Broody hen........

[The Chickeneer]

I have a broody hen that is sitting on only one egg, and its the fake egg

. I have some incubator chicks i wana give to her, which is the best way to give them to her, I tried to give them to her a few days a go but she didnt take them. I apreciate any advice thanks

 

[franh]

Hi

Sorry to hear thats she rejected them but if you're going to try again I would do it quickly as them seem to know the difference between day olds and older chicks. I think it is something to do with the chicks already knowing how to feed themselves and the mum trying to teach them.

Anyway might still be worth a go, I put some incubator chicks under a broody this summer and all worked out fine. I brought the chicks to her at the end of the afternoon and left them in a box next to the broody nest but out of sight and left them to cheep away for about an hour. This is so hopefully the hen is tricked into thinking that her eggs are hatching and get her out of broody mode and into mummy mode. Then when it is getting dark (not complete dark as you need to check whats going on after) put the box in front of the hen, this will hopefully make her feel protective of her chicks that are 'hatching' and pull the egg from under her and then replace with a live chick or two, wait a few moments and see how she reacts. You might want to put the egg back under at the same time as the chicks so you can get it back out again when you repeat the process.

After introducing the new chicks leave her be for about 10 mins and go and see how she's getting on, if she's cooing at them its a winner. Dont be too put off if one or two chicks are out from underneath her and it might not be her but the chicks who need to learn that she's now mum, just pop them back under her. I would check on them every 10 mins for at the first hour just in case you need to pull them back.

And thank god they cant count, my broody that I introduced chicks to had been sitting on three eggs and ended up with 14 chicks, tho she did start looking at me funnily when I was putting chick 14 and 15 under her

Good luck

 

[Animalian]

I've also heard of people blowing eggs, cracking them and putting them under the hen with the chick so it looks like its hatched. Birds are very visual. And I guess anything helps

Good luck