HELP! Mama didn't accept chicks

[MimiChicken]

Our broody hen hatched out 1 chick this week. Last night we stuck some chicks up under her hoping she would accept them. This morning things looked good! They were all under her and it seemed she was accepting them. My kids went out to look at her and they were under her then all of the sudden she freaked out! Started stomping on them, scratching, pecking and trying to kill them. Is that it? Will she not accept them? Or do I try again?

 

[MimiChicken]

This hen is either very young or a lousy mother. You have no choice except to raise the chicks yourself or, if you have another hen with tiny chicks, you might slip them under her at night. Your choice to give her one more chance and if she gets broody, and if it happens again, put her in a cage with a wire floor, no bedding and leave her for about 5 days to a week. It will get the broodiness out of her and she'll go back to laying pretty quickly. It isn't cruel. You'll feed and water her and in the meantime she'll long for the luxury of scratching and hunting juicy bugs.

 

[bruceha2000]

Caveat on the post by @MimiChicken:
Leave her in the broody buster as long as it takes for her to break. You know when that has happened by her behavior. If she is still "broody clucky", still fusses angrily when anyone (human or chicken) comes near, leave her in another night. I've had hens I caught early break over night when the weather is cool. My most recent broody broke last week after 3 nights in the buster. She might still be a little "weird" the first day out but as long as she doesn't beeline back to the nest you should be OK. If she does, parole violation and back to the buster ASAP.

Don't expect any eggs from her for 5 or more days after she breaks.

 

[ravenhead]

I had2 hens hatch out babies and a couple of days later another hen hatched out 3 babies the first hen actually hunted out the new babies and tried to kill them, I took her out and let the other hens sort it out they were calm and accepted all the babies thankfully

 

[HumboldtHipneck]

I would just keep trying. Of course this won't work in every situation, but so far with my broodies it does take a day or two approximately for them to adopt the chicks. I put them in at night and check several times during the day, being sure to put the chicks right back under mom after I encourage the chicks to eat and drink for a few minutes -- even if the mom seems to eye them suspiciously, make noise, or peck at them. So far they seem safer under mom so I try to keep them under her as much as possible. If she's truly broody, she won't get up much if at all. Don't give up! In a couple of days, she'll snap out of it and start foraging around with them. Never going back to a lamp if I can help it! Love my Buffs!!

P.S. I don't use fake eggs, either. My broodies get broody on nothing (literally, just an empty nest) and I pop chicks in there without any deception necessary. I don't think it matters if there's real eggs, fake eggs, or unicorn poop. It's all hormones and temperatures and warm fluffy marshmallows making cheeping noises (or something like that!). Also, I don't do a broody box or anything. They nest wherever, even out in the open, and we've had no trouble. That being said, I tend to only keep more docile breeds. Right now we have buff orpington, delaware, ameraucana, easter egger, cochin, and one lonely new hampshire red (probably the most aggressive breed in the hennitentary at the mo').

 

[bruceha2000]

Yep, my broody girls need nothing in the nest for them to go broody. It isn't a conscious decision on their part.

The 2 times I've gotten chicks when I had older hens, I put them in a brooder area in the coop so their food was safe from the older girls. The first time they were raised by Zorra from the night they went under her in the coop. She moved them to a nest box (14x16) when they were 2 weeks old. The chicks started moving themselves to the roosts (4' high) at 4 weeks, it got too crowded in the nest box. She hung with them for another month and protected them from the older girls on the roost at night (and from everything, everywhere, during the day)

This year she wasn't broody until after they arrived so I put a Mama Heating Pad cave in the brooder area. I tried to get her to take over when she did go broody but nothing doing. It wasn't until after I broke her she decided to pick them up at 3 weeks. They moved to the 18"x48" community nest box (not sure why she didn't think of that 2 years ago) when they were about 6 weeks. No thought given to the roosts. I gave up waiting and cleared them out of the nestbox at about 9 weeks and covered the openings at night which forced them to go to the roosts. All was fine until Zorra decided she was done when they were 10 weeks. The older girls, INCLUDING Zorra, were harassing them on the roost and they went back to the community nest box. When I closed that off again, they were in the open nest boxes. So I made a "temporary" roost set up in the next stall over that was already partially set up as a coop though not safe against weasels. They don't have an auto door so they have to wait for me to let them out each morning. I'm not sure how hard I may have made flock integration by letting them have somewhere to sleep unharassed.

 

[Beatrice&Maple]

We had a broody hen who attacked the two chicks we tried to give her. Then we went on a two day long road trip (we took the chickens) and Maple (the hen) and the chicks were in the same dog crate but separated with a piece of cardboard. The result was that for two days they were hearing but not seeing each other. Then when we let them out of the crate Maple decided that she did want the chicks and took care of them until they were big enough to go.

 

[ravenhead]

We had a broody hen who attacked the two chicks we tried to give her. Then we went on a two day long road trip (we took the chickens) and Maple (the hen) and the chicks were in the same dog crate but separated with a piece of cardboard. The result was that for two days they were hearing but not seeing each other. Then when we let them out of the crate Maple decided that she did want the chicks and took care of them until they were big enough to go.

It just goes to show how little we really know about our chickens lol