Advice needed (longish post)

[feldon]

Hi, as a lot of you know, a couple of days ago we lost our little Peep. My buff who hatched her & cared for her for 3 weeks is now quite distraught. I put her back in with the rest of the flock, hoping that she'd get back to normal. I also moved my 6 day old chicks..11 of them, out of thier temporary quarters in the greenhouse to the coop. They are of course separated from the rest of the chickens. The older hens can see & hear them but cannot get to them. What has happened now is that 'Buffy' is staying on the roost where she can see the little ones. When I let them...the big girls...out to forage this morning, Buffy wouldn't go with the rest, she's simply standing next to the babie's enclosure staring in at them. Should I put her with them or will she eventually get over this. She has been the broodiest chicken I've ever seen. It's like she's born to mother. She would probably accept them all as hers which would be nice in that I could turn the heat light off. But, the little ones were incubator raised and never around an adult chicken. Buffy has also lost quite a lot of weight although she is eating. Any suggestions?
Felicity
3 Buffs,1 RIR, 2 Araucanas, 2 Black Australorps, 3 Barred rock, 2 Sexlinks, 5 Cuckoo Marans, 2 Dominiques, 2 SLWs, 2 Speckled Sussex

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I'd try putting her in with the incubator chicks...just watch and see how it goes...If their not roosting at night she may taking them under her....Can't hurt to try as long as your there to watch for awhile...I have a mother hen with two chicks she raised that I can't get her to leave them alone...she may stay with them to adulthood!...lol

 

[Frozen Feathers]

You can try and put her in with the young ones, but supervise her. I had a black Silkie who refused to be with the rest of the flock and babied all the 4 week olds as her own. She had been sitting on eggs and only one hatched, but died shortly after. She took very good care of my young ones, even though none are hers. She called them over for food and even attacked the goats if they got too close. Of course the babies were all as big if not bigger then her by 8 weeks, but she still treated them like little chicks.

 

[GoodEgg]

Awww ... that's a sweet story, Angie.

And Felicity, I don't know anything about it, but I was so sad to hear about little Peep and his "mom". If you do decide to put her in with them, I hope it goes well and I hope that she feels better by having some babies to take care of.

Good luck with it!

trish

 

[feldon]

Well I have put her in with the babies, and so far so good. The brooder set up is metal dog run & it has a dog carrying crate in there also. All the babies go in and out of the crate & 'mom' went in after them. I watched her carefully & she just seemed to look at them closely. She didn't attack them. She then came out and started to eat & drink. Occasionally a baby would come out & run aroud the enclosure. She just watched it. After a while she went and settled down in a corner talking to herself. So far so good. I'll keep you all updated. I'll see if I can get a picture of them.
Felicity