How long does a hen have to be broody before you can introduce chicks?

[AOrchard]

How long does a broody have to be broody before introducing chicks works?

I have seen many posts about how old chicks can be and still be adoptable, but I'm wondering how long a hen has to sit on eggs before she will consider adopting chicks. Does the hen have to have brooded for the full couple weeks? Or after a week or two, or less, can this work?

I have a hen who is generally very receptive to adoptees, but I've only ever tried adoptions at the end of a full brooding cycle when the eggs should be hatching. This hen just went broody two days ago, and I'm wondering how long it is necessary to wait before I introduce day-olds to her with a reasonable likelihood of success.

 

[janiedoe]

I've read that the hen should be sitting for about 2 weeks before you introduce chicks. I have one who is very dedicated and will accept chicks earlier, but I would hesitate to introduce chicks to some of my hens at all. I guess you never know until you try.
Best of luck!

 

[Acre4Me]

I’ve had success at 2.5 weeks. However tried 2 different broodies (trancelike broodies, so they were very hormonal), at just under 2 weeks and it was not good -they attacked the chicks.

 

[AOrchard]

Thanks @Acre4Me I appreciate your experience! My girl is also trancelike. Cool, I'll wait a solid 2-3 weeks.

 

[ame087192]

This year was my first attempt at this and introduced my chicks to my broody at three days lol. Don’t do this! It took four days of introducing and taking away the chicks because she did not want them.
mom the last day broody hen was ‘tired’. They sit on the eggs and only get up once a day to eat or poop.... so naturally it’s an exhausting process. At day 7 (four days of introducing the chicks) she was so tired she accepted the chicks as her own. I don’t reccomend this route. Luckily it worked out in the end

 

[Jenessa_09]

This year was my first attempt at this and introduced my chicks to my broody at three days lol. Don’t do this! It took four days of introducing and taking away the chicks because she did not want them.
mom the last day broody hen was ‘tired’. They sit on the eggs and only get up once a day to eat or poop.... so naturally it’s an exhausting process. At day 7 (four days of introducing the chicks) she was so tired she accepted the chicks as her own. I don’t reccomend this route. Luckily it worked out in the end

I am glad it worked out!! We had a similar situation happen last year, we had a broody mama with some 1.5 old chicks and we added a little polish from the store. Big mistake!! We had to keep him separate until we introduced the chicks with the flock.