How soon can you separate baby chicks from Mum

[hepina]

We have a broody hen who goes in and out of broodiness. She is a pet so we try to 'put up' with it as we have few other hens supplying us with just enough eggs for family of four.

We have offered her services, basically - she is going to be a surrogate hen for a friend of ours. He will supply eggs of his choice (he is after pedigree chickens) and we let our broody sit on them until baby chicks hatch. Our broody is extremely good Mum; she has raised all our hens from chicks.

My question is - how soon can I separate baby chicks from her? She normally cares for them for about 4-6weeks and then she stops being bothered too much so they can be isolated and she can join the main flock. This unfortunately means, that for at least 3+6 weeks we have no eggs from her.

I honestly don't want to wait so long but I am worried that being separated too early may affect either chicks or her?

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Lordcluck]

I think youve sort of answered your own question in a way hepina. Nature dictates the optimum time for seperation of chicks from their mothers, as you state from four to six weeks chicks are sufficiently feathered not to require brooding from their mother, although she may still do so at night, and this is usually the time she is coming back into lay ready for her next clutch.
You can remove chicks much earlier from hens as long as you supply artificial heat for them. The hen will initially be distressed by the seperation, as will the chicks, and they will call for each other( it would be best to keep them both out of earshot of one another) but they will settle down in a day or so,and no lasting psychological damage will occur, and the hen may come back into lay more quickly as a result.

 

[Chuck]

If the chicks are to be taken away in the first couple of days and reared artificially, the hen will soon get over it. I would not set a hen on eggs in the main hen house as there's too much to go wrong.

 

[chrismahon]

As Chuck says the hen needs to be separated and secure in a separate rearing unit -small coop and fine meshed run with wind protection. Remember the hen must be healthy and lice free as they breed like crazy when she is sitting. Heavy breeds like Orpingtons need to be lifted off the nest once a day or their legs can cripple. We separate at 6 weeks but then condition the hen alongside the others for 2 weeks before she goes back as she will be very weak and can't defend herself in the pecking order. She will lay about 2 weeks after reintroduction. So in effect you lose 13 weeks of eggs Hepina.