Can i put these 2 under my broody?

[Jgarza77]

I was just gifted these 2 bantam chick's very unexpectedly. We currently have 3 hens, one of which is a cochin bantam who is on her 2nd week of broody. She's not sitting on eggs and has never hatched before. Could we try letting her sit on these chicks? Do I need to worry about quarantine? Need advice!

 

[_-Captain BRM-_]

Wait until tonight when it's dark. That's when chickens are at their calmest. Then slip the chicks under your hen and wait. If the hen gets flighty, pull them asap. If she lets them cuddle in her feathers, you should be just fine. Give her 5 minutes and if all goes well, Ta da.

Another method is sticking them in a cage together and let them bond but I've only ever done that with waterfowl, who tend to be less aggressive towards each other.

 

[Jgarza77]

Thank you for responding. I've always heard that you should quarantine new birds for 4 weeks but wasn't sure if that was only for adults or chicks too

 

[Mamatomany123]

Thank you for responding. I've always heard that you should quarantine new birds for 4 weeks but wasn't sure if that was only for adults or chicks too

That depends on where you got these chicks. If you got them from a hatchery or store that orders from a hatchery then I say they're fine. If you got them from a backyard breeder then I would 100%quarantine

 

[Jgarza77]

That depends on where you got these chicks. If you got them from a hatchery or store that orders from a hatchery then I say they're fine. If you got them from a backyard breeder then I would 100%quarantine

We got them from a local farm, but they were ordered from a hatchery

 

[Mamatomany123]

We got them from a local farm, but they were ordered from a hatchery

I would quarantine. You don't know if that farm has anything such as MG or mareks.

 

[raingarden]

I quarantine everything. Even if I hatched them from shipped eggs. They stay in quarantine until I can not longer remember how long they have been here.

 

[Jgarza77]

Update! It's been almost 2 months so we started taking them outside for field trips about 3 weeks ago. Our adult hens don't seem to mind them but we have a guinea fowl who looks like she wants to chase them. Would it be better to just crate the guinea and let the little ones integrate with our 2 hens? They are very gentle, a bantam brahma and bantam cochin.