giving a newborn chick to a hen

[cjschickens]

I have a newly hatched serama chick, and I am wondering if we could put it under a serama hen that is sitting on a nest this eve. after dark. her eggs are due to hatch Thurs. Would she accept the chick or will she kill it ? Has anybody on BYC ever tried this ? Thank-you !

 

[jadenthechicken]

NOOO! she will kill it. they here the peeps from the shell before the chick hatches. thats how they know there chicks i tried that too had to learn the hard way..... it was really sad. dint put it with her. it is a bad idea.

 

[Pyxis]

She might take it. My girl Thistle was on infertile eggs and I swapped them out for chicks at the three week mark. But, if you give it to her before the eggs hatch, you run the risk of her abandoning the eggs for the chick. At any rate, if you decide to do it, I would say wait until the eggs start to hatch or are due the next day, and then slip it under her during the night. Just don't wait until it's too old or it will not imprint on her. To summarize, yes, you can give a broody hen newborn chicks, but she might not accept them and kill them, and she might abandon the eggs she's on for it.

 

[cjschickens]

Thanks for the advice. I had the feeling that it might not be a wise thing to do ! Thanks again !!

 

[sms4g2]

I had excellent luck grafting chicks onto my two broodies (Australorp and BLR Wyandotte) this summer. Both had been broody for a couple of weeks and I needed a few replacements so I thought we would give it a try. I moved them to broody coops, and let the new chicks peep at them from their shipping box for a few hours and then replaced the hen's "eggs" with the chicks when it became dark. I sprinkled some eggs shells around when we made the switch (I read somewhere that that may be a hormonal trigger?) and both moms accepted the babies without a second glance--I of course did some very close observing for an hour or two to make sure their was no aggression. I will never do it any other way again if I can avoid it. It was easy and simple and those hens have done an exceptional job raising their chicks (who are now 8 weeks old). I would certainly suggest you give grafting a try if you have a good idea of the temperament of your particular hen/flock. I have easy going birds, who are very accepting of new additions and rarely have squabbles with one another.

Best of luck!