Anyone ever added chicks to a brooding momma?

[dhansen]

I heard a lady in the feed store talking about buying a few chicks to sneak under her hen that was sitting on a nest of eggs. Can this really be done? If so, how? I'm sure it's not as easy as it sounds. Any help would be great! Surely someone else has heard of this, right?
Debbie

 

[hatchcrazzzy]

what would you do with eggs she is sitting on

 

[skeeter9]

I don't see how you could do this. The hen would have to leave the nest to take care of the chicks, which would kill the developing eggs. You could probably do it if the eggs hatched, so there are already chicks under the momma, then sneak them in at night.

Lori

 

[tiffanyh]

Usually the hen is sitting on blank eggs and you slip under chicks and remove the blank eggs at night. I did it twice this spring. I got the idea here. You have to wait until she has been sitting for a few weeks or it may not work. And apparently it doesnt always work, but it has for me so far. Do a search on it, there are many threads on it.

If she is sitting on fertile eggs you would obviously mess up the hatch.

 

[dhansen]

I guess I need to give a little more info. The momma has chicks hatching as I write. I just don't want her to know the added chicks are not hers and then kill them. That would be too sad. I probably need to just be grateful for the little ones she is hatching. They sure are cute!
Thanks!debbie

 

[jimnjay]

If she has just hatched chicks you can sometimes slip other chicks under her at night and she will not know the difference. They should be very young also. If they are two to three weeks old there can be problems with the chicks and the mama.

 

[hinkjc]

Yup..what Jaynie said. And you want to do it within a day or two of them hatching..kinda while she's still sitting a lot. I found that works best and definitely at night.

Jody

 

[speckledhen]

I sent my friend Lynn some Barred Rock eggs and they hatched during the time that her Easter Egger hen went broody. She'd only been broody about a week or so when she slipped the lone hatchling underneath her and it was love at first sight.
I agree that if she has chicks currently hatching, that is the time to do it. She won't know which ones are not hers.

 

[silkiechicken]

I've slipped a week and a half old chick under a hen who was broody for 5 weeks... took to it like it was a day old and the chick didn't understand why it's new mom kept sitting on it! It works, but keep a close eye on it and give them to her at night.

 

[FluffyChickenMama]

I was wondering about that myself.. I have a hen sitting on nothing.. she will lay a egg everyday.. I take it away from her but she never leaves the nest.. I was wondering if I could sneak a chick under her.. now I just gotta find a chick..