Broody hen :( Can i give her chicks?

[boykin2010]

I have a broody hen that is about to get on my nerves she has gotten mean lately and is trying to hatch eggs that are infertile. ( I dont have a rooster )

I am hatching chicks right now from a friend and so far i have about 12 chicks hatch. Can i just slip one of the chicks under her? Will this solve the broody problems?
Is there anything i need to do to help her raise a chick or two

 

[boykin2010]

Oh and by the way she is a bantam hen so she may not be able to raise but 2 or 3 of the chicks.

 

[Chickengal505]

Yes, about day 21 for her you can slip a few chicks under her after she goes to sleep

 

[xyresicchick]

my hen was the same way, i gave her some eggs that i had incubating that were due this week. she was broody for 3 weeks on clear eggs, wooden eggs, ceramic eggs etc!

she just hatched her first baby today! there are 2 pips, and 3 still nothing yet. but she is being a great mama.

i dont know if you can put a chick under a broody without her noticing. maybe if she is sleeping at night. maybe someone else would know the answer to that one

 

[queenbeezz]

Gotta love the forum. I have the same question. I have a Cochin that is broody and cranky. I have an order of Jersey Giants arriving on Wednesday, can I put the chicks with her? Will she adopt them?

 

[sourland]

The closer the hen is to 21 days of broodiness, the greater the chance of success. Hens that have previously raised chicks accept adoptees quite regularly.

 

[elizabethbinary]

My broodies go so far as to accept sneaky ducklings!

 

[caboose1]

I just did that very thing. My hen hatched one egg during the night, Tuesday. The next night, I stuffed four others under her. One was almost three weeks old (yellow). One was a week and a half old (yellow). The two others were under a week old (blue). My hen rejected the two older ones -- yellows. She is now raising the remaining three who happen to be very young and all dark colored. I stuffed them under her while she was asleep. We were very quiet while doing this and, as you can see, there is not much of a moon, so it was very dark. I do not know if she rejected the two because they were yellow or older or for some other reason. Last night, I stuffed the same two yellows back under to see how that would play out. This morning, the two were excluded and attacked when they tried to eat and drink. I will not try again. So, it worked for me, but, I allowed my hen to hatch one egg.

 

[chickstofeed]

you can try to slip chicks under her at night but be prepared to take them back and put them in a brooder

 

[xyresicchick]

birds can see color. they also know when babies are actually babies.... 3 weeks old is like a toddler/young child by chicken standards. by 8 weeks old chicks start to roost with their mothers... much like a school aged human child will get that independence streak.... and if you think about chickens starting to lay at 18 weeks old..... thats like an 11-14 year old human girl having their first visit by "mother nature"...

so i would say color might have something to do with it.... but if those babies were much younger she would have probably still taken them. she was probably scared the big chicks would hurt her "real" chick. i am sure it had more to do with their size and antics than color.