Will broody hen adopt chicks?

I am in the northeast so still chilly, I have a brooder but currently have 3 week old chicks in there...I have a complicated mess going on over here! LOL

I do have a spare brooder box I can use but I was originally going to use my brooder and just partition it off so the two sets of chicks could brood together but just wondering if I could add these new ones to my hatched flock as that would make my complicated mess a little less complicated?...Chicken math gotta love it!

I currently have 1 large coop and run that now houses 6 standard size hens (currently no rooster)


I have 3 blue/black orp chicks that are 3 weeks old and I am getting 3 lavender orp chicks in 2 weeks.

Then I have my small bantam coop that houses Cochin Bantams as I mentioned.



I purchased a small grow out coop about a month ago (to be used by the chicks in brooder now) when this one hen went broody and because their coop is so small and only 1 nesting box I decided to move her! I seem to have a major chicken village going on right now!

My Buff Orpington went broody two and half weeks ago. I purchased chicks from the local feed store to add to my flock. I was doing some research on broody hens and found this thread. I'm so thankful for this information. Iplaced my 7 chicks under the hen two nights ago. She accepted them and is a great mama to them. [/IMG]

My Buff Orpington went broody two and half weeks ago. I purchased chicks from the local feed store to add to my flock. I was doing some research on broody hens and found this thread. I'm so thankful for this information. Iplaced my 7 chicks under the hen two nights ago. She accepted them and is a great mama to them. [/IMG]

I recently have adopted one chick who is now two days old. He is a rooster and was bought primarily for breeding purposes since we have yet to have a male. Now, to the problematic part....

I have no broody hens as far as I can tell, though some have started to show signs. Just today I laid five fake eggs in the 'hot-spot' nesting box to try and provoke a broody to arise, but none seem interested. The little rooster; Roo, is currently with a week old (borrowed) chick from my neighbor whom has to be returned come soon. I do not wish to hand rear the chick; though I would if necessary, and I heard lonely chicks often don't survive. I haven't tried at night yet, but Roo is a Dominique rooster and was not easy to find. I wish the best for him and don't want to awake to a dead chick. I have 13 older hens who are not broody, no younger chicks besides my 'borrowed' chick to raise him with, and all the hens ignore him completely. I tried to slip him under a chicken who had sat on an egg for a day or so, but she growled. He hasn't gotten pecked yet, but his older comrade has. I really wish for him to grow up correctly and not antisocial, so I am buying him a friend before the other goes. Then two young chicks will need adopting by my girls. Any help?

I thought I'd share my chicken adoption story, as there are a couple of "lessons learned". I tried to push the limit on adoption, and found out what doesn't work.

I hatched 15 chicks in an incubator because my hens were not broody. Then, by coincidence, on hatch day, one of my speckled sussex decided to go broody. I knew I was really pushing the limit as far as timing because she had only been broody 12 hours. Also, I was pushing the limit on number a hen can adopt, 15 chicks.

I set up a night vision web-cam to observe her.

Trial #1: (1 Day old Chicks, Hen Broody 1 day)

I slipped in the chicks, and pulled out most of the eggs. She adopted them over night, and even tucked them in as they were coming out. Unfortunately, in the morning, she abandoned them. I just don't think she was "full broody" yet. So I tried again the next night. Also, I left the door open so she could leave the pen and go into the run... maybe I made it too easy for her to leave.

Trial #2: (2 day old chicks, Hen broody 2 days)

She sat back down on the remaining eggs, and didn't leave all day... maybe she was broody enough now. I tried again, but this time removed all the eggs, and closed the door to the run. This failed too. She was pacing the window back and forth in the AM...

Trial #3 (3 day old chicks, hen broody 3 days)

Mixed Success... kind of. She adopted all chicks and was not trying to escape. She clucked proudly and would go out of the nest, near the feeders and sit down there, let them under her to stay warm. Unfortunately, she didn't accept 'all' of them as her own. 12 of the 15 where white, and 3 were brown/black. As soon as a brown or black one would run out from under her, her neck feathers would puff up and she would peck them. She was rejecting the ones that looked different. Perhaps it was because I tried to put so many under her, perhaps she was just biased. I'm not sure why she rejected just those, but it is lucky I had the camera in there. I finally had to call children's services (chicken services) to remove all of her kids when she grabbed one of the brown babies by the leg and started shaking violently. All the chicks lived, and are now being brooder raised.

Lessons learned:
- Wait until she is broody enough to not leave the eggs at all. For me this was 3 days, surprisingly short.
- When you put the chicks in, remove all the eggs... I think this switches her from broody mode, to mother mode.
- If at first you don't succeed, it doesn't mean it is over... try again.
- Don't make it "easy" for her to run, ensure she is separated from the other hens by closing them off.
- Keep a careful eye on her especially during daylight hours the first day to see if she is rejecting any. Be especially cautious if most look the same but a small minority look very different.

I had only 1 egg hatch 5 days ago. Mama and baby are doing fine but I want more. What are the odds that I can buy some chicks and add to mama hen at night and she accept them along with the one she has???

I need some advice here. i had 5 silkie eggs in the incubator and only 1 hatched. The silkie hen is now very broody, but she is sitting on an empty nest. I want to put this little guy who is 3 days old in with her and I am not sure how to go about it successfully.
Here are the facts:

8 other chickens + 2 roosters share the coop at night (they are free range)

Mom is NOT tame and wont leave the nest

Phoenix rooster will attack anything that goes in the coop at night.

It is now around 50 deg. during the nigh and early morning

Silkie's are the MOST AMAZING MOTHERS!!! I hatched 6 chicks about 3 weeks ago and I have a very broody silkie who was sitting on nothing for over a week. I slipped the 3 silkie chicks under her wings in broad daylight and she accepted and loved them immediately. I thought for sure they were too old for this but they loved it too!! They snuggled right into her like they kne she was Mama. Quite incredible!