Bringing chicks to a broody hen

[MollyHSmith]

I got rehomed my rooster two weeks ago, and that day one of my hens decided to go broody. Since then, two other hens have joined her. I know at least a few of their eggs are fertilized/growing, but I think the other two ladies joined the brooding party too late for their eggs to be fertilized.

My question is… could I place baby chicks from the feed store in their nests/under the hens? Is there danger for the chicks in doing that? And once the fertilized eggs hatch, will my other hens be cool with babies around, or should I separate them & mom until they grow bigger?

Any advice is appreciated! Thanks

 

[fluffycrow]

Hens can retain sperms for a few weeks, so it's very likely that more than half of those eggs are fertilized

If your hens accept the feed store chicks, they will most likely abandon their eggs

If they don't accept the feed store chicks, then they won't abandon their eggs, but they might kill the bought chicks

I'd say candle your existing eggs, and go from there

 

[Ridgerunner]

I got rehomed my rooster two weeks ago, and that day one of my hens decided to go broody. Since then, two other hens have joined her. I know at least a few of their eggs are fertilized/growing, but I think the other two ladies joined the brooding party too late for their eggs to be fertilized.

After a mating the eggs can be fertilize anywhere from 9 days to over three weeks. After two weeks the fertility rate drops off pretty rapidly but each is an individual. You never now how long they can stay viable.

After they have been incubated a week you might try candling to see how many, if any, are developing.

My question is… could I place baby chicks from the feed store in their nests/under the hens?

We do that all the time. Some people feel a hen has to be broody for three weeks before she will accept the chicks, I don't. Each hen is an individual. Some will adopt about anything at any time, some won't even at three weeks. I've seen a broody accept chicks after just a few days. I had a new broody reject chicks.

It's not just the hen accepting the chicks, the chicks have to accept the broody hen. The younger they are the more likely they are to do that. I think it works best if the chicks are three days old or less but sometimes even older chicks will work. There are no absolutes with this, sometimes it works beautifully, sometimes not. But it does often work.

Is there danger for the chicks in doing that?

Some but not much in my opinion. Others have reported a broody hen attacking the chicks and pecking them to death but from what I've seen with mine the ones that reject them try to run them away instead of hurt them. Still that running away could involve pecking.

The way I do it is to remove all eggs from the nest after dark and add the chicks. Then go out there at first light to see what is going on. If the hen is a danger to the chicks it is time to remove them and brood them myself. What I almost always see is the hen sitting there with the chicks under her, maybe with a head sticking out or even one roaming in the nest a bit. This is the hard part. Occasionally the hen may peck at the chick to tell it to get back under her where it is safe. She is not trying to hurt the chick but disciplining it to do what she tells it to do. She has accepted it as hers. It can be hard for someone looking to determine if it is a hard repeated peck trying to hurt the chick or her just disciplining it.

And once the fertilized eggs hatch, will my other hens be cool with babies around, or should I separate them & mom until they grow bigger?

Some hens can raise their own chicks with other hens raising chicks around her. Sometimes a hen wants to raise all of the chicks herself and will fight the other broody to take them over. I haven't seen it myself but some people say they've had a broody hen kill chicks under a different broody.

This is like a lot of things with chickens. Sometimes it works really well and sometimes it can be a disaster. Personally I don't allow two broody hens to have contact with each other, I keep them separated. I had two broody hens fight over a nest of hatching eggs and destroy half the eggs in the fight. Other people don't have problems like this.