Can you place a chick under a broody hen, sucessfully? suggestions?

[phoenix rooster]

my hens have been broody for 3 weeks has anyone had any problems or success? i have 8 chicks bought today and 3 broody hens. how do i do this sucessfully? please help.

 

[Mahonri]

The younger the chick the better and night time is best. Some will take them, others won't you'll have to monitor.

 

[kcardella]

I had a broody hen last year that sat unsuccessfully on some guinea eggs. She just kept sitting, so I went to the feed store and purchased 6 chicks. I waited until nightfall, and carefully placed the chicks under her wings. I stayed around to make sure she did not peck at them, but she didn't move, and they snuggled right down. She successfully raised those chicks with no problems. Just make sure you do it at night, and be prepared to raise them yourself if she rejects them.

 

[kbmead]

Yes, do it at night and monitor. Last year, we had 2 hens that hatched chicks within a few days of each other. We had everyone together in a big happy family (so we thought). Then one mother attacked one of the other hen's chicks, and pecked its eye quite badly. So we separated the mothers and chicks from each other until they were about a month old.

Apparently, while the chicks are hatching, the mother hears the peeps and attaches to her babies' unique voice. Later, she can identify her own chicks, and some mother hens will be hostile to chicks that are not their own. Since your guys are already hatched, the hens have not had that early identification time. But if you get them under while the hens sleep, maybe that will do the trick. I would recommend separating the 3 mommas from each other with their babies, or just give babies to 2 of the mommas.

Good luck!

 

[shay20]

I did last night. my broody hen just hatched 2 eggs, so i stuck her other 2 that i hatched under her, and whala she takes care of all of them.

 

[cackler]

We got a hen from a friend in April who told us to watch out because she'll go off and have a nest and pretty soon there'll be chicks. We never saw her lay eggs in the nesting boxes like the rest of the girls. We do not have any roosters. Today we saw her and then she vanished. We found her tucked away in the barn sitting on 15 eggs! We replaced the eggs with 12 fertile guinea eggs. We don't know if it'll work or not.

It seems that it'll give her something to do at least.

but not sure if it will work at all.

 

[phoenix rooster]

So here is an update on placing baby chicks with 3 broody hens after they had been broody for 3-4 weeks.

I placed 1 under 2 broodies at night and left the rest in the coop in a cardboard box with a brooder light and food/water. i let them chirp all night so that all 3 broodies would warm up to them. In the morning I brought the rest of the 6 chickens out and placed them in the same areas as the other baby chickens.

The baby chicks hung out with each other and then went to the broody hens and it all worked out great. now I have 3 broody hens caring for a total of 8 chicks. I then began removing the eggs that never hatched from the chickens.

This was a good success, I hope someone else can learn from the experience. My hens were 1 australorp and 2 banty cochins. Now i dont have to deal with raising the young ones.

 

[susand24224]

My Australorp was great! I wish I could clone her--

I snuck five chicks under her at night, and the next morning she had accidentally (I assume) squished one; but was mothering the other four. Not want a repeat performance of the squish, I took the remaining three during the day and placed them in front of her--she almost immediately clucked and they ran toward their old friends and new Mama. The chicks were several days old.

I was very happy with this experiment--has anyone noticed differences in different breeds?

 

[alanb]

My Question is what is the best batam breeds to keep for setting on egg's ? and where can I find them ? .... ALAN B ... E-mail if you wish to "[email protected]" , and Thankyou .

 

[kcardella]

I'm glad it worked out - good luck!

I am going to set some guinea eggs under my broody hen in a few days.