Could this end in a huge disaster? (IT DIDN'T! YAY!!!)

[dianneS]

Okay, I have four bantam chicks and one full-sized chick in a brooder in the house, they are nearly three weeks old. I wanted to put them in the henhouse, but they would need a heat lamp during the night, its still too cold here.

I started to take the chicks out to the coop this evening and I have one broody that is setting on some infertile eggs (she goes broody all the time and I constantly try to break her of it, or I just give her some infertile eggs to set on til she gives up) and I have a hen that has one chick, she started with two but lost one. Her chick is around 3-4 weeks old also.

I decided to see if the two moms would take these babies so I wouldn't have to put the heat lamp on them. I gave the first broody the little bantam chicks, and she took them right away and settled down on top of them. She immediately started pecking at me if I got too near to her and them!

I gave the full-sized chick to the other mom and her chick and the same thing happened (this hen is a really good mom so I'm not worried about her). I've checked on all of them several times tonight, and will probably check a few more times. But so far everyone is doing great!

Is there anything that could go wrong? Could I wake up and find a total masacre or anything like that? If the moms abandon these chicks in the morning, I think they will be okay during the day without a heat lamp. But I can hear mom and babies talking to one another, so I'm hoping that they will bond with these babies by morning.

What do you think?

 

[jenjscott]

Well, I am amazed that they would take chicks that old and that they would accept the hens. But if they are under her and they are talking to each other, I think it should take. If they were going to object, I would have expected them to start picking at them right away.

 

[wvgal61]

good luck

 

[dianneS]

Quote:
That's what I figured, they would start pecking right away.

Will the chicks know to go to the mom? They've never had a mom before, will their instincts kick in?

I had another hen abandon a really big, older chick a few weeks ago and that chick didn't know what to do with himself in the evening, so he crawled under another hen that had one tiny chick. She accepted him and had this great big chick under one wing and a little one under the other! By morning though, the original mom that had abandoned him (because she thought he got killed by a dog) took him back, but I think that adopted mom would have taken care of him. I was surprised at that one since that chick was really old!

 

[dianneS]

I found another thread on here that gives me hope! Someone slipped some three week old Marans in with a Silky and her younger chicks and it worked out!

I forgot to mention, both of these hens are silky crosses and they also take care of each others chicks and have even adopted/stolen other hens chicks!

 

[dianneS]

Well, I went out this morning to find that the one hen that had the one chick, and I gave her the second (full sized chick) had abandoned the nest with the first chick and the one I gave her was sitting in the nest by himself.

The other hen that I gave the four bantam chicks to, was also off the nest, but she was eating and walking around all fluffed up like a mamma hen. Those four babies were also sitting on the nest, not knowing what to do.

I thought that the mamma with the four bantam chicks, might just be off the nest for a bite to eat and she may return to the nest. So I put the one big chick in the same nest box with the other four bantams and went back to the house.

I returned later to find that mamma had finished her breakfast and returned to the nest and even accepted the fifth big chick!

She's still on the nest with all five of them, she's being very protective.

The only thing is that she thinks that she has newborn chicks and these guys are three weeks old!

She thinks that she needs to stay on the nest with them! The babies have never been out of a brooder, so they don't know anything of exploring anyway. I'm sure that she'll be off the nest with them in a day or two. In the meantime I guess I need to make sure that the babies get food and water.

I'm so pleased that this has worked and I can't wait until they are all off the nest together and scratching around! Its so funny to see their little heads peeking out from under mom!