Daily Mitzvah (Rambam)

The 306th prohibition is that we are forbidden from taking the entire bird's nest — the mother and the chicks — when hunting.1

The source of this prohibition is G‑d's statement,2 "You must not take the mother along with her young." This prohibition has a remedial positive commandment,3 "You must first chase away the mother." If one can no longer send her away and thereby fulfill the positive commandment — e.g., if the mother died before she could be sent away — the punishment is lashes.

The details of this mitzvah are explained in the end of tractate Chulin.4

Rabbi Berel Bell is a well-known educator, author and lecturer. He and his family reside in Montreal, Canada.

From "Sefer Hamitzvot in English," published by Sichos in English.

Footnotes

1.

According to Kapach, 5731, note 81, the Rambam means to exclude the case where one is merely passing by and doesn't need them for food. In such a case, one should leave them alone, as the Rambam writes in Guide to the Perplexed, Part 3, Chapter 48.

2.

Deut. 22:6.

3.

Ibid. 22:7. See P148.

4.

138ff.