I don't quite understand why you would remove the chicks when Mama is so well-equipped to care for them. Were you hoping to keep her setting longer so that more may hatch? If she hatches any more, I would sneak the two chicks back under her at night and let her raise her own babies.

The reason we took them was because she is in with all the other chickens and the rooster. I was afraid they wouldnt be good to the babies. Also her roost is about a foot and 1/2 off the ground. I am afraid if they fell out of the roost they wouldnt know what to do and would get cold. She is still setting on about 6 eggs and I read that if some leave and she still has eggs she would either abandon the eggs or the chicks. Can we move all of them to a place that she will still set and tend to her babies? Trust me I have tried to find answers on the net about all this and I was only doing what I thought was very best. My next question is... The chick that is 3 days old is being mean to the one that hatched yesterday. She is pecking the others eye and nose.. I know about "The pecking order" but will she pick in the other ubtill the eye is injured? How old can the chicks get and still be able to sneak them under her at night? Our first chick is very aggressive. She thinks my son is her mama. Thanks for your reply and let me know what you think about all this. Thanks, Lisa

Take mamma and babies out right away and house them together. She can do such a far and away superior job of raising the chicks, and you are really cheating yourself out of a neat experience by not allowing her to raise them. It's wonderous. :)

If she started all these eggs together, then they should all hatch within a day or so of each other. If you allowed other hens to keep depositing eggs under her as she brooded, it will instead scatter the hatch dates over a week or more. I can just about guarantee she'll abandon the rest of the eggs once she hits about the 22 or 23 day mark. If you did this, count this as a learning experience and toss the abandoned eggs (or get your incubator fired up NOW and put them in there). :( Or, if you have another broody, slip the almost-done eggs under her--mark a little 'x' on them with a pencil first so you know which ones are which, and remove any freshly laid eggs.

I've taken hens and eggs that were brooded in the common coop with the flock and successfully moved them to their own private pen, but I do this JUST before hatch--mama is less likely to freak out and abandon the nest if the eggs are pipping and peeping sounds are coming from them. Depends on the hen and how easy-going she is, I've only done this twice and prefer not to do it.

Velvet ~:>

Okay, I understand what is happening now. I wasn't criticizing, just couldn't figure a reason not to let the hen do her job. Keep any hatched chicks in the brooder for the moment. Divide the brooder with a piece of chicken wire to protect the youngest one, but so that they can still see each other. A single chick is a lonely chick... not good.

I wouldn't want to disturb the mama hen right now, but as soon as the hatch is complete or you decide that is enough, put her and the last chicks she hatched into a safe area where she can raise them free from interference. This can simply be a corner of the chicken house that you fence off or a little pen in the yard with a small "house" attached. Make it predator proof! There is an advantage to having Mama Hen and babies in sight of the others... it minimizes problems when you eventually integrate them.

Now, back to the chicks in the brooder. It is fairly easy to add chicks to others that are under a broody. Most people sneak them under at night. Hens can't count and this usually works. There is another way too, but I don't have time at the moment to explain it.

If you have not already visited Velvet Sparrow's website, I highly recommend it. Don't forget to bookmark it for future reference.

Here is a link that might be useful: Velvet's Website