Giving chicks to a hen who has chicks

[Kash63]

So, for a little backstory, I chickens and turkeys. One of my turkeys has been insistent that she hatch babies, but I don't have a tom. I have her chicken eggs and she managed to hatch two after breaking about 3/4 of the other eggs. Those two were dead that night because she is just so heavy. Well, she managed to get more and they will be hatching within the week. One of my chicken hens just hatched a small brood of 5 a few days ago. I can't leave the babies with the turkey, so I'm thinking to wait until they are pipping to move them real fast under the new momma hen during the night. Has anyone ever tried this before? Her chicks right now will be about 8-9 days old when the others are ready to hatch.

 

[BaaKaaawk]

I have a LOT of experience playing "musical eggs" with broody hens. Here are my (non-scientific!) findings (please note this is for chickens not turkeys):

• I have only had luck with a hen accepting eggs/new chicks when they have reached the end of their broody period. For instance, if you try to put chicks/eggs under a broody at under say 15-18 days, they just don't accept them in most cases because they haven't sat long enough based on their natural biological clock.
• Once the hen has determined her clutch of chicks, that's it- you can't magically add more no matter how hard you try (in fact she will actually attack the chicks as she sees them as invading her clutch). So you really have a 1-day window there to get chicks under her. So if she is hatching her own chicks, you need to align with that same exact day.
• Now with that said, I have had great success putting hatched chicks / pipped eggs, etc. under broody hens and having them raise them up as their own- to the degree that I almost prefer this method now. When I see a hen go broody, I put 7 eggs in my incubator for her.
• Another important note- again not scientific here- but I have found if the hen sees the chick before you put it under her- that doesn't seem to work well! Maybe 50/50 success. If instead you put them under her without her seeing them, and then the first time she sees is when them they come out from under her- the hen almost always accept them as her own (and if you think about it, it makes sense for imprinting).
• Last note- I've had best success introducing the eggs/chicks at dusk/early night under the broody hen. That way she will be calm all night and also stationary and keep the new chicks warm and have a better chance to accept them because they're under her for 8 hours or so before the light. You need to watch for a few minutes when you first put them under her- she'll let you know pretty quickly if she is going to accept them or not (especially chicks). The chicks are quite smart at a day old to be quiet and hunker down though- so they are on your side!

Good luck!

 

[Kash63]

Ok, I guess I might have to raise these myself then. The eggs I gave her (the one with 5 chicks) I actually have her when she was around a week and half on her own clutch. She accepted them just fine, almost seemed happy that they hatched so quickly! But I only have one other broody and she already had them around 7-8 days into development. I might just have to take these inside! My hubby is gonna do happy. (I mean that half sarcastically).