Hen adopts chicks but won't sit on them in cold temps in morning!

[Andrea K]

I have a hen lulu and she is a blue Orpington she has raised an all adopted clutch of chicks which were 16 chicks from a local farm store all about a week old and she did so good she recently hatched a clutch of eggs and they are now I. Their own pen fully feathered and growing like weeds I bought sixteen more chicks put them under a brooder light and tried to get my broody hen fresia to adopt it didn't work out and I removed fresia leaving the chicks in the house lulu seemed interested in the chicks so I put her in the coop and she took right to them clucking and telling them to eat and even trying to sit on them I went out at night and a few chicks had made it down but not back up so I put them all under her and she was talking to them and sitting. On them well I went out this morning r was 59 degrees and she was down clucking and telling them to come eat but they were all huddled close together from the cold so I'm not sure what to do she is being a good mama surprisingly since she wasn't broody and had just raised some chicks but does she think they are older than they are and won't sit all day because d that? If so what can I do to ensure these hicks don't get super cold again it's colder the mornings here and the. Heats up to 100 by 9 am so from the 5 am mark to 9 am what can I do to ensure they don't get cold and die they were all fine and some even got up to scratch and peck and when she was calling they were wanting to come down and see her but weren't brave enough to go down the ramp so they sat upstairs with their own food and water huddled up should I put a lift or will that deter the hen from caring for them?

 

[lazy gardener]

If she is not doing all of their care (keeping them warm in the morning) then you will have to step in and brood them artificially. She may be going entirely on instinct, and treating them like her older chicks. If you could set up a heating pad brooder adjacent to where she was nesting with them at night, they might be smart enough to go under that in the early morning, and then be with her during the rest of the day/night. But that's a stretch. Under the circumstances, I think I'd brood them artificially.

 

[Andrea K]

I checked this morning and she was doing great but yea I thought about putting a timed light out there to come on around 5 am and end at 9 when its hot enough for them she just wants to be a momma so bad and I don't have the heart to rip them away again. I will keep checking and see if she finally realizes they can't survive early in the morning and if she does fail I will see about artificially raising them or putting a heat lamp I just like how much healthier the little guys are when they are raised by mom versus artificial no pasty butt, no weak chicks very strong thriving chicks and I never lose one as long as they are safely penned up away from danger and other chickens while they grow.