Chicks not bonding with adoptive mom

[Beth0202]

Hello,
I recently purchased 4 Guinea keets to place with my broody hen (chicken). The keets are about 4 days old and my hen readily 'adopted' them right away and is trying to care for them but they aren't really responding to her. They will stay huddled under her if I put them there but once they come out they ignore her. Is there anything I can do or are they just too old to bond with her?

Everyone always mentions hens rejecting chicks but I can't find much info on chicks rejecting hens!

Thanks

 

[chickens really]

Give it time..Trying to get two different species to bond sometimes won't work. Good thing Momma is trying

 

[Beth0202]

Good news! Keets are now responding to momma hen and all are doing well so far! It just took them a little time to figure it out. So far other adult chickens/rooster have accepted them as well. I'm hoping when they are older they'll be more likely to stay home after being raised with chickens. I've heard Guineas are difficult to train to come back to a coop at night..

 

[Chucky Whitemane]

Hey Beth! I was just looking online about this problem and then found your thread. How long did it take for the chick to finally respond to the adoptive mama? Mine were 4 day old too when I introduced them, and they spent yesterday's afternoon with the hen (I introduced them at daylight, and mama happily adopted), but the chick just wont respond to mama's call for food!

 

[AOrchard]

@Chucky Whitemane Mine took two days to get the idea and maybe two more to get good at it. I found it helped to keep them in a smaller space, and scatter scratch/treats by hand near the hen a few times a day. They understand by themselves that the scratch is food, so they'll come running at the same time as mom calls them. It doesn't take long before they learn to associate the two.

 

[Chucky Whitemane]

@Chucky Whitemane Mine took two days to get the idea and maybe two more to get good at it. I found it helped to keep them in a smaller space, and scatter scratch/treats by hand near the hen a few times a day. They understand by themselves that the scratch is food, so they'll come running at the same time as mom calls them. It doesn't take long before they learn to associate the two.

Hi, sorry for the late reply. The chick finally answers to mama hen! it took another whole day though. Just like you said above, they needed to be exposed to each other a lot. I thought I was too late at introducing them, but now small chicky always cries when mama walks just a tad far away, haha!

 

[AOrchard]

Oh good! I'm glad it worked