Broody, the serial chick collector — issues?

[imacowgirl2]

Meet “Broody”, who is apparently a serial chick collector in addition to trying to be a serial broody

She hatched out 11 chicks shortly after Christmas…and then two weeks later when we had 3 day old chicks in the brooder, due to a combo of equipment breakdown, extreme temps, and road conditions, we had to move the brooder chicks out of the brooder and to the floor of the coop she was occupying with their mama heating pad for a night. By morning she had collected the additional chicks to her and was caring for them as her own.

We left her alone and monitored via camera constantly and confirmed that the new chicks were using her for heat but also using the mama heating pad when they needed it (since they needed heat more often than her 2 week old chicks) A week later we had the last couple stragglers of our last hatch a week old and ready to go to the outside brooder - she almost immediately tried to claim them as well and was distressed that they were inside the brooder instead of with her and her chicks. We cautiously moved them out of the brooder and same thing - she adopted them and they use a mix of her and the mama heating pad for heat.

She’s done with adopting new chicks for this year because we are done hatching for now…but for future reference, are there any health concerns we need to watch out for if she goes broody during hatching season next year and we let her collect chicks again? Because quite frankly, it’s much easier letting her take care of flock integration, showing the new kids around, etc than babysitting chicks in the brooder for weeks then integrating — but I don’t want to let her do it if there are health concerns it could cause for her. Obviously we will be watching and monitoring closely as she starts to wean this year, and if we let her do it best year, monitor as she collects extra chicks, making sure she has the resources she needs and doesn’t have too many…but I really just want to confirm there aren’t any potential health issues I’m not thinking of.

Broody, with some of “her” oldest and youngest chicks:

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

so cute! I'm rather new to birds, but I don't think anything's wrong. some hens are just like this.

 

[skeeeter]

Hi! you have lucked out and gotten a superbroody!! It's right, she does a much better job than we can raising chicks. Here's just a suggestion: next time you set her on eggs, set a dozen more in your incubator then right after they're hatched AND dry give them to your broody at night. Have fun

 

[Ridgerunner]

I really just want to confirm there aren’t any potential health issues I’m not thinking of.

I don't see any issues. If she were sitting on a nest for weeks on end not eating that much you could have a problem. But she should eat enough to keep her health and strength while raising those chicks, even if it is for an extended time period. There is a big difference in the hen sitting on a nest hatching eggs and a hen raising chicks. She should be fine.

 

[JedJackson]

Some hens come out of broodiness much quicker than others, and some hens will not take in chicks other than those they've personally hatched. You got lucky with this hen. She's a treasure. As said above, once the chicks are hatched the mother will eat and drink pretty much as normal, so her health should be just fine. She will come out of broodiness sooner or later, and then it might be best to keep her from going broody again for at least a couple of months. A good, plentiful diet should make all the difference.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Keep her girls to see if they do the same thing!