My BR chicks are hatching today and I know someone with SS chicks that are hatching Sunday. Can I put those day old SS in with the chicks hatching today. Will my mother hen take care of them like her own chicks?
Yes she will. It would be better if she hatched them herself though. But she will take them and care for them. Mama hens are very motherly!
I would say probably not. The hen will have imprinted what her chicks look like by sunday and more than likely she will pick them and refuse them. The only way it would work is if they were hatched the same day and you stuck them under her before she leaves the nest. Then she would accept them. Every hen is different though and I suppose its worth a try, just be prepared to snach them up quick if she pecks them.
I recently "added" another chick to my best broody that was a week younger than her chicks, it usually works. Slip them under her after dark. We do it all of the time, never failed yet, knock on wood. Good luck
I will say it might work, I have had it work, and had it fail, try slipping it in at night, and see what happens, but best to have a backup plan, I have had them appear to accept the new one, then all of a sudden attack it, and it wasnt preatty. Dont just assume she has accepted it because she doesn't kick it out from underneath right away. The hen may accept it till she gets a good look/smell of it. Also the new chick may not accept the mom giving itself away as an intruder(sounds silly, but that is what the mom will see it as), and being a good mom she will protect her own.
