Broody hen and day old chick fail

[Boccom]

and as you said you think they dont not that they dont I think they use all senses besides taste probably

 

[centrarchid]

and as you said you think they dont not that they dont I think they use all senses besides taste probably

I think based on trying to introduce chicks more than a few times and taking notes on when they worked out verses when they did not.

 

[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.

 

[centrarchid]

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.

Theories? Experience based on one event that may not represent overall pattern?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Theories. Reasons why they might do things a certain way. That's the scientific method. You present a theory and see if it is repeatable. But you also try things to show that it doesn't always work. If it doesn't work the same way each and every time it's not a scientific law.

Animals do have tendencies. I'll often predict what I think might happen or is most likely to happen. But I'm not surprised if the result is different than I thought it might be. With my experience with living animals that happens a lot.

 

[Severne]

Or you could buy fertile eggs

 

[aart]

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.

Think about an earlier integration:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

 

[Boccom]

yeah 8 to 10 is way too much too wait for integration you could have just made sure the hen was sleeping when you integrated

 

[Chickiechickieboomboom]

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.

Thank you! Yes, I guess it was just too early. But I didn't want to wait too long and then have them be too old for her

Think about an earlier integration:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

Oh jeez, now I'm second guessing my whole plan!

I had planned on putting the chicks out in my small coop with an attached run at 3 weeks old, until they were big enough to defend themselves from the others (who live in the big coop and free range, no run). I thought they'd all be able to see but not touch each other to get used to each other.