Chook Me!

Do hens look after and take care of their young?

Would the hen care for the chick even after it hatched? If so, how do they feed them? I always wondered because I've always heard of using incubators to hatch the egg, etc. But what would happen if we let nature take its course, Is the chick raised by its mother or is it on its own? Thanks

Public Comments

1. picking is pretty much instinctive place some chick feed and water in shallow bowls. You might put their beaks in the bowls a few times. Make sure there is some grit...sand or small rocks (they need them for digestion
2. Chicks are precocial, which means once they are hatched they are on their own. The mother provides no care to them except being a big thing to hide under if a predator comes. Chicks have to feed themselves.
3. Chicks are looked after by their mother for a few weeks they do not fend for themselves if they have a mother there. This is one of my broody hens making her day old chicks share a worm lol http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP7YLVARurA If you hatch chicks in an incubator they do indeed fend for themselves as far as feeding goes but they have a heat lamp suspended over them which replicates the warmth of the mother hen, without that they would die. You also have to dip their beak in the water drinker so they know where the water is. The mother hen would call them to the water the first time so they'd know. If a hen goes broody and decides she wants to hatch some eggs she instinctively knows what to do. From not starting incubating them until she has laid all the eggs (so they all hatch on the same day) to how many times to turn the eggs each day to what temperature to maintain she does it all naturally. It doesn't matter if there is a cockerel (rooster) or not. It doesn't matter if the eggs are fertile or if they are hers or not. I use hens to hatch turkey and duck eggs. When the chicks hatch she sits tight until all that are going to hatch do so and then she leaves the nest. She will protect and feed them by breaking up pieces of food with her beak into tiny pieces. She usually looks after them until they about 6 weeks old. Not every hen has the "broody" instinct, most hens lay an egg each day and wander off and never want to hatch them out which is good because we want their eggs to eat. Some breeds are more likely to go broody, Silkies for instance.