Can I take chicks away from their mother?

[chickymomma1234]

Hi guys, I have been waiting for a broody hen for a while but i have also been wondering whether when they hatch, if i will be able to take them away from their mum and raise them myself under a heat lamp.

please help

 

[eggbert420]

Yes

 

[Pork Pie]

Is there any specific reason for wishing to do so? Removing the chicks will cause the broody hen some stress, but possibly equally importantly - she will do all the work for you in terms of ensuring that they are warm, have food and water as well as integrate into the flock.

 

[chickens really]

Why?.....The Chicks do so much better being raised by Momma.........She has waited 21 days for these Chicks........She will get totally stressed out...The Chicks will be imprinted to her sounds she makes.......It will be stressful for all involved........I only ever raise Chicks with my Broody Hens.........


Cheers!

 

[chickymomma1234]

i already have the heat lamp for them, and i would like the broody with the flock as soon as possible.

 

[chickens really]

i already have the heat lamp for them, and i would like the broody with the flock as soon as possible. 

It is a lot easier to integrate the Chicks with Momma than doing it later on....... Momma will look after them...wait till the Chicks are a week or two and put them with the flock....

 

[TeeMom]

I agree with everyone else! It can certainly be done, but it is SO much easier to let your broody do all the work...they do it better anyway. Up until this spring I have always purchased chicks to add to the flock and finally had a broody a couple of months ago. I let her hatch out a handful of chicks and there is nothing better than watching her and the chicks do their thing. I kept her separate from the rest of the flock for less than a week and then opened her pen into the rest of the coop and everything has gone so smoothly. The chicks are about 4 weeks old now and are part of the flock and I haven't had to clean a brooder or stress over older chickens pecking them to death. So much easier...seriously. I highly recommend it...not to mention your poor broody desperately wants those babies to raise.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You certainly can take the chicks away and brood them yourself. I let my broody hens raise the chicks with the flock but others do what you are talking about or do other totally different things. We all have our own goals, set-ups, and reasons for doing what we do.

I personally would wait until the hen brings the chicks off the nest. Before they eggs even external pip but after internal pip, the unhatched chick starts talking to the hen, letting her know another chick is on the way. The hen knows when the hatch is over much better than I do. I’ve had broody hens bring the chicks off the nest within 24 hours of the first one hatching, I’ve had hens wait three days to bring them off. Since she is talking to her unhatched chicks I figure she knows more about what she is doing than I do.

But some people like to remove the chicks as they dry off. To be honest I don’t understand that logic, but people do a lot of things I don’t understand. There is no one set way to do any of this. There is nothing right or wrong about how we do it, they can all work. They are just different management techniques.

If you take the chicks away from her before she brings them off the nest she may or may not just stay on the nest and not break from being broody. You may need to put her through a broody buster. If you wait until she brings them off the nest it is highly probably she will break from being broody without the broody buster.

Whether you put her in a broody buster or she breaks without it when you take the chicks away, she will be upset. If you put a broody in a broody buster without her hatching or ever giving her eggs she will be upset. If you take a hen out of your flock and lock her up, she will be upset. We do that stuff all the time. She’ll get over it, probably in two to three days. Chickens are prey animals, in the wild it’s not that unusual for a broody hen to lose her chicks to a predator. When that happens it’s instinctive for her to break from being broody and go back to laying eggs so she can hatch some more. That’s just nature’s way.

She has used up a lot of her internal reserves while she was broody since she was not eating and drinking a lot while on the nest. She has to replace those reserves before she will start to lay again. She also has to change hormones and make some changes to her internal egg making factory to get ready to lay again. The sooner she breaks from being broody the sooner she will start to lay again.

Good luck!

 

[chickymomma1234]

would the momma mind if i take 3 or 4 and leave some? will the she let me hold her chicks to get them socialised with humans?

 

[STxBCG]

I puty broody back in the coop with her chicks 2 days after they hatched. Neither she nor the chicks have been bothered by any of the other birds, including the roosters. I did put her nest where the other chickens could still socialize with her during the day and they did stop by and visit. I think this helped them to not forget about her.

Having now had chicks with a broody vs raising them in a brooder, I'll take the broody e every time. In fact, I even slipped 3 more incubator chicks under her a couple of days after she hatched hers. At less than a week, the broody's chicks are light years ahead of the 4 week old chicks I have in the brooder.

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