Broody Hen and ordered chicks?

[LAS1315]

Hi! I have 7 chicks coming in 2 weeks from a hatchery and a hen has started being broody a couple of days ago. What are the chances I can just sneak those little Nuggets under her?? She's a pretty chill welsummer hen. This is the second time she's gone broody this year.

 

[Livia Ammon]

What I know about broodies is that they have a timer, so to speak, and they will not accept chicks until the 21 day of their brooding. I’d wait until then and use fake eggs so she doesn’t hatch extras

 

[nuthatched]

What I know about broodies is that they have a timer, so to speak, and they will not accept chicks until the 21 day of their brooding. I’d wait until then and use fake eggs so she doesn’t hatch extras

A hen can accept chicks from about 2 weeks on, give or take a few days, depending upon the hen.

 

[NatJ]

Hi! I have 7 chicks coming in 2 weeks from a hatchery and a hen has started being broody a couple of days ago. What are the chances I can just sneak those little Nuggets under her?? She's a pretty chill welsummer hen. This is the second time she's gone broody this year.
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It might work. I would give her fake eggs for now, so she's got something to sit on until the chicks arrive.

What I have done that worked sometimes:
--let the hen sit on fake eggs until the chicks are available

--pick up the chicks from the post office and put them immediately into a brooder with a heat lamp, food, and water. This lets them warm up and eat and drink.

--that evening after dark, put two or three chicks underneath the hen and take away all fake eggs. If you have several colors of chicks, give her one of each.

--the next day, if all goes well, she will still be sitting on the nest. (It takes her a certain amount of time to switch into chick-care mode: if she was on real eggs, this would give time for any slowpoke eggs to hatch.) The chicks will be mostly underneath her, but will pop out to eat and drink and look around. Make sure there is food & water available for them. Meanwhile, the other chicks are still in the brooder eating and drinking and generally doing chick things.

--the evening of that day, after dark, put the rest of the chicks underneath the hen. She now has them all (one set put in the night before, one now.)

--the day after that, the hen is likely to get off the nest and lead the chicks around looking for food. You want them in a safe pen (no chick-sized openings for them to get out). The pen should not be too big: maybe 6 feet or less in each direction. That makes sure the chicks cannot get too far away from the hen and get lost or cold.

--If all continues to go well, a few days later you can start letting them out into a bigger area if you want. By then, the hen should be used to looking out for chicks, and the chicks should be used to staying near her and coming when she clucks.

On the other hand, if things do not go well, the broody might attack the chicks. Or she might attack chicks of just one color. Or she might ignore the chicks. Or the chicks might ignore her. Or the chicks might get stuck somewhere (in the waterer, through a crack of the pen, fall out of a raised nestbox and can't get back up, etc.) Some of these problems can be avoided (make their pen safe), others you just have to deal with (if the hen attacks chicks, take them away and brood them yourself.)