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Things did not quite go as hoped. She is fine with the dark chicks but pecks at the lighter ones. But at least at night she calms them down to sleep.

Quick update, just checked them and about 7 chicks seem to have taken to her. One was cuddled with her, one on her back and the other 5 about an inch away. Not so much for the other chicks.

Ok, thank you Sue. I didn't want to stress either chicks or hen too much.

Should I remove her then?

Sorry, I can't get a better picture. She won't come out and gets a little testy when I come and bother everyone. She is black, with bluish highlights on feathers, not large and other than when she's broody, a pretty calm hen. She lays brown eggs.

[/IMG] You can kind of see her and that a lot of the chicks still aren't too sure about her.

The hens were given to me by 2 different neighbors. To me, she looks like a black australorp. I can take a picture tonight and post it.

This morning I let the hen in the coop with the chicks. The chicks were a little scared and they pecked the hen. She made some noise about that and they (mostly) stopped. I stayed and watched quietly for 1/2 hour. Then I left them alone for a bit. I am checking on them a lot. From SueT's...

That's amazing, thank you for sharing the pictures. I did try the treat. Just some bread crust. The hen picked it up, brought it to the chicks' coop and dropped it. She clucked, pecked at the bread and clucked again. But the chicks showed no interest. I will try again with her tomorrow...

I did try one chick with her. The chick pecked at the hen, but the hen didn't peck back, just tried to follow the scared chick around. When I go in and check on everyone the hen is sitting next to the chicks'coop. When I get close, the hen circles the coop, clucking away. I should have...

The chicks have only been in the barn for a couple days and this is the first time I have seen the broody hen leave her nest. She isn't sitting on any eggs currently. We had a raccoon attack about a month ago and I lost quite a few chickens. The other hens haven't been laying much I'm...

Thanks, I will definitely do that. And I neglected to say before, I was sorry to hear you had an unsuccessful attempt with your chicks.

Sue, thanks for answering. I had no idea a broody hen could adopt chicks! I think to be on the safe side, I will keep the chicks in the separate coop until they are able to defend themselves. Hopefully my broody hen snaps out of it soon. Thanks again.

I had a hen become broody about a week after an order of chicks came in the mail. We kept the chicks inside for 2 weeks, then put them in a separate coop in the barn with the older chickens. My question is, can the broody hen become protective of these chicks? The hen is very moody, chasing...