Broody hen with 3 week chicks

[Mammasloth]

I have a hen who is broody for the first time ever. She has been broody going on a week with eggs that will never hatch. I have in my brooder 15 3 week old chicks and I took one down to her last night. Today it is still doing well. My question and concern is would she take more that 12 chicks and chicks that are 3 weeks old like that one but bigger due to breed. Or should I just let her have a few smaller chicks so she stops egg stealing. I have never had a broody hen so this is new to me

 

[NatJ]

I have a hen who is broody for the first time ever. She has been broody going on a week with eggs that will never hatch. I have in my brooder 15 3 week old chicks and I took one down to her last night. Today it is still doing well. My question and concern is would she take more that 12 chicks and chicks that are 3 weeks old like that one but bigger due to breed. Or should I just let her have a few smaller chicks so she stops egg stealing. I have never had a broody hen so this is new to me

If she took the one chick happily, I would try giving her one or two more. If she keeps taking them happily, maybe give her more each day until the brooder is empty so you don't have an extra pen of chicks to tend.

I suspect that going from one chick to a dozen at once would be confusing to her, which is why I suggest adding them over several days. Maybe each day you could add as many chicks as she already has (so when she has 1, add another one. When she has 2, add 2 more. When she has 4, add 4 more.) Hens do not seem to really count chicks, but I think they do a certain amount of learning for how to deal with one, several, or large numbers of babies at once.

If the weather is cold, they all need to be able to squeeze underneath her at night to stay warm. But given the season, and the fact that they are already 3 weeks old, that may not be an issue. Chicks that cannot fit underneath may be content to snuggle up beside the hen, which might provide as much warmth as they need (depends on the temperatures and on how feathered the chicks are.)

You seem to have a slightly unusual hen.
Most hens are not ready to accept chicks when they have been broody for only one week. But yours obviously accepted one.
It is usually more successful to give very young chicks to a hen, rather than ones that are already three weeks old. But yours apparently accepted this one.
So your hen is doing something that only a few other hens would do.

I'll be curious to hear how it goes over the next few days and weeks!

 

[Mammasloth]

Well I hatched this hen a few years back and she had moved positions in the nesting box with the chick so she could face our rooster ( he isn’t breeding them) and our other hen ( she’s a rir and will kill chicks) and would not let me check on the baby since I couldn’t hear or see it. She got feisty

 

[Mammasloth]

So I put another chick in. But prior to that the first one was nestled under the rooster and the hen and the rooster was guarding it from me

 

[NatJ]

So I put another chick in. But prior to that the first one was nestled under the rooster and the hen and the rooster was guarding it from me

Sounds very promising!

 

[Mammasloth]

ok well she took both of them but the others started getting to big for the brooder and she tried killing the calico princess chicks i have but none of the others so her and the rooster got separated from their babies. i do feel bad but the babies will be safe instead of out in the woods with mom and dad. but mom was not anywhere to be seen while dad sat by the coop all day today. she could (i am hoping) be in the woods mad at me but what to i do. i dont want the babies trying to squeez through the fence and risk injury?

 

[NatJ]

ok well she took both of them but the others started getting to big for the brooder and she tried killing the calico princess chicks i have but none of the others

Hens can be funny that way, objecting to some colors of chicks but not other ones.

so her and the rooster got separated from their babies.

That sounds like a good choice, given the circumstances.

i do feel bad but the babies will be safe instead of out in the woods with mom and dad. but mom was not anywhere to be seen while dad sat by the coop all day today. she could (i am hoping) be in the woods mad at me but what to i do. i dont want the babies trying to squeez through the fence and risk injury?

It sounds like the dad may be safe to stay with the babies (unless he proves otherwise), but I'm not sure what else to suggest.

 

[Mammasloth]

our lil rooster is now in the coop and is letting all 15 cuddle/climb all over him with no issues

 

[BDutch]

I have a hen who is broody for the first time ever. She has been broody going on a week with eggs that will never hatch. I have in my brooder 15 3 week old chicks and I took one down to her last night. Today it is still doing well. My question and concern is would she take more that 12 chicks and chicks that are 3 weeks old like that one but bigger due to breed. Or should I just let her have a few smaller chicks so she stops egg stealing. I have never had a broody hen so this is new to me

Are you very sure the eggs are not fertile? Is the rooster so small he cant make the hens to sit? The deed only takes a few seconds. I havent seen a cockerel getting on a hen to mate very often. Only the last cockerel was so active , it was hard to miss.

If the hen sits on eggs for a week you can see some veins and a spot moving in the egg with a good torch in the dark if the eggshell is not too dark.

Cant give any further advice bc I have no experience, with giving incubated chicks to a broody. But its nice to hear the rooster is a good dad.

 

[Mammasloth]

so the hen took two living chicks. but the thing is that they are all black except the calico princess (two) so she tried killing the two cp's. sadly after i kicked her and the rooster out for the chicks safety she got taken by a predator. but since then the rooster has taken the dad roll with all 15