My Golden Sebright hatched out 6 chicks. She abandoned them less than 3 weeks later!
Plus, she taught them to be afraid of humans, screeching and freaking out and warning them whenever humans came close. So now the chicks are truly all alone in the world.
One day I saw her chase her own babies away. Later that day, she was running with other adults and her chicks were by themselves. That night she slept in a tree, instead of in the nesting box with her chicks. So all I could do was close up their box without their mom. They have to stay in their little pen all day for their own safety, since mom won't protect them! They are still afraid of humans, although they are starting to let their guard down a bit when I give them yummy treats.
Do other hens teach their chicks to be afraid of humans, even if they, themselves are fairly tame? Mom was hand-raised and very spoiled as a chick.
This is her second batch of chicks, and none of them are biologically hers.
The first batch were all biologically hers, and she stayed with them until she lost her spot at the top of the pecking order, at about 3 months or so.
The true parents of the chicks are our "big chickens", so the babies are a little bigger than her first batch (She's a very small banty). I wonder if that had anything to do with their abandonment?
The first week, she was very protective of them. Age 2 and a half weeks is still too young for them to be on their own. What happened? Why is she such a lousy mother?
This message was edited May 24, 2006 11:57 PM
Hen's a lousy mom!
Oh poor chickys! Owl if you can get the babies at night when they go to sleep(They cant see you in the dark) and put them in a safe shelter with a chicken wire cover or even a big wire cage, You can keep them safe until they finish feathering out!
You were lucky that your Seabright kept them this long! Especially if they are of standard chicken size! She thinks she has exceptional children, and are big enough to take care of them selves! HaHa! No, really, She probably is ready to go back to laying and feels the little ones are on their own now!
How Many other adult Chickens are there where the babies are growing Up?
The babies are standard size, mostly barred-rock & leghorn mix.
The chicks are in a mini-coop/cage, the same place where they were hatched. They are safe there. I put a blanket around the opening to help keep them warm at night.
Eufaula, is your barred rock hen teaching baby Hard Rock to fear humans?
Hmmmm. We recently had our first hatching, three hens. My grands, three 11 year olds, were in charge of the entire thing, and heaven only knows whose chicks were which hen's eggs. Our problem was different from yours - the momma hens didn't like the babies of the other two hens and would peck them on the head. We couldn't stand it, so we gathered up all the babies at a very young age, about 4 or 5 days and put them all together in a secure crate. We had one hen, Little Hen, and tiny Bantam that continues to sleep at the bottom the crate, and she now acts as if all 13 peeps are hers, and they are 5 or 6 weeks old. She is a dedicated mom and the other two moms finally calmed down and the three moms and the 13 kids now get along well. I bet, since your hen had peeps last year, that she knew those babies weren't hers and when they got so big, I guess she thought they could get along on their own. I dunno. I'm a novice. I hope it all works out well for you and the peeps and the hen!!!
Hi Owl, No I raised Mama from a 2 day old chick I bought from the feed store! She pretty much knows I m her bread and butter! She was a little protective ,when HR was born but now she just leaves him to his own actions! HR on the other hand is just a little Pill! I Still dont know for sure if its a Hen or Roo,but it has become a n escape artist because its so little! HR doesnt like to picked up but will tolerate me to do so,but for a very short time! But I hand raised all my chickys and all but maybe 3 do not just come up to me ,they are very wary and protective of each other! I guess they have this naturally for self protection! Now I have a little black Cochin that sits on my lap and loves to be petted. When he was very little he would fly out of his pen and follow me around the yard.
I guess its up to each chicks personality,and yes they are individuals with a LOT of personality! Never a dull momentwhen you are chicken watching!
I raised 19 baby chickens in the utility room for over 4 months, handling them daily, feeding and watering them, etc. and they are still wild as March Hares. Good mothers, but too wild to suit me. The babies I have in the utility room now are there because of the agressive pigeons not because they had bad mothers. The 19 from a couple or 3 years ago had very good mothers who were fighting over the chicks and killed a couple of them in the process. So I threw them back outside and hand raised the babies. I think your mother hen does consider her babies to be large enough to be on their own. Perhaps she is intimadated by their growth rate. I would handle them as much as possible in an effort to social them somewhat and get them over their fear of you.
Funny, the Golden Sebright mom was spoiled rotten as a chick, sat on my shoulder and lap, and is still very tame as an adult. She trusts humans, she just doesn't want her chicks to trust humans. Here's a typical scenario:
I appear, she tells her chicks to run away, then I hand out food, mom comes running, then finally she calls her chicks over. She taught her babies to never take food directly from a human, and to never eat the food unless mama tells them to.
Good to know that all mama hens aren't as batty as she is!
She sounds like a very selfish selfcentered bird who is unwilling to share you with her chicks. Maybe she realizes that her's is not 'normal' chicken behavior and wants her chicks to act more like chickens?