Broody momma doesn’t want her babies. What do I do?

[Skyleen13]

I’ve got a broody buff orphington that I’ve been breaking for the last 5 months. I finally let her sit on some eggs to hatch. However, I had 2 other gals who constantly were trying to nest with her & pitched a huge fit when I separated her & her nest from them. As a result I took her eggs & incubated them in my incubator while she sat on fake eggs. Now they’ve hatched but momma doesn’t want them. I put the eggs under when they started to pip. Right after they hatched she would peck at them so I removed them.
My question is how do I proceed? Should I try to put them under her at night? How do I help them become a family?

 

[theoldchick]

You are going to have to raise them as if you purchased them from a store. Raise them in a controlled environment that is warm with plenty of feed and water with proper lighting. https://www.thechickentractor.com.au/a-timeline-for-raising-baby-chicks/
If you do try sneaking chicks under mom during the night, watch them closely and see how she responds.

 

[RooStar Chicken Gang]

Just raise them urself now because U hatched em. Next time and it's just my opinion and I'm not telling U off here.. but I'd have just let the chooks do what they wanted even if there was multiple ones sitting on the eggs.

It's interesting though because U answered a question I once asked on here but got no reply for. The question was if U hatch out baby chooks will or does the parents of those birds know it's there babies some how? And do they look after them.. I guess U have discovered this.

 

[Swbertrand1]

I’ve got a broody buff orphington that I’ve been breaking for the last 5 months. I finally let her sit on some eggs to hatch. However, I had 2 other gals who constantly were trying to nest with her & pitched a huge fit when I separated her & her nest from them. As a result I took her eggs & incubated them in my incubator while she sat on fake eggs. Now they’ve hatched but momma doesn’t want them. I put the eggs under when they started to pip. Right after they hatched she would peck at them so I removed them.
My question is how do I proceed? Should I try to put them under her at night? How do I help them become a family?

Likely you're going to have to raise them in a brooder. If the mama hen is rejecting them (pecking at them is not accepting them), it's unlikely that she will accept them if you place them under her at night.

Worse, unless you're there when everyone wakes in the morning, you're likely to come to the nest box to find dead chicks. Get your brooder set up for baby chicks, and bring them inside...

 

[Skyleen13]

You are going to have to raise them as if you purchased them from a store. Raise them in a controlled environment that is warm with plenty of feed and water with proper lighting. https://www.thechickentractor.com.au/a-timeline-for-raising-baby-chicks/
If you do try sneaking chicks under mom during the night, watch them closely and see how she responds.

I’ve raised plenty of chicks up to this point. I’ve just never had a momma reject babies that hatched under her before.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I’ve raised plenty of chicks up to this point. I’ve just never had a momma reject babies that hatched under her before.

Possibly she's a good setter (5 months!) but not a good mom.

 

[Aunt Angus]

You can try again at night now that they're hatched. It sometimes takes a couple of tries. That said, I had a broody reject chicks. I had a spare broody who gleefully adopted them, but I was prepared to raise them myself.

 

[theoldchick]

I’ve raised plenty of chicks up to this point. I’ve just never had a momma reject babies that hatched under her before.

They usually don't unless there is too much interference from people or other members of the flock. However, I thought the eggs were put in a an incubator to develop? Anyway, you will occasionally find a hen who will kill her chicks-especially a first timer.

 

[yakitori]

Just raise them urself now because U hatched em. Next time and it's just my opinion and I'm not telling U off here.. but I'd have just let the chooks do what they wanted even if there was multiple ones sitting on the eggs.

It's interesting though because U answered a question I once asked on here but got no reply for. The question was if U hatch out baby chooks will or does the parents of those birds know it's there babies some how? And do they look after them.. I guess U have discovered this.

I incubated and hatched 5 eggs, they actually zipped and hatched in my hands. I then gave them to the broody who was sitting on 2 of her own, and she accepted them readily. This is a broody that i trust, and trusts me in return....

So I guess the answer is, they probably don’t know if it’s their eggs, but some are more ready to reject chicks than others.

 

[Skyleen13]

They usually don't unless there is too much interference from people or other members of the flock. However, I thought the eggs were put in a an incubator to develop? Anyway, you will occasionally find a hen who will kill her chicks-especially a first timer.

Sorry. Let me clarify. The other 2 hens who kept wanting to help out were crushing the eggs while they shuffled around my broody. Of the 10 she started with we lost 4 before I pulled them. They were already a week on when I did. Once the babies started to pip I put the eggs back under her to finish hatching. Only 4 made it to that point. I placed the eggs in front of her & she rolled them underneath her. However, as soon as the babies hatched & started moving underneath her she didn’t like it. At 1st she simply kept tucking them back under her when they tried to look out from her feathers. After a few hours though she started pecking at them. I removed them from her at that point. Thing is I had those other 2 hens who were very interested in all the peeping coming from her feathers. She may have felt threatened by them. Not sure. Last night I placed them again under her & this time no reaction. Checked again this morning at dawn & she was doing just fine with them. Going to keep checking on them all day to be sure.