chicks

[alison]

Hi everyone, my chicks are now 3 weeks old and are growing fast. When do I take mum away and put her back in with the others. They are all let out together in the garden during the day and mum doesn't have much to do with chicks then, it is only at night that she goes in with them, but I'm not sure wether she still needs to or if they will be ok by themselves...help.

[PK]

Hi Alison

where do the chicks stay at the moment? Were they incubated indoors? If so its normally at weeks that they can go outside.

[alison]

Hi, the chicks were incubated by one of my layers that went broody. At the moment mum and chicks are in my wash house at night and are let loose in the garden during the day. At what age can I separate mum and chicks? Mum doesn't take much notice of them during the day, but I'm not sure if they still need her at night.

[PK]

Hi Alison

When I have put eggs under a broody hen I left them in the main coop and let them get on with it. By the time the chicks are about 5-6 weeks they were just part of the crowd and there was no problems from the other hens. I think the difficulty might be how to integrate the new chick with the others. This might not be so much of a problem if it stays close to mum during the day.