Adding a 2-week old chick to newly hatch chicks with their momma

[cook_kaka_ook]

Can I actually add a lone 2-week old chick to a momma hen and her newly hatch 6 chicks? Will she be willing and foster this poor little chick who was the lone hatch from another momma hen? I'd like to separate her from her mom if the foster momma will willingly adopt him/her and keep it together with her own ones so that he/she will have brothers and sisters to play with and not be a loner. Have anyone been successfull in doing so?
What I've proven to work so far was sneak in an unhatched egg underneath a broody hen from my incubator at pitch dark night and it worked. When hatched the momma hen think it's her own too. Will it work the same for the situation I've mentioned being an older chick joining a newly hatched ones and their momma? Has anyone done this?

 

[zatsdeb]

I don't know what she would do, it would depend on how big the chick was, and maybe you could do it at night?? if the chick was the same size???

 

[CalebtheChicken]

Even if the mother accepted it, the larger chick could pester and bully the younger chicks, which would anger the momma.

 

[silkymom]

hello, im about to do the same thing, and have before, i have 2 orphans 3 weeks, and 6 new chicks with a very protective mom, i stick them in under the mom at night, the chicks seem to want to stick to the hen, i will wait a few more days for the new chicks to be strong, i have silkies though,. even the roos will take care of chicks, {at least mine does}, what kind of hen do ya have? the full size birds dont seem as happy about taking any baby, good luck,
juliet

 

[cook_kaka_ook]

Quote:
Momma hen accepted him'/her for a couple of hours or so after daybreak but then rejected her/him after. Maybe you're right she probably got mad when her very own chicks were being bullied.

 

[ShysCreations]

I fear the older chick has missed the window in which it can bond to the hen. Seems like new chicks have about 3 days to bond with a broody hen. After that time (I agree this timeframe can vary but drawing on my experience) the hen attacks the chick or the chick is afraid of the hen. Hate to say I found this out the hard way...
One scenario that has worked is if a hen has older chicks and you want to introduce younger ones...I've found that successful by removing older ones for 1-2 days and putting hatchlings under hen at night. Then reintroduce older chicks.
Silkymom has a good point---silkies really want to be moms but much depends upon what you observe.