Adopting chicks to a broody hen

[peafowl_Lover]

Hi, my ayam cemani hen is sitting on eggs. Only one was fertile, it is due next Saturday or Sunday I will be getting her 4 chicks on the Monday evening. Is there any tricks I need to know to adopt the chicks onto the hen?
Thanks

 

[NatJ]

Hi, my ayam cemani hen is sitting on eggs. Only one was fertile, it is due next Saturday or Sunday I will be getting her 4 chicks on the Monday evening. Is there any tricks I need to know to adopt the chicks onto the hen?

You might try chicks of the same color as the one she hatches. Some hens refuse chicks that are a different color.

Then again, some hens accept chicks of all colors, and some hens refuse all extra chicks no matter what their color, so it really depends on your hen.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hopefully the chick hatches. Sometimes a broody hen brings her chicks off of the nest within 24 hours of the first one hatching. Often it is a day or more later. Don't rush her, let her choose when to bring it off.

You are getting them Monday. Wherever she is, on her nest or somewhere else, wait until it is dark and put the chicks under her. They should be fine overnight. Then when it gets first light go out there and see what is going on. The chicks will most likely be under her or in the nest. If it is peaceful life is good. If she is attacking them or has run them off to a distant location she has not accepted them and you need to brood them yourself.

@NatJ reminded me. One time I had a hen hatch two red chicks. I hatched 7 chicks in an incubator, 5 reds and 2 blacks. I put them under the hen at night and she accepted the reds but not the 2 blacks. I tried adding them 2 days after her two hatched. I think she imprinted on her two red chicks and knew the blacks were different. This same hen had raised a brood of multicolored chicks earlier that summer. I have adopted multicolored chicks to a broody before and she accepted them all.

I think it goes even further than NatJ said. It not only depends on the hen but each time can be different with the same hen.

You do not get guarantees with living animals, anything can happen. If you can get chicks the same color and you are happy with those chicks that would be great. But I would not hesitate to try different colored chicks if that is your choice.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[FunClucks]

I had a hen, Sassy, who was an excellent broody. I had taken a few of her eggs and finished incubating them over a day or two (She got off the nest early maybe, I wasn't sure, so I took and incubated the remaining eggs after she hatched her first two.) I put fake eggs in the nest instead, and she kept sitting on them, so I decided to try and reintroduce the chicks once they hatched.

Her hatchlings were only a day or so old, and only one of the remaining eggs hatched, so I brought it outside to give it to her in the middle of the afternoon. I wasn't going to be around in the morning at first light, and wanted to see if she'd take the baby while I had time to make other arrangements if she didn't. I put it in a cup to carry it so I wouldn't drop it by accident. It was cold, and cried. Sassy heard the chick when I was outside the covered coop/run, called to it, and waited on the nest with her other chicks while calling stridently to the new one. I got inside the run, crawled into her enclosure, grabbed the chick up in my hand, and shoved it under her, in full sight of the hen. I grabbed the fake eggs from under her, and pulled them out in the same swipe. She never pecks me, and didn't this time either. The chick immediately got warm and stopped crying. Sassy stopped calling to it, and everything was quiet. No issues. I checked on them over the next few hours, and no issues.

Sassy was like, give me ALLLLL the chicks!!! and didn't care where it came from. It was a chick, therefore it was hers. I love that hen!

I did a number of things differently than how most folks recommend to do them with chick introductions. But it worked fine for my particular hen. Would i recommend others use the same technique? Not necessarily. Introductions at night are still best practice. Every hen is different. You just have to try what you think best and see how it goes.

 

[peafowl_Lover]

So the chick that my broody hopefully hatches, will either be white splash blue or black. Both parents are blue. And the chicks I'm getting are probably going to be orange ish or yellow. They will be a mix of two brahma colours. Hopefully she takes them but if not. I'll just raise them myself.