foster chickens?

[rosieredbantam]

I apologize as I am a newbie to this site but I have a question and I have looked and looked and can not find my question or one close to it....ok here it is I have two hens a production red..and a bantam both hens..lol went broody about 5 weeks ago now...I let them keep one egg each to hatch out to get them over the hump so to speak and well the eggs appear to have died two days or so before hatch date....now I know this may be a sensitive subject but I want to place four newborn chicks under each hen tonight after dark....and I am hoping they will accept the chicks...has anybody done this before...has it worked ? oh please somebody give me advice and no its not an option to let them hatch all their own eggs out as my coop is not big enough for to many more chickens...and these two hens have stopped laying...I will appreciate any information at all...not new to chickens just new to hatching them...lol always just used for eggs before. oh yes I received the newborns from my son who incubates all his eggs...I want momma's with mine.lol and thank you in advance ...

 

[dekel18042]

I apologize as I am a newbie to this site but I have a question and I have looked and looked and can not find my question or one close to it....ok here it is I have two hens a production red..and a bantam both hens..lol went broody about 5 weeks ago now...I let them keep one egg each to hatch out to get them over the hump so to speak and well the eggs appear to have died two days or so before hatch date....now I know this may be a sensitive subject but I want to place four newborn chicks under each hen tonight after dark....and I am hoping they will accept the chicks...has anybody done this before...has it worked ? oh please somebody give me advice and no its not an option to let them hatch all their own eggs out as my coop is not big enough for to many more chickens...and these two hens have stopped laying...I will appreciate any information at all...not new to chickens just new to hatching them...lol always just used for eggs before. oh yes I received the newborns from my son who incubates all his eggs...I want momma's with mine.lol and thank you in advance ...

It may or may not work. I'm not sure I would want to risk 8 babies on something that wouldn't work. Maybe two each? The hens may or may not accept them but there is also the chance (How old are the chicks you are going to place under them?) that the babies will not accept the mothers. Maybe do it but be ready to intervene.
As a child, broodies hatched our babies. Then as an adult I had excellent results with my own eggs and an incubator. Finally we let a hen have and hatch four eggs and it was a disaster. She was excellent at sitting on the nest but two died (one was alive, but didn't get all the way out of the shell) and two we finally took away because she wouldn't get off the nest, even when the babies came out from under her. I was intending to let her raise them because I was getting a few later but ended up putting the ones I got in with the ones close to two weeks older and it's almost as if the older ones are caring for the smaller ones. They snuggle with them. The little ones go under the bigger ones wings. They follow them, but it isn't what I had planned.

 

[donrae]

I've had really good luck grafting chicks to a broody hen. Conventional wisdom says to do it at night. You just raise her rear end up and pull the eggs out and put the chick there instead. I try to do it on a day when I can be home to observe, just in case. Don't expect her to get off the nest for another day or so, she doesn't know there won't be any more eggs hatching so she'll hang out just in case. I like to keep water close until she gets off the nest, then they can use whatever water source the rest of the flock uses. I'll also scatter some feed close by, so she can show them what to eat while still staying on the nest. After a day or so, she'll leave the nest and show them where to eat and drink, and how to be good flock members.

 

[rosieredbantam]

thank you so much for the advice and I just want to say thank the lord above but it worked at 11 oclock last night the chicken fairy slipped eggs out from under the hens and replaced them with chicks...and after sitting in coop for 4 hours last night or this morning not sure (oh so tired) I have two new mothers who are so pleased with their babies the babies were one day old...that I put under them and as of this morning everybody is happy moms talking to babies and babies staying tight up under mom...I don't know why it worked or how it worked but it worked and because babies are little older then newbies...I put water in front of nest box's and feed also...thank you dekel18402 for the input....I have never hatched eggs out before as I said just always for eggs...and I figured I have spent my whole life studying animals and wildlife and I just figured and hoped that I knew my chickens as good as I thought did it would work...lol I have had a few veterinarians in my area say I have a way with animals...and after deer, dogs, cats, horses, raccoons, rabbits, skunks , opposums, fish and calfs,,,,,,I figured why not chickens...lol and yes i stayed in the coop to make sure i could rescue the babies if i needed to I am an animal lover for sure . But I love this sight and I have found so much useful information ....thank you all so much for places like this.