Chook Me!

Is it okay for a mother hen to free range with her week old chicks?

As soon as I discovered that we had unexpected children, I put them all together in the chicken nursery. The problem is that I also had another batch of chicks in there that were store bought. I am having some very serious pecking issues. I do not think two of the motherless chicks will survive. The hen is keeping her babies seperated from the rest and is very possessive over the food and water placed in the nursery. I was thinking it might be best to release her and her babies to free range again, but wanted a second opinion because I am new to this.

Public Comments

1. Awww, congrats! My chickens have never hatched babys before, but my ducks have. The mother was like yours, very protective. But even though she was protective, a few of the babies were killed. (one by another duck, and one by our turkey) So I realy have no idea what to do, but I just wanted to give you a sonario type thing that could happen. good luck!
2. you needs to build a separate pen for her and the babies she hatched asap. She and her babys need to be seperated from all of your other birds so no deaths occur
3. Get her out of there. The chicks you bought from the store are in her mind and intrusion and she will at the very least not let them eat or drink. She may even end up pecking them to death depending on how old they are. If she hatched her eggs free range then let her be. She won't venture far. She will stay close to the hen house or barn somewhere she feels is safe for her babies. In a few days, she will bring the babies out and parade them around. She knows what she's doing. The store bought chicks need you to make sure they have food and water in order to survive. They will need to stay in your "nursery" until they have feathers. At that time they will be able to handle themselves with the other chickens and will know how to find the food and water. Good luck