

[di]

A couple of months back I sold some Welsummer pullets to a friend, and their brother was left behind. At around the same time some slightly younger chicks were "abandoned" by their mum. Lonesome George (as we named the cock) decided he would become protector of the younger ones. He even decided to go and sleep with them in their coop, and when I went to check on them he was actually brooding them, two chicks under each wing! And at the time he was only 8 weeks old himself!

When our last lot of chicks were just a couple of days old a friend brought her kiddies(and dog!!!!!)to see them.The dog gave them a fright & one of the chicks found the smallest hole & found it's way in with the teenage boys(2 Legbars & 1 Norfolk Grey).I panicked like I've never panicked before,but by the time I'd raced out of the broody run,through another gate to get to the boys run,the two Legbars were rather clumsily trying to act all protective over it...the panic went from me worrying they were going to kill the chick to worrying they were going to kill me when trying to retrieve said chick to put it back with it's Mummy!!!

[Hilary B]

Not just humans that teenage boys are often better with babies than we usually give them credit for!