Broody hen with storebought chicks?

[Chickspa]

I have a hen who has been broody for 2 MONTHS now. I toss her out of the box twice a day, but she's persistent.

I also have four freeloaders and I'm not getting as many eggs as I would like, so I was thinking about getting four store-bought pullets and putting them under the broody hen. Good idea or terrible idea?

Also, she is in the main Coop right now, with all of our other chickens and our rooster. I have another Coop I can put her in with the babies, but would moving her be too disruptive?

I realize the easiest solution would be to let her hatch her own babies from the flock's eggs, but I I'm really tired of having to kill roosters every time we do that...

I do have a setup for raising chicks but I would rather have a real chicken do the work.

I would love some advice on this whole situation.

 

[J-Habs]

My friend has successfully put store bought chicks under a broody hen. I have not done it myself though. I myself have had a hen broody for almost 2 month. As soon as I separated her into another coop with no eggs, the broodiness broke.

 

[NatJ]

I have a hen who has been broody for 2 MONTHS now. I toss her out of the box twice a day, but she's persistent.

I also have four freeloaders and I'm not getting as many eggs as I would like, so I was thinking about getting four store-bought pullets and putting them under the broody hen. Good idea or terrible idea?

Also, she is in the main Coop right now, with all of our other chickens and our rooster. I have another Coop I can put her in with the babies, but would moving her be too disruptive?

I realize the easiest solution would be to let her hatch her own babies from the flock's eggs, but I I'm really tired of having to kill roosters every time we do that...

I do have a setup for raising chicks but I would rather have a real chicken do the work.

I would love some advice on this whole situation.

You could move her to the other pen now, and wait a few days to see what happens. If she stays broody, try giving her some chicks. If moving makes her quit being broody, then you can put her back in the coop but at least she's back to normal.

Or if you really want her to raise chicks, instead of moving her, just put the chicks under her where she is sitting. I would probably do that after dark one evening. If all goes well, they will spend the night getting acquainted (the chicks chirp, the hen clucks). The next morning you can move her and the chicks to another coop if you want-- at that point she will probably be happy to stay with the chicks, instead of trying to go back to her old nest.

If the hen does not accept the chicks, you will have to raise them yourself, using your existing setup for raising chicks.

 

[Chickspa]

You could move her to the other pen now, and wait a few days to see what happens. If she stays broody, try giving her some chicks. If moving makes her quit being broody, then you can put her back in the coop but at least she's back to normal.

Or if you really want her to raise chicks, instead of moving her, just put the chicks under her where she is sitting. I would probably do that after dark one evening. If all goes well, they will spend the night getting acquainted (the chicks chirp, the hen clucks). The next morning you can move her and the chicks to another coop if you want-- at that point she will probably be happy to stay with the chicks, instead of trying to go back to her old nest.

If the hen does not accept the chicks, you will have to raise them yourself, using your existing setup for raising chicks.

Thanks! I tried to move her today, putting food and water and four eggs in the other coop for her to sit on. She went crazy, running around and yelling, and ultimately jumped over the fence back into the yard of her original coop, and I found her an hour later back in her broody box. I guess I'm going to try putting some babies under her tonight. I'm assuming I need to put food and water in the brood box with her? It's such a small space!

 

[NatJ]

Thanks! I tried to move her today, putting food and water and four eggs in the other coop for her to sit on. She went crazy, running around and yelling, and ultimately jumped over the fence back into the yard of her original coop, and I found her an hour later back in her broody box. I guess I'm going to try putting some babies under her tonight. I'm assuming I need to put food and water in the brood box with her? It's such a small space!

No need for food and water in the dark. If she accepts the chicks, move her and the chicks to the other coop the next morning, and give them food & water there. That will be much easier than trying to put the food and water in the small nestbox space.

Regarding her going crazy: if you want her to quit being broody (instead of raising chicks), put her back there and cover it so she cannot get out. She will probably spend 2 or 3 days acting crazy, then settle down to normal not-broody behavior. Or else she will be crazy briefly, then decide to be broody in that coop where you put her, which is a more convenient place for chick-raising anyway. Since you already have a decision about what to do now, this is mostly something to consider next year, because there's a very good chance she will go broody then too

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Let us know how it goes putting the babies under her!

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

I recently did this with chicks I hatched in the incubator, both my hens accepted them overnight but rebelled when I moved them to another house the next day and ran back to their nests. If you can keep her and the chicks safe in her current nest, I would do that for a day or so before moving her. They will need food and water.

I build a little fence around the nest box and put food and water in there so the big chickens can’t get in and interfere with the bonding process. After a day the hen will realize they are her babies and give up on any eggs she sitting on. At that point she should accept moving to another location without a big problem.

 

[Chickspa]

Let us know how it goes putting the babies under her!

We got five. Two Cinnamon Queens, two black sex links, and one orpington. She took to them right away! I have a critter cam in the coop to see how it goes. You can see a little black beak peeking out from under her bum. I took one of the dividers out between two of the boxes so she could have a double wide box, and then I put chicken wire up to keep it enclosed from the other chickens. I put food and water in.

 

[Chickspa]

Let us know how it goes putting the babies under her!

 

[Farmgirl283420]

We got five. Two Cinnamon Queens, two black sex links, and one orpington. She took to them right away! I have a critter cam in the coop to see how it goes. You can see a little black beak peeking out from under her bum. I took one of the dividers out between two of the boxes so she could have a double wide box, and then I put chicken wire up to keep it enclosed from the other chickens. I put food and water in.

Yay! I’m glad she took them hopefully she’ll be a great momma!