Can I get my hen to adopt baby chicks?

[iluvpeeps]

I have this tiny hen named Fry and I'm pretty sure she's half Serama and half Silkie. She went broody and I took the eggs away from her but she went broody AGAIN and I let her try to hatch them that time. One of them hatched and is now almost a month old. In april I'm getting three day old chicks and i'm hoping that she will adopt them. I just don't know how i'm going to do it though. I've heard that a hen will adopt baby chicks if she goes broody and is sitting on the eggs and then you give her the chicks? One of the ways I've been thinking about doing it is that when she goes broody again and the chicks arrive, that night, i'll put the chicks underneath her, but i'm not sure if that will work. Also for her to go broody she has to be done with her chick she has now. Her chick she has right now will be grown up by then right? If anybody has any suggestions of what I should, do please post.

 

[sumi]

She would have weaned her current chick by April and all you can do is keep you ringers crossed she'll go broody before you get the chicks. Thing is a hen needs to sit on eggs for about 2 weeks or longer before you can swap the eggs for chicks successfully. They seem to have a "biological clock" that tells them when to expect babies and if you do the swap too soon it may not work. I hope she'll play along and go broody when needed!

 

[iluvpeeps]

I really hope so