Broody hen stopped the day my new chicks arrived

[castlefarms]

I scoured the threads and I don’t think this has been posted before! And just my luck of course, my broody hen closing in on 21 days has deciding to snap out of it the exact day our 4 new chicks arrived.

My plan was to slip them to her tonight and remove her 4 eggs I’ve been letting her keep while she’s been nesting on the coop straw bed under the roosts but now I’m hesitant since seeing her out and about today.

She has been pretty adamant about not leaving her nest except maybe once per day early am and now she’s hanging in the run with the other hens. She is a Lavender Orpington and by far my broodiest, sweetest, most skittish hen, and low in the pecking order.

Do you think I still have a chance to try to get her to adopt these chicks tonight or am I brooding them now?

Many thanks!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

I would wait until dark, see if she's gone back to the nest. If she has, then try putting the chicks under her. Go out early/first light and check, she may not accept them. Broodies can be a mixed bag, even proven ones at times.

If she's roosting at dark, you're brooding the babies yourself.

 

[castlefarms]

thanks so much for the quick response!

she hopped back on the nest as soon I posted so let’s hope she stays there tonight too. I will update how it goes, prepared to brood myself if not well

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

 

[Mrs. K]

Make sure your chicks have a drink of water. Then put them out in a box in the dark and let them get a little chilled. They should be peeping madly. Keep them a little ways away from the coop, but so that she can hear them. Let them chill at least 10 minutes, it seems heartless but it is not, but it will make the chick look for the hen.

Then with as little light as possible, sneak in with the loudly peeping chicks, and stick them under her. If she bites, wear a sweatshirt and gloved, just keep sticking them in there, it turns out that there is a lot of empty space under a hen. Do not be alarmed if she peck at them if they crawl out, just shove them back in there, but if they are cold enough, they won't crawl out.

Cold chicks will burrow in tight as ticks, their movement under her is what seems to flip the broody hormone to leave the trance state and become active mothering state. Her cluck should change and the peeps should become silent.

Then for the hard part - leave! A lot of times, people interfering with the best of intentions is what breaks the broody bonding.

Mrs K

 

[Wyorp Rock]

thanks so much for the quick response!

she hopped back on the nest as soon I posted so let’s hope she stays there tonight too. I will update how it goes, prepared to brood myself if not well

This sounds promising!

Hope she takes them. Let us know how it goes.

Fwiw - IF the weather is hot and humid, a broody hen may stay off a nest longer than you (we, I) *think* she should. I've had broodies stay off a nest for hottest part of the day for several days when temps are in the high 80s and especially 90s. I've had successful hatches when broodies leave the nest when it's hot. I've worried and fretted but left them to their own devices. Mama returns to the nest in late afternoon and sits tight all night in cooler temps, then once it's hot again, she's off. Can't say this is always the case, but possible this is why your hen was seen wandering about - too hot to sit.

 

[castlefarms]

Good bright and early morning over here in 5b!

At 4 am, we traded Ophelia some eggs for chilly, peeping babies (fair trade I’d say, considering) and though she pecked me mercilessly and poor Splash once on the head thinking it was my hand, it went rather smoothly I think.
She did not make any noises in the process at all which I thought was a little odd but hopefully she just went into mommy mode that quickly. I left them with little Pilgrim popping her head through Mom’s wing and all chicks were silent.

I will go check on them here shortly before sunrise to ensure all is still well and post another quick update.

She is currently in the corner off the roost but the 4 other hens do have pretty close, open access to her and her new chicks. I’ve read the other threads on here + other sites and they’ve generally said to leave them altogether if possible. Though I could’ve sworn I saw that recommendation combined with a photo of the mother hen sitting with her chicks thru a wire mesh screen..

Thoughts if she’s happily accepted the babes? I bet my other hens will be interested, so is she going to have to serve a low-level-pecking-order-a** whooping or should I save them all the stress and separate her + babies with a little wire barrier so they can all still see/smell each other?

Lastly and my apologies if this is common knowledge here in the BYC threads - I am too pre-coffee to check at the moment - will she be parading them around as soon as today or will she be nest / coop bound with them for a little while? They are 3-day old chicks if that makes any difference.

Thanks to you both, your advice sincerely helped quell my fears and allowed me to sleep a bit and made it (seemingly so far!) go super smoothly. Update again shortly!

 

[castlefarms]

Unrelated faceplanted sunbathing picture

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Hope she takes the little chicks! I wanted to do this with my hen but was worried about her accepting them!

 

[aart]

will she be parading them around as soon as today or will she be nest / coop bound with them for a little while? They are 3-day old chicks if that makes any difference.

Hard to say since they are 3 days old they'll need to eat and drink.
They'll need a feeder and waterer on the ground to reach and the other birds may try to interfere with that.