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[clhw AT InfoAve.Net (clhw)]

All of which is great if you have no snake problem.
We had a snake eat 5 baby chicks one afternoon -- right out from under the
mother.

Since then, we move mother and chicks to a snake-proof location.

>In my experience, trust the hen.  All critters do better with their mothers
>(although we incubate eggs every year and have poor motherless chicks).
>
>Our biggest predator dangers all seem to happen at night, particularly with
>chicks, so if they are well protected at night, they should be relatively 
>fine
>(that dog neighbor of yours, however, might be a problem).  Most of the hens
>I've known have ventured out with about day or two day old chicks.  And they
>are fine.
>
>If you don't keep the hen/chicks totally separate from the flock, there won't
>be the pecking order problems that others describe.  With incubated or bought
>chicks you don't have that option, but with chicks with a mom, you do because
>she will protect them.  Of course, we're probably in a unique situation with
>our chickens actually free ranging and only being confined at night.
>
>Oh, with the chicks with their mom, you don't have to worry about heating
>them -- they have her to provide all the heat they'll ever need.
>
>Denise
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