Broody hen and day old chick fail

[Chickiechickieboomboom]

My hen had been broody for 13 days, and I had just received 1 day old baby chicks, so I decided to give them to her. I waited until 10:30 last night, and in the cover of darkness, I brought the chicks to her. As soon as I placed the first chick near her, she grew agitated and began angrily attacking it. I brought all the chicks back inside into my brooder. So now I have a broody hen, on day 14, with no hope of raising babies. I feel horrible for her. She has plucked all her chest feathers and now I have to try to break her of her broodiness and I feel so at fault for attempting this. Do you think it was just too soon, being broody for only 13 days?

I also need advice on breaking her broodiness. Since I'm home all the time, can I just keep an eye on her and pull her off the nest if she tries to sit? I don't want to cage her in a dog crate if I don't have to.

 

[Severne]

Just let her hatch the eggs she had.

 

[Boccom]

Just let her hatch the eggs she had.

Exactly

 

[centrarchid]

Introduction done too early. Day 18 into incubation cycle is the earliest I attempt introducing chicks to a broody hen. Day 19 to 21 plus is better as hen is open to imprinting on chicks at that time. There are windows when hens and chicks can bond on each other.

 

[centrarchid]

when you do intorduce the chicks make sure their under her and shes sleeping if they arent under her they wont smell like her and she will kill them

I do not think the hen uses smell to identify chicks. As far as I can tell, they do not use vision either except after decision is made to peck. They use sound. If you place a couple strange chicks under a hen where the chicks look like hers, she has little trouble figuring out who the strangers are even if they are under her.

 

[Chickiechickieboomboom]

Just let her hatch the eggs she had.

They were not fertilized, I don't have a rooster. I only let her stay broody because I knew my chicks were arriving soon and I wanted to have her raise them, as I've heard others here have done.

My broody hen is actually doing really well. She roosted with the rest of the flock last night, and hasn't been on her nest at all today, and I only had to pull her off a few times yesterday. So she seems to not be too traumatized. Thank goodness.

My new chicks are inside in a brooder now. They'll go to the grow out coop in a few weeks, where they'll be separate but still seen by the flock, and then around 8-10 weeks I'll start the process of integration. Not exactly how I was hoping to do this but it'll work.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My broody hen is actually doing really well. She roosted with the rest of the flock last night, and hasn't been on her nest at all today, and I only had to pull her off a few times yesterday. So she seems to not be too traumatized. Thank goodness.

Don't worry about traumatizing her. Being broody is hormone driven. When the hormones change they are back to normal. You are causing yourself unnecessary anguish.

I think your problem was that she wasn't that broody to begin with, not if she was that easy to break. Being broody is hormone driven and not all produce the same amounts of hormones. Some are more committed than others. I've given chicks to hens that had been broody a shorter time and it worked. I've also had failures with short-time broodies. I had a broody accept one color and reject another.

We can have all the theories as to why some things work that we want, but the bottom line is that we are dealing with living animals. You can never tell how it will work out until you try. I think you made a valiant effort but unfortunately this time it did not work.

If you were going to raise one inside anyway and you only have three, I'd have kept them together. They are social animals and do best if they have a buddy or two.

 

[TK421]

I’m so sorry this happened. Do you think you could try again tomorrow night?

 

[Chickiechickieboomboom]

I’m so sorry this happened. Do you think you could try again tomorrow night?

I'm honestly afraid to try again, she was pretty vicious. But also, one of my chicks has a leg injury, I'm not sure if she'll survive, so I have to brood her inside anyway. So I think I'll just let the 2 healthy chicks keep her company and I'll have to encourage my broody to forget about her dream of having babies.

 

[Boccom]

when you do intorduce the chicks make sure their under her and shes sleeping if they arent under her they wont smell like her and she will kill them