Giving chicks to broody...

[ADPNRSP]

I have a broody who has two chicks hatch a week ago. I am planning to get two day old chicks this weekend. Can I add the new chicks under the broody at night, or will she reject them? Thanks!

 

[sourland]

Welcome to posting at BYC. She will most likely reject/kill them as she has imprinted on her chicks and any others will be regarded as competition. That being said, I have had silkies that would accept chicks at different times quite readily.

 

[ADPNRSP]

Welcome to posting at BYC. She will most likely reject/kill them as she has imprinted on her chicks and any others will be regarded as competition. That being said, I have had silkies that would accept chicks at different times quite readily.

Thanks... that’s not what I wanted to hear, but I kinda suspected this may be the case. She is a Cuckoo Marans, so I was not expecting her to go broody. She has really amazed me with how attentive she is to her babies.

 

[AOrchard]

I was successfully able to adopt chicks that are the same color as hers. The hen refused any chicks that looked noticeably different. I did the "chicknap" method, where you kidnap one of her chicks, wait until it's hollering and Mom is upset, then return her chick plus one of the new ones. I introduced six chicks to a hen that had four black chicks this way, and she chased off the two chipmunk ones, but was successful for the other four black ones that matched hers. She knew there was funny business going on, but she couldn't seem to figure out what it was. She happily raised those eight!

 

[Chookchicken]

We hatched two chicks in a broader and gave them to my mother silkie who already had a two month old chick. We snuck them under her whilst she slept it was risky but she expected them.

 

[Abriana]

I’ve never introduced new chicks, but I have reintroduced a rejected chick of a completely different color than the others (it was a bantam mama who hatched our regular sized eggs of assorted breeds from my flock). I took all the chicks for one night and then gave them back in the morning—it worked beautifully. For completely new chicks I would definitely make sure they are the same color/very similar, and be sure to watch for a bit to make sure everything goes smoothly.

 

[ADPNRSP]

I was successfully able to adopt chicks that are the same color as hers. The hen refused any chicks that looked noticeably different. I did the "chicknap" method, where you kidnap one of her chicks, wait until it's hollering and Mom is upset, then return her chick plus one of the new ones. I introduced six chicks to a hen that had four black chicks this way, and she chased off the two chipmunk ones, but was successful for the other four black ones that matched hers. She knew there was funny business going on, but she couldn't seem to figure out what it was. She happily raised those eight!

That’s a funny visual!