Is It Bad to Take Chicks Away From Their Mothers at a Young Age?

[FreeChicken!]

Three chicks finally hatched underneath my Barred Rock, Misty. I'm pretty excited! But while I want to let Misty raise her own chicks herself, my dad wants to take them and let us raise them so Misty will start laying again sooner. But will this harm the chicks or mother? I don't want to take the chicks away in the first place, and especially not if it will cause harm.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It will NOT cause any harm to the hen or the chicks.

 

[FreeChicken!]

Okay, thank you!

 

[AZ_HenHouse]

Agreed that it will not harm them , however I find that it is easier to let a broody raise chicks. They do all the work for you! If you think of the trade off of your time and energy to take care of these chicks and build them an enclosure, feed and water and all the other little things you will need to do, you might find that the cost of a few eggs is well worth it. My broody does a much better job of teaching babies what to eat and how to be a chicken (she is dedicated 24 hours a day) than I can for a few hours a day.

I would also feel guilty taking them away after she did all the work to hatch them

Good luck with your decision.

 

[FreeChicken!]

Hopefully I can talk my dad into letting Misty keep them. Sometimes I let the three chicks out of the nest so I can play with them, and after they tumble over each other and peep cheerfully for a few minutes, they start to chirp loudly for their mother and I'll take them back. It makes me sad to hear them chirp like that. You have a good point: Misty will do all the work for us and all we need to do is provide her with food, water, and clean bedding. We wouldn't have to go through the trouble of teaching the chicks not to fear chickens, like we had to do with the Leghorn chicks we got a couple years back.

 

[kelly52862]

I would let the hen do her job. It is much easier on the chicks and the hen. Last month my bator was full of eggs, when I had 3 hens begin sitting on one egg each. I emptied my incubator and those hens thought they were amazing... hatched out 13 chicks each in less than a week.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Agreed that it will not harm them , however I find that it is easier to let a broody raise chicks. They do all the work for you! If you think of the trade off of your time and energy to take care of these chicks and build them an enclosure, feed and water and all the other little things you will need to do, you might find that the cost of a few eggs is well worth it. My broody does a much better job of teaching babies what to eat and how to be a chicken (she is dedicated 24 hours a day) than I can for a few hours a day.

I would also feel guilty taking them away after she did all the work to hatch them

Good luck with your decision.

I agree with the above.. way, way more cost and work effective to let Misty do the work.

 

[FreeChicken!]

Okay, thank you all so much!

 

[trippy]

i am thinking the same about my barred rock who just hatched out 6 guinea fowl keets... I feel bad taking them from her but i want them to be used to me,too and be tamer so im trying to decide what i should do today...hmmm...let us know how it turns out talking to your dad about it and what you decide on..

 

[LTygress]

The only reason I have taken any chicks away from my broody hens, is because I sold them. Otherwise, I'm letting the broody hens be mommies. It's cheaper, and I don't have to worry about who will peck who when I integrate them with the older ones later. Nope, mommies have that covered - they're already integrated!

Plus, I've heard it helps some other hens become broody when they aren't necessarily a broody breed. Being raised by a mommy helps them gain the instincts needed to BE a mommy. And lord knows I'd like some large fowl broody hens, so here's hoping that one of two of my ameraucana chicks learn from it! Then I'll be able to sneak in more than 9 eggs.... lol!

As for Misty laying again sooner, that's a gamble now. Her hormones are in full swing now, so it may take longer for them to go back to normal. That means it might be the same kind of wait whether she's with chicks or not. My hens were broody, but never REALLY attacked anything until those eggs hatched. Then it was all-out war on anyone that got near that they didn't know, trust, or approve of! That's how I knew their hormones were probably off the charts! I even had one attack my hand (my fault, I reached around the corner without announcing my presence or showing her who it was) and actually drew blood! Yet when they were just simply sitting on eggs, they'd peck but it never even left so much as a scratch or a red spot from it.

So while it may not do any harm at all, you would be MUCH better off just leaving them there.