Get chicks for our cochin?

[Studio2770]

Has anyone had luck giving a broody breed like a cochin baby chicks to adopt? We would have to quarantine them first.

 

[Pyxis]

I've done it before and it works well if done right. Only once have I had a broody reject chicks and she just left them, she didn't kill them, which I was grateful for. I've given an EE chicks and even a red sex link, who was the best mother of the bunch, go figure. Anyways, the trick is to wait until the hen is nearing the time her eggs, if she had any, would have hatched. Then, go out at night while she is sleeping and take the eggs and replace them with day old chicks. They have to be day olds or they could be too old to imprint on the hen. She'll wake up in the morning to a pleasant surprise. This wasn't even necessary with the sex link, she was so happy to have them she took them in broad daylight. She's my avatar hen.

Of course, the bird has to already be broody for it to work. I would never try to give a non-broody hen chicks. She might kill them outright. Of course, others might have done it with success, I just will never chance it myself.

 

[Mahlzeit]

I have a game hen who has been hatching chicks out for me every year(sometimes twice a year) for the last 8 years and I have given her chicks to adopt without any problems. She even has huge super sharp spurs bigger than my rooster and has never once hurt a chick with them. Has this hen of your already raised babies for you? If she is a good mother i wouldn't see it being an issue. I don't think I would try it with a hen who has never raised babies before.

 

[Studio2770]

Gracie hasn't even started to lay yet so she hasn't had any experience. She's 24 weeks old. Comb and wattles are coming in. I don't plan to give her any chicks now because she's still young and hasn't had the chance to be broody.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Gracie hasn't even started to lay yet so she hasn't had any experience. She's 24 weeks old. Comb and wattles are coming in. I don't plan to give her any chicks now because she's still young and hasn't had the chance to be broody.

My advice would be wait until she's been broody a time or two before you try it--and you might want to let her hatch and care for a couple of chicks the first time to see if she's any good at it. We hatch lots of babies under broodies, but the first time a hen goes broody we only give her three eggs to deal with. Some hens are good mamas once the chicks hatch, and some are absolutely NOT. The bad mamas won't defend the chicks so they're taken by predators, lost, killed by other hens in the flock, etc. It's important to remember that the job's not done once the chicks are hatched. We always have a brooder available to take away chicks if the mother abandons them. It's happened to us a couple of times that we've had to take babies away.

 

[Studio2770]

My advice would be wait until she's been broody a time or two before you try it--and you might want to let her hatch and care for a couple of chicks the first time to see if she's any good at it. We hatch lots of babies under broodies, but the first time a hen goes broody we only give her three eggs to deal with. Some hens are good mamas once the chicks hatch, and some are absolutely NOT. The bad mamas won't defend the chicks so they're taken by predators, lost, killed by other hens in the flock, etc. It's important to remember that the job's not done once the chicks are hatched. We always have a brooder available to take away chicks if the mother abandons them. It's happened to us a couple of times that we've had to take babies away.

Yeah I know it's too soon for that. I should've included that. I don't want to give her chicks and her be like "Um, what do I do?" We don't have a rooster or incubator for her to hatch any chicks. We've been joking about getting more chickens, that darn chicken fever! But I've thought of seeing if Gracie would be fit for the job. I'll see if she'll be a broody prone gal.