Chicks not accepting broody hen. Heartbroken chook :(

bellz15

Songster
Jun 10, 2019
124
301
141
Western Australia
Hi guys, hoping to have a fairly simple question answered but I'll provide the backstory anyway.
Skip to the end if you like.

My endlessly broody wyandotte has proven to be a good mum in the past, hatching out a few eggs.
She's broody all the time and I have real trouble breaking her, she loses weight from her commitment and it just makes me a bit sad to watch how hard she tries.

This time, I wanted to see if she would accept day olds. I moved her from her favourite nesting box to an isolated pen, and ensured that she sat for half a day and was comfy.

I bought 4 lavender Araucana chicks. The guy told me they were day olds but as they had some wing feathers coming through, I assumed they might be more like 2 days old. I thought "they are still totally fluffy apart from those tiny wing feathers, I'm sure they will be young enough". When I mentioned the hen/chicks not bonding if chicks were more than a few days old, the guy said there was no problem and it will often work with chicks that are WEEKS old. I was sceptical but honestly much more worried about my wyandotte not accepting them, not the other way around.

Anyway as you can probably guess by now, my wyandotte did everything right, pecking them gently, cooing and clucking to call them to her etc. They just don't get it. They all stand together and ignore her. It was really quite a sad sight. I tried twice in the isolated pen before giving up (didn't want them to get cold).

I moved them to the brooder box and let the hen free, she raced to her favourite nesting box and fluffed up like a turkey.

One last ditch effort, I have put them underneath her in her nesting box (not an ideal spot I know) and they seem to be happy to sit there snoozing for now. She is talking to them and they are all zonked out from a stressful morning. I will keep an eye on them today, I'm hoping to see them interested in following her around.
Wondering if anyone else has achieved a bond after this much time and some failed attempts, or if it's just not going to happen at this point.

So my question is; Is there any point to keep trying to get them to bond to my hen, should I leave them under her for now or is it just a lost cause?
They are probably 3+ days old now.

Photo is her looking at me like "well I tried, what now?"
 

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I've done it with up to week old chicks. I always start by putting them under the hen at night.
Hopefully that works.
That's great news, I tried putting them under her last night but she stood up and sat down right next to them but they wouldn't come under her when she called. Will repeat again tonight if need be
 
That's great news, I tried putting them under her last night but she stood up and sat down right next to them but they wouldn't come under her when she called. Will repeat again tonight if need be
Do it in complete darkness ..... keep the chicks in the dark for a bit before hand so they are sleepy too
 

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