How many grafted chicks can a hen brood at one time?

[trailrider330]

I currently have a broody hen. I've broken her broodiness several times this summer, but she is a good mother so I'm thinking of letting her raise some chicks yet this fall. I'm also in the market for meat birds, so I'm thinking of having her raise my broilers for me so I don't need to deal with a heat lamp. I've successfully grafted up to 12 chicks to her before, but I am curious how many chicks I could graft to her at once. 12? 18? 24? Especially since the nights have been down into the 40s and 50s by us already.

I do not have the option of running a heat lamp out to the coop because there is no electricity. So, either the broody has to do it all on her own in a pen in the coop, or the chicks get pulled into my husband's shop barn and sit under a lamp. For bio-security, only newly hatched chicks are allowed in the shop barn, no adult birds.

Does anyone have any advice based on their experience?

 

[azygous]

Why not run a test? If your hen is already broody, this should work to tell you how many eggs she can be expected to adequately cover. If she isn't broody, this won't work at all since she won't be inclined to perform the necessary contortions.

Get some fake plastic or wooden eggs or real eggs for this experiment. Place as many eggs as you think she can cover into the nest. Place her on the eggs.

Watch her carefully. She should carefully arrange the eggs in a neat group under her, then she should wiggle her body and spread out like a big pancake to cover all the eggs.

If any eggs are still visible after she gets settled, remove them. Then count how many eggs she's successfully covering. This will tell you precisely how many day-olds you may give her since they will be the same size as eggs.

It's impossible to tell how many chicks or eggs hens in general can cover since each hen is a different size and temperament and will behave differently. This experiment will tell you how many eggs or chicks your specific hen can handle.

 

[lazy gardener]

Good idea, assuming 100% hatch. But OP is talking about grafting CXR to her, which IMO is a different ball game. I'd not give her more than 10.

 

[azygous]

I read it as she was planning on purchasing meat chicks and grafting them to the broody. I recommended using eggs for the experiment because they would be approximately the same size as day-old chicks. The way I read it, the hen will not be incubating eggs but will be brooding already hatched chicks.

 

[Chickassan]

If you're sticking meat birds under her ten is a good number twelve would be pushing it. She's got to keep them warm and they get big fast.

 

[azygous]

If you're sticking meat birds under her ten is a good number twelve would be pushing it. She's got to keep them warm and they get big fast.

Excellent point. And it indicates a flaw in my logic.

I would adjust for rapid growth of meat chicks as Chickassan points out.

 

[Chickassan]

Can you mentally picture a poor ole hen sitting on a pile of twenty four meat bird chicks? It would look like she's climbing the materhourne in no time.

Excellent point. And it indicates a flaw in my logic.

I would adjust for rapid growth of meat chicks as Chickassan points out.

 

[azygous]

Yes, it would be a cartoon.

 

[lazy gardener]

It would be a poor lil Mama with 24 baby Huey's.

 

[centrarchid]

Roosting location would be a concern for me. Larger broods, especially when weather is cold may be inclined to pile under her which could be complicated by a roost / nest cite that has corner(s).

I would stay below 20. Starting with more will not mean you end with more.