# When do mother hens abandon their chicks?



## CarolynRenee

This year is the first year I've had broody hens & actually have their chicks survive outside in the goat pen (I usually put them in a chicken tractor). Since the hen & chicks can go their merry own way, I noticed that the hen no longer hangs out with her chicks. I think they are over a month old. The poor chicks don't roost with the others because they get picked on, so they've been roosting in with the goats. They'll flap up to a door & roost there.....or on the goats, or next to the goats, just about anywhere somebody will snuggle up to them.

I thought that they were a bit small to be by themselves, but I guess they're holding their own so mom up & left them.


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## Kmac15

My silkie leaves them on their own at 6 weeks on the dot. The others are a little more iffy, some at around 5 weeks some at 7 but never any older.


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## CarolynRenee

Thanks, that makes me feel a little better. I though I had some bad momma hens!


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## pancho

CarolynRenee said:


> This year is the first year I've had broody hens & actually have their chicks survive outside in the goat pen (I usually put them in a chicken tractor). Since the hen & chicks can go their merry own way, I noticed that the hen no longer hangs out with her chicks. I think they are over a month old. The poor chicks don't roost with the others because they get picked on, so they've been roosting in with the goats. They'll flap up to a door & roost there.....or on the goats, or next to the goats, just about anywhere somebody will snuggle up to them.
> 
> I thought that they were a bit small to be by themselves, but I guess they're holding their own so mom up & left them.


Many breeds of chickens have broodiness bred out of them. You will be very lucky to get a production bird that will set. With so many people using incubators broody hens are not needed. Very few get the chance to set even if they want to.
The more people depend on incubators, and we all have to, the less able hens will be able to set and raise chicks.


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## Our Little Farm

6 weeks seems to be the magic number. By then ours have been on the roosts, with other hens and the rooster right beside them. No fighting or anything. We had 4 hens go broody this year and have over 30 chicks ranging from 7 weeks to 3 weeks. it's wonderful to see them all running around, and the rooster seems to watch over everyone. 
Ours range on about 2 acres.


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## VA Susan

CarolynRenee said:


> Since the hen & chicks can go their merry own way, I noticed that the hen no longer hangs out with her chicks. I think they are over a month old. The poor chicks don't roost with the others because they get picked on, so they've been roosting in with the goats. They'll flap up to a door & roost there.....or on the goats, or next to the goats, just about anywhere somebody will snuggle up to them.
> 
> I thought that they were a bit small to be by themselves, but I guess they're holding their own so mom up & left them.


Poor babies! I'm glad they have each other and can snuggle up to the goats. My husband built our OE game hen a small shelter so she and her babies would be safe from predators and they wouldn't get picked on by the other hens. 

Our two broodies are still very involved with their eight week old babies. They still follow their mothers around all day looking for bugs. Some of the roosters are starting to fight each other more and one was trying to fight with his mother who put him in his place quickly. Both mamas take their babies up at night. The babies have low roosts available to them but I think the mothers and babies are all still sleeping on the floor.


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## Guest

As a general rule, the hens "wean" the chicks once they are fully feathered (and if there's a better word than "weaned" for ground-dwelling birds, someone let me know!).

My red sex-link hen C.C. is a major exception. She raises her chicks until they are half grown. It's a hilarious site at roosting time, as she tries to gather all the chicks underneath her. Of course they don't fit, so what happens is, they gather in a circle around her with their heads stuck underneath her, and their bodies sticking out. I imagine them all raising up at once and carrying her about on their heads, like a football player gets carried by the team on their shoulders.

But C.C.'s chicks eventually get tired of being babied, and start leaving on their own to join the main flock.

Poor C.C. hangs on until the last chick leaves home, and then she finally loses her broodiness. Until the next time she lays a clutch of eggs.


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## Our Little Farm

I usually raise chicks in an incubator and then have to introduce them to the flock, this year, with all that was going on, I did not have time, and was so pleased to see nature taking over. 

One thing that amazes me is there is no bickering/fighting. The rooster is right there with the hens and chicks and even when he wanders off, there is one little fella that looks like a minature version of 'dad' that follows him everywhere. It is hilarious!

So I won't be going back to interfering. I'll let them raise their own again, they have done such a great job this time. 



> As a general rule, the hens "wean" the chicks once they are fully feathered (and if there's a better word than "weaned" for ground-dwelling birds, someone let me know!).


 Kick them teenagers out?


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## GrannyCarol

I don't know anything about chickens.... my Saxony duck is still happily mothering her 8 week old boys, who are as tall as she is! In their baby feathers it's hard to tell at a glance which one is mother.


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## Chixarecute

The broodys I've had have quit the babies from 3-6 weeks old.


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## belladulcinea

Mine were about 7 weeks, they outgrew their banty mom pretty quickly so they went to their home!


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## COSunflower

Ladycat - that is SO funny about C.C.!!! I have an old cochin banty that was the same way when she was young and having babies.


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## HorseFeatherz

I have some who are done being a mother when the chicks are 6 weeks old and some who like to wait until the chicks are 12 weeks. I have a bantam cochin who broods every 3 months, she starts kicking her chicks away at about 5 weeks of age, which time she starts laying. She lays for 2 to 3 weeks and goes back to brooding - I sometimes wonder if she (Ruby) is a machine.

I have one SL Cochin (large fowl) who is like your C.C., Ladycat. Her two pullet "chicks" will be a year in October and she still has them snuggle next to her at night. They hang together during the day and are really only apart when one is in laying.


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## makete

ladycat 
Chicken Mafioso Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: N. TX/ S. OK
Posts: 22,637 

As a general rule, the hens "wean" the chicks once they are fully feathered (and if there's a better word than "weaned" for ground-dwelling birds, someone let me know!).

My red sex-link hen C.C. is a major exception. She raises her chicks until they are half grown. It's a hilarious site at roosting time, as she tries to gather all the chicks underneath her. Of course they don't fit, so what happens is, they gather in a circle around her with their heads stuck underneath her, and their bodies sticking out. I imagine them all raising up at once and carrying her about on their heads, like a football player gets carried by the team on their shoulders.

But C.C.'s chicks eventually get tired of being babied, and start leaving on their own to join the main flock.

Poor C.C. hangs on until the last chick leaves home, and then she finally loses her broodiness. Until the next time she lays a clutch of eggs. 

___________________________________________________________________________________________


You are so lucky to have such a good mother hen. 

I had to laugh at your discription of them all raising up and carring her off the ground. LOL.


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## navygirl

My cochin banty raised her barred rock orphans for about 4 or 5 months. Then abruptly went broody again. 
The rir hen that successfully hatched a chick has taught the chick how to roost on the high roost with her. 
Good job mommas!


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