Will a broody hen adopt chick??? Please answer ASAP!

[JoseyWalesX]

This evening I put 6 chicks from TS under one of my hens that hatched 2 eggs last Friday, she seemed to take to them pretty easily. They crawled up under her and she seemed content, guess we will find out tomorrow....

 

[Mary Coleman]

Well i have the same delema with the nest being high off the ground. She is setting on an old bag of wood shavings so I made a ramp leading from the nest, to the table, and another ramp leafing from the table about 3.5 - 4 feet off the ground to the ground. My hope is that the mamma can lead the chicks up during the day and back down at night. Do you think it will work? I tried moving her to a new nest on the ground in a dog kennel at night, but like I said, she is one of my more stubborn hens and she was off the nest early the next morning. I let her out and she ran to her old nest clucking like crazy, so I gave er her eggs and made the ramp.

 

[woody1]

I know this is a little late but we just did a successful transplant. One of our banty mamas only hatched one out of her clutch. She was still sitting on the remaining eggs. We put two more from the feed store under her by doing it in total darkness and keeping it dark for the rest of the night. At the same time we removed all the remaining eggs. Her hatchling was about two days old and the feed store babies were 5-6 days old. In this case it worked. Sometimes you win sometimes not. Regards, Woody

 

[Arizonachick]

Let me know how that goes. We just did the same and lost all four chicks in the span of a week. I've been asking all the chicken people I know and the consensus is that its too early to be brooding outside and that I should have taken all the chicks inside and brooded them myself.

 

[woody1]

Let me know how that goes. We just did the same and lost all four chicks in the span of a week. I've been asking all the chicken people I know and the consensus is that its too early to be brooding outside and that I should have taken all the chicks inside and brooded them myself.

I don't know if you're referring to my post or not......our transplant is working. If the chicks kick the bucket it won't be the mama's fault. We brood in the barn. It does freeze in there but banty mama has a nice off the ground hutch, like a rabbit hutch. It's totally enclosed with plywood, even the floor, except for the door which is covered with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. She actually brooded on top of some hay bales in a feed bucket which is where she laid her eggs. We moved her into the hutch, bucket and all, after she hatched the chick. Regards, Woody