About to try to let broody raise day-olds but have logistical question

[bawkbawkbawk]

This is getting to be better news by the minute

Thanks for these great pix and testimonials to hatchery mamas!

As it turns out, the babies are here! Despite having stopped my mailman to inquire and getting his assurances that they had not arrived, I got a last-minute call from the post office yesterday afternoon as they were about to close, asking why I hadn't come to pick up my baby chicks!

Fortunately, I drove to the PO at supersonic speed without getting caught and the little ones all look great (except I'm a bit worried about the Silkie - she seems a lot quieter than the others).

A friend is coming to take six of them and I guess we'll try putting our four under Mama Hope in the dead of night tonight. We'll move her to the floor as recommended and see how it goes...she's been broody for a month, so if she ain't ready now, she ain't never gonna be ready!

 

[pontoosuc]

Another hatchery bird +

My hatchery Dominique went broody, got 11 fertile eggs from a friend.
She hatched 10 and has been the absolute BEST mother!!

I kept her and the babies in the coop (really big) in a fenced off area for
a couple of weeks, then opened it up. They are 6 weeks and doing great!

Good luck.

 

[2overeasy]

I got my BO from MPC last year. She hatched out 5 chicks on Easter and was the BEST momma. She weaned them at about 5 weeks and went immediately back to laying. I would say still watch closely, but obviously several of us have had great experiences with hatchery mommas, so there's an excellent chance it will be fine. Good luck!

 

[hokankai]

That's exactly what I did, moved her in the middle of the night and stuck some eggs under her. You may want to move her, leave her for a bit, and then add the babies because she may not like her new nest. However, I moved mine with eggs, and I'm sure with chicks she'll stay wherever they are

. I would also set up a mini broody pen temporarily, like a blockade kind of, so the EE won't get in the babies' food or get too close to mama. It also helps keep the babies near for the first little while. Here's what I did.

This is when she was still sitting on eggs. I put "chick bumpers" around the sides with chloroplast about 7 inches all, took out the dog bowls, and set chick food/water/grit on a paver in there for them.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

We undertook to move Ms. Broody from her countertop nest this afternoon. Look at all the stuff we stacked up there to get the message across - she was REALLY unhappy with us!

I never thought I would be able to convince her to go to the new nesting spot on the ground, but after fifteen minutes of coaxing her with golf balls and scratch handouts, she settled right in. She really, really wants to be on the nest.

We're setting our alarm for 5:30 am so we can slip the little ones under her while it's still dark out. Hope it works

 

[naughtyhens]

Take the golf balls away when you put in the chicks. You don't want her waiting around for them to hatch. She'll be great. Nice coop!

 

[ky chicks]

Last year I put 5 chicks I hatched in an incubator under a broody hatchery BO, and she was wonderful! I snuck them under her late at night, then went out to check on them early in the morning so I was sure they would be there when she woke up. When I went out that morning, she must not have noticed them yet, because she looked so surprised! I left them all where she was--in a nest box on the floor. I didn't separate them or anything, and didn't have any problems with the other hens or the rooster. Good luck!

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

but to say that hatchery birds cannot be good mothers is false.

I was told this by several ppl here who also had bad luck with hatchery birds. I have tried three different hatchery birds and they all were terrible mothers

I guess I have had very bad luck then with them. Glad to hear that there are so many out there that ARE good mommies though

I have seen several posts though that say their birds ate their young

I guess it's the luck of the draw and I drew three bad cards. I won't try hatchery birds again but I do have LOTS of others who want to lay on eggs who are good mommies

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

We're setting our alarm for 5:30 am so we can slip the little ones under her while it's still dark out. Hope it works

GOOD LUCK! This will be the first post I check to see how it goes!

 

[Roo on Harley]

Did anybody hatch golfballs