Week old chicks and broody hen

[hrayb]

Hi!

We got 4 new chicks last weekend, so they are a little over a week old. We now have a first time broody hen. She’s been on the nest for about 3-4 days. We’ve been collecting eggs from her. But one day it was raining and 3 got left under her. So my question is- can we slip the new baby chicks under her? Will she accept them after only being on them for a couple days, if she does accept them will she abandon the eggs she’s in now? I plan to check and even see if the eggs are developing tonight.

Thank you if you made it this far!!!

 

[SilverBirds]

I don't think most hens will accept chicks this early and with the babies already being a week old they'll probably be confused. You can always try and monitor how they do. If she starts pecking at them aggressively, ignoring the chicks, or the chicks ignore her, it's not going to work out. If she does happen to accept the chicks and vice versa, she will stop sitting on the eggs to care for her new babies.