Giving a broody hen baby chicks

[cthompson]

I know this is a topic that has been addressed before, but I am still curious. I have currently 3 hens that live in my coop. 1 full size, and two bantams. I have one bantam that is CONSTANTLY broody, and the other only occasionally. Currently the one has been broody for about a month or more. We dont let her sit on the eggs, take them out everyday, but she still stays in the box.
Today and yesterday I have had eggs hatching in my classroom, so I have 1-2 day old chicks. If I put some (maybe 2) of these baby chicks under her at night will she accept them? I am unsure if she has hatched chicks before because we got her when she was already laying, but had only been laying a few months. Also, what is the best way to make sure the other two hens dont bother the babies?
Thanks for the help!
Chelsey

 

[Casey207908]

From my experience I would say that she would probably be fine with the chicks under her. Could somewhat depend on the chicken though, some are just better momma's than others (silkies are the best). I would stick them under her during the night and keep a eye on how she behaves toward them, if she is rejecting them then take them out and put them under a lamp. If she allows them to stay under her then you should be all set. Maybe worth letting her sit on a couple eggs too, maybe she will just think some of the eggs hatched and think of the chicks as her own good luck!

 

[Feklhr]

We're trying this right now with our broody bantam buff brahma. Her eggs weren't fertile, so we introduced chicks after 3 weeks on the nest. I'm going to have trouble sleeping tonight worrying.

 

[crazycluck86]

I did this with my brahma dottie, she tried to hatch her own eggs but the wernt viable and died, I didnt want her to sit for another 3 weeks so I got some dayold chicks. Being a silly vet nurse, I showed her the chicks before putting them under her...like we would with a cat/dog....big mistake! She started to peck at them wondering what the heck I had just put underneath her! I took them back out, waited until it was totally dark.....tried again with sucess. This time i didnt show her, and she has been a fantastic mum! Good luck...keep us posted!

 

[Feklhr]

So far, so good this morning. We took out her high sided nesting box and added some straw to the floor so the babies would have easy access. While we were doing that, some of the chicks found their way into the corner behind the water bottle. Broody foster mom went back and nudged them out of the corner. She then settled into the grass and waited. 5 of the six chicks scooted under her tail feathers and out of site. A stubborn chick came around the front and was peeping in her face. She calmly raised up her chest in invitation, and the last one tucked under.I think the graft is working!

 

[cthompson]

Ours seems successful as well! We brought home two little chickies yesterday and stuck them under her at night. She nestled them right up. Checked again at 5 this morning and all still seemed good. Now how long should I wait before introducing them back to the other chickens?

 

[crazycluck86]

Yay! Sounds promising!cthompson, I kept mine seperated from the flock until they were fully feathered, so around 5 weeks but I did allow the mother and chicks to free range with the rest of the flock when they were around 3 weeks-supervised. I guess it depends on how the other hens react...mine are super docile and our cockerel doesn't allow any fighting! If anything, my other hens were more inquisitive.

 

[Feklhr]

Day two and we still have serenity in our coop. We're keeping mama and babies inside during the day, but we cooped the two hens with them last night.

 

[BrendaJ]

I did this with my sexlink and it worked out great. I gave her 3 babies one night & she took to them right away. You can see them in my Avatar I did have her in a separate area in the coop so the other hens could see but not get to them. Best of luck

 

[LTygress]

I'm going to be trying this tonight with a one-week-old bantam chick. He hatched last weekend by himself. I took the advice of some people here and put a mirror in his brooder and a stuffed animal. But introducing him to ANY other chickens is going to be a tough task, since they are all older or younger by at LEAST three weeks.

But I unexpectedly had a third hen go broody a few days ago and went through the incubator last night trying to find eggs to put under her. No sooner did I get them under her, but someone wanted to BUY those eggs. So now she has one black copper maran egg, and nothing else. I am thinking about putting that back in the incubator tonight after dark, and putting the chick with her instead. I'll really have to cross my fingers on this one because the chick is a little bit older, and the hen JUST went broody four days ago. But if it works, none of the chicks should be lonely anymore (the black copper maran egg is scheduled to hatch on the same day as frizzle polish in the incubator - but I didn't want to trust the broody with the frizzles).