Is It Too Late to Give a Mother Hen More Chicks?

[Gobekli Pepe]

So I had a broody 3 year old black australorp, and I gave her some eggs to hatch. She did and is doing a great job, hatched 3 of them back on the 18th. Trouble is, I don't like to bother my broodies often, whether they have eggs to hatch or not. So I didn't notice that another bird laid some eggs in her box until they had started to develop. They looked good, so after she moved from the sitting phase to the chick raising phase, I moved them to the incubator. One just hatched, and another is pipping and looks like it's well on it's way out.

Since it's been a solid week since the others hatched, would I be okay to slip them under mama tonight and let her take care of them? Or would the age difference be too much? I also don't quite know how the mothering phase works. I know they stop after a while, but is that, as I assume, on a biological clock? Or will she stop raising them when they get to a certain age? In the case of the former, would a chick who would normally need another week of mothering be okay? They'd have me taking care of them per usual of course, they wouldn't quite be on their own. I wouldn't want to put them in a precarious situation though. Especially not when I'm perfectly happy to raise them up myself, I just enjoy watching mother hens at work, and I know it's better for them that way. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[sourland]

Some hens are extremely maternal and will accept chicks at any time. Most, however, imprint on their chicks in the first couple of days and then regard others as 'strangers'. Such chicks are then pecked and sometimes killed. The likelihood of rejection is even greater if the new chicks are a different color than the chicks she has already imprinted.

 

[Gobekli Pepe]

Some hens are extremely maternal and will accept chicks at any time. Most, however, imprint on their chicks in the first couple of days and then regard others as 'strangers'. Such chicks are then pecked and sometimes killed. The likelihood of rejection is even greater if the new chicks are a different color than the chicks she has already imprinted.

I see, I suppose that settles it. She seems "very maternal" as far as I can tell, but I wouldn't want to risk their lives to find out how good I am as a judge of hen character. Thank you so much!