How old is this Chick??

[aoxa]

You could brood them yourself if that makes you feel better. I would hate to tell you that you should keep them with her, and then have her hurt them. It sounds a little like she might be distracted by the other hens, so maybe if you brought them all inside (if that's an option for you) she might pay more attention to the babies. Sometimes broody hens realize they don't actually want babies until they have them. One of my broody hens sat on eggs for all 21 days and then decided she was done and wanted nothing to do with motherhood. I don't want this to become a huge ordeal for you, it might just be easier and less stressful if you brood them.

Had a duck do this to me.. 12 call ducks.. I had to raise them myself. That was an experience.. a very smelly experience.. Never again will I raise that many ducks without a broody!

 

[MaTanner1]

I think maybe hens need about 3 wks of sitting on eggs (she could sit on her own and others, or make fake eggs out of balloons filled with flour, or sand or something kind of heavy, that won't rot, inside a fake plastic egg), and then take those "eggs" out (unless she had real eggs) and put in some babies in the middle of the night. Like, literally in the middle of the night. This is what I have read, Maybe there's someone here who knows a better way, but she needs to have eggs to sit on, as soon as she'S broody, and a really broody hen gets angry with you when you attempt to touch her or her nest, and will only get off of it like once per day.

MaTanner1


Sorry, this post is in reply to an earlier post. Looks like it got put in the wrong place...

 

[aoxa]

I think maybe hens need about 3 wks of sitting on eggs (she could sit on her own and others, or make fake eggs out of balloons filled with flour, or sand or something kind of heavy, that won't rot, inside a fake plastic egg), and then take those "eggs" out (unless she had real eggs) and put in some babies in the middle of the night. Like, literally in the middle of the night. This is what I have read, Maybe there's someone here who knows a better way, but she needs to have eggs to sit on, as soon as she'S broody, and a really broody hen gets angry with you when you attempt to touch her or her nest, and will only get off of it like once per day.

MaTanner1


Sorry, this post is in reply to an earlier post. Looks like it got put in the wrong place...

I find that the very best way to add chicks is to let the hen hatch out at least one of her own, and than add the others. I've successfully added chicks every single time this way.

I've succeeded in adding just chicks without letting them hatch one themselves only twice. I have tried many more times than that.


This was one of those instances of success. I added chicks that were two weeks old because Janet had a failed hatch. This was the day after adding them!





Here is a mother who hatched out two of her own. I gave her 19 Red Sex Links to split between her and a broody silkie. The broody silkie did not hatch anything herself, and brooded these chicks no problem.



Hatched one herself. Gave her 6 more.

Not one broody hatched without me adding more chicks to her brood.

They do have to sit for a good 3 weeks. At least 2 to be considered ready..

 

[PreciousCrystal]

I think maybe hens need about 3 wks of sitting on eggs (she could sit on her own and others, or make fake eggs out of balloons filled with flour, or sand or something kind of heavy, that won't rot, inside a fake plastic egg), and then take those "eggs" out (unless she had real eggs) and put in some babies in the middle of the night. Like, literally in the middle of the night. This is what I have read, Maybe there's someone here who knows a better way, but she needs to have eggs to sit on, as soon as she'S broody, and a really broody hen gets angry with you when you attempt to touch her or her nest, and will only get off of it like once per day.

MaTanner1


Sorry, this post is in reply to an earlier post. Looks like it got put in the wrong place...

I think where I went wrong was I was trying to break her consistently for several weeks. Then I heard of chick adoption, saw my friends chick babies and decided to try it immediately. maybe I should have let her go for a little while in the nest first, because I had been locking her out up until the day before. She never did get to the point of pecking at me when I would collect the eggs and pick her up out of the nest. so i dunno.
But i decided to brood them myself =) I am a little sad that i won't get to see mommy take care of her chicks. all the photos on here are so precious of chicken and babies.
But the chicks are so adorable! I'm so happy I get to keep them and take care of them.