Broody adopting 4-week-old chicks - question about heat

[K0k0shka]

I have the same question--my broody hatched 5 chicks 5 days ago and I just ordered 3 day old chicks due to arrive in a week (with hopes that mom will take the new ones in to raise). Do you all think it will be ok to just slip them into the coop with mom at night when they arrive? It would be 5 chicks almost 2 weeks old, adding in 3 day olds. I don't want to set up a separate brooder for the newbies if at all possible. Do you think mom will accept the littler ones ok?

You can try it and see how it goes, but supervise closely and have a plan B in case she rejects them. Almost 2 weeks old is still young enough that the chicks themselves are more likely to accept each other, which will help the hen accept them, too. With my chicks, I think I did it a bit too late. At first, the hen was very receptive and accepted the new chicks fine. But soon after, her two males started challenging the newcomers, and she really didn’t like that. Her boys turned her against the new chicks, and she started pecking them and chasing them away from hers. Even if her males weren’t present. I isolated her with just the new chicks - totally fine. Brought her female over - she suddenly started chasing the new chicks away. I ended up rehoming all 3 of her chicks, hoping she’d focus on the new chicks. But that broke her brood and she is now back to her non-broody self. Doesn’t harass the new chicks, but doesn’t mother them either. Which works for me, as long as they are safe.