Will a broody hen take older chicks (two weeks old)?

Pics
Date sort Score sort
Brookliner said:
IMO 3 days old is about as old as you can successfully put chicks under a broody. The reason for this is that chicks imprint on the hen in that period of ttime. If they are too old they will not imprint and will not listen to the hen. The hen will then not bond with the chicks. Also a first time broody might not be hormonaly ready for chicks if she hasn't been broody for a while. You will be better off raising them yourself. Good luck.

:cd
Click to expand...
Hi there-
I have a broody hen, I had slipped a 3 extra eggs under her (unfortunately several days after her 1st egg was already under her)...

The 1st egg hatched on May 31st (i waited a bit then brought it into the house to keep it safe and to keep Mama on the other eggs until they hatched). The trouble is, a 2nd egg hatched last night/this morning. (*I removed the other 2 unhatched eggs)

Chick #1 is a week old now & Mama has a new chick under her, I was hoping to sneak #1 under her tonight.... someone on here suggested that there might be a concern of the chick not accepting the hen.. what do I do?! I can take the chick out and slip it under her tonight... but what I just read here suggests that the chick will freak out and the Mama will not help it out. (Would she possibly kill it?) I have a single chick in my house - any suggestions on introducing it to the Mama and chick #2? I cant really raise #1 separately
 
renk777 said:
Now I have a conundrum. I suspect 2 of the chicks are roos. One of the Barred Rocks and an EE. The assumption with the EE is that even at this young age, the little pea dots on the entirely undeveloped comb look wide and as though they might develop into 3 rows. I wouldn't even consider that as proof of anything except that little chick grabs Mama's face and literally tries to drag her. She is so patient. The only time I've ever seen that behavior was when I had young cockerels sparring and establishing a hierarchy. I called seller and he's willing to swap out boys for (hopefully) pullets. But I'm worried Mama will notice the replacements aren't 'hers'. Is that a valid concern after just 2 days? And I worry replacements won't see mama as mom though I suspect they'd just follow what the majority does. I don't want roos. Technically, I can't even have chickens and I already have 3 roos. And the longer I have them, the more my kids and I will get attached. Advice? To swap or not to swap 🤔
Click to expand...
everything went okay?!
I have a 1 week old chick (calling it #1 for now lol)-mama hatched it last week, there were eggs still under her so i took #1 chick inside until the others hatched... that was a week ago, and now she's managed to finally hatch another chick (I removed the last two unhatched eggs).... I'm worried she wont take #1 or #1 wont take to her.... your thoughts are appreciated please please
 
Sometimes it takes time. My broody hen (her 2nd batch of chicks) took almost 5 days to bond to only 3 day old chicks (ordered thru TSC). Got the chicks in the afternoon, put them in the house brooder (with food and water of course), and that night placed them under Ruby. Dead silence from all of them. Next day Ruby was still broody but ignored the chicks and wasn’t talking to them. Chicks tried to attach to her but as she ignored them, they quickly ignored her. That evening we put the chicks back under her a little earlier - not full dark - and there was a bit more cheeping from the chicks. On the 3rd night we had a bad thunderstorm and the chicks did go under her by themselves. They were making noise and Ruby finally was making noises too. During the next day they interacted more, there was some talking but not a lot. That night they were on the lip of the box but not under her. Back under we put them. The next day (5th) things were pretty much normal and we had a family :) Even then I checked every night for several more days to make sure they were under Ruby. During the day she was showing them food, even taking food out of a feeder and placing it on the ground for them. Maybe another few days later I saw Ruby give a hen lower than her a little what-for when she got too close to the chicks. Yea!
It’s been almost 4 weeks now and you’d never know she hadn’t hatched them.

I know they were much younger chicks than this thread is talking about but even with day olds it sometimes takes patience and time and persistence. And of course sometimes it just doesn’t work.

I’m glad to be reading this thread and seeing that even older chicks and broodies can bond. While I don’t plan on ever having older chicks to bond in, chicken life is unpredictable and it’s good to know it’s worth a try!
 
Adding my experience, and thank you for posting your stories.
One of our Cochins decided she had to be a mom. My last attempt a year ago to put some chicks underneath her failed, and I ended up having to raise three chicks after she attacked them (they were at least 3 weeks old).
This time, I bought two chicks, about 2 weeks old. Made sure the broody hen had her golf balls and fake wooden eggs all day and into the night, when I transferred her to a large dog crate inside the large chicken coop.
That night, I put the two chicks underneath her, and she tucked them under her, and I made sure they had food and water for the morning.
In the early morning, all was well, headed off to work.
Came back in the late afternoon, one chick was dead, the other was tucked under the broody.
Broody still wasn't too sure about the remaining chick, but I put some treats in there and the mother did her "come and get this great treat" clucking, and the hungry chick joined her. It was soon dark and they had settled down to sleep, the broody still not really being a full mother yet. I made sure all the fake eggs were removed that night.
The second morning, the remaining baby was still alive, and so back to my work.
That evening, they seemed to have bonded as mommy and baby and 5 days later, I let them out briefly to interact with the other 6 hens.
Well, the bottom of the pecking order came near the baby, and the mommy fluffed up and defended.
Oh boy. Two other hens joined in, and I ended up pushing the 6 hens into the laying area and closing the door.
Two days later, the same thing, although this time one hen penned mommy down while the other two pecked (hard!) her body and head from the two sides. Never heard a chicken cry so desperately, because she couldn't protect her chick and was being seriously attacked.
I will say that she never, ever, backed down even when facing three hens at once.
The next day the baby chick repaid her by snatching the fresh fig I gave them and dashing away from her mother to eat it by herself.

So, long story, but yes two to three week old chicks can be adopted, but you must be patient and it's good to use the "Call to food" "oh, look, the babies listen to me!" natural instincts.

Never did figure out exactly what killed the other baby. Cold? Heat? Disease? Broody?
 
Jewelwing said:
The end of this story is that all three broody hens ended up co-mothering all the chicks! It turned out that the key was to introduce them during the day when food was there rather than to sneak them under a broody in the middle of the night. Here's how it happened:

When the chicks were three weeks old, I separated off a section of the coop for them to stay in because I didn't have a brooder box big enough for them anymore. I enclosed their area with chicken hardware cloth and hung towels over it so the big hens wouldn't be too bothered by them. I figured I would remove the towels later so everyone could see each other and get used to each other.

The three broody hens would get very agitated when they could hear the chicks peeping in distress as they tried to settle down for the night. One morning when the chicks were almost 4 weeks old, I had taken their little red food trough out of their area and set it in the big part of the coop to fill it up. One of the broodies hopped off her nest and started pecking at the food and making "come here and eat, chicks!" noises. Two of the chicks hopped over the 12" board separating their area (I'd left it open while I was filling the food) and started eating, because they were hungry for breakfast. The broody was very happy that her calls had been heeded, and soon all eight chicks were eating with her.

After that, she was showing them all around, and then she napped with them, so I let her stay with them in their little area. By the next day, a second broody wanted to show them food and hang out with them. The third broody (the faverolle) still wanted to kill them on sight, though, so I had to be careful. The rest of the flock was too busy free ranging, so they totally ignored the chicks.

Since the one nasty broody was the only danger to the chicks anymore, I ended up putting her inside the little area I'd made in the coop and letting the chicks out to be with their two adoptive mamas. After two days of that, the two mamas were out free ranging with the chicks and the one broody was complaining loudly in the pen in the coop, so I let her out to see what she'd do. She made a bee-line for the two mamas and the flock of 5 week old chicks. She chastised them and made a couple half-hearted pecks at the chicks, and then settled in to showing them food to eat instead.

After that, all three hens mothered the chicks!

At about ten weeks old, the first two broodies left the chicks and became full flock members again, pecking the chicks away from food and roost spots. So in the end, it was the faverolle who stuck with the chicks the longest, and she still tolerates them completely even though she's back to laying again and foraging without them. But she never pecks them away from food and she still cuddles with them at night. The chicks are almost 16 weeks old.

I guess every situation's different - I never would have expected the broody hens to adopt chicks so old!

Here is the faverolle cuddling with "her" 12 week old chicks:




The other hens on the other side of the coop:



Click to expand...
Thank you do much for this! I love the update. I have a hen who has hatched a few times, good mom, and one week old chick right now. I may see if she'll take it...
 
9_OddHens said:
everything went okay?!
I have a 1 week old chick (calling it #1 for now lol)-mama hatched it last week, there were eggs still under her so i took #1 chick inside until the others hatched... that was a week ago, and now she's managed to finally hatch another chick (I removed the last two unhatched eggs).... I'm worried she wont take #1 or #1 wont take to her.... your thoughts are appreciated please please
Click to expand...
I'm so sorry I didn't see this! How did your situation turn out? We had a bunch of bantams (including the rooster!) sitting on a clutch of eggs this year. He was new and the hens were not very receptive to him yet. Unfortunately, only 1 of the eggs was fertilized. The chick hatched and I separated it out with one mama. I didn't want 4 hens fighting over it. I've never seen a roo sit on eggs with his girls so was apprehensive of how he'd behave as well. After a few days, we decided that the chick probably needed other chicks as siblings for reintegration purposes. The mom I chose is a great mom but she quits momming around 8 weeks. Makes it easier to rehome birds I'm not keeping but I won't introduce a single bird to the flock. I prefer 2 or 3+. So we went to multiple TSCs. Of the breeds/hybrids I was interested in, the best I could do were 4 chicks over a week old. So we bought them and despite them being older and larger than the bantam chick, the mama took them right in. Hoping you had similar results!
 

Similar threads

Fluffaloo
    • Like
Integrating Broody hen and chicks to flock-advice?
Replies
2
Views
249
Fluffaloo
Fluffaloo
A
Two broody hens at once
Replies
7
Views
593
all4children
A
T
    • Like
Mama Hen Not Sure About Taking Back Chicks After Mite Bath
Replies
8
Views
1K
Debbie292d
Debbie292d
Elliemae1984
    • Sad
Two Dead Chicks with Mom
Replies
4
Views
275
realsis
R
G
2 week olds not sleeping under heat?
Replies
4
Views
487
rosemarythyme
rosemarythyme

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom