I am wanting to have one of my hens raise some chicks for me. I am not planning on doing it till it warms back up but when is it the perfect time to do it?? When is it the best time to hand the chicks over to her? Do I seperate her from the rest of the flock? Do I do it at night? Can someone give me more information and the advantages or disadvantages of this topic. Thanks
I have done that before and it works great. Make sure that your hen has gone broody for at least a week and then you should put day old chicks that work best. Do it at night and pull out the fake eggs or golf ball which is what I use, replace them with chicks. You can keep them with her till they are to big to get under her and she will start pecking them so they would leave her alone. Last year I used my bantam cochins and they hatched out a few clutches of guinea keets and they would get so big that they would pick her up off the ground. LOL Good luck!!!
You have to have a hen go broody first, you can't just pick your favorite and stick chicks in with her. Hens are quite fond of killing chicks that aren't theirs and don't have a momma to protect them. Read through the broody hen thread, and there are several threads on having a broody hen adopt chicks. Best bet is to wait until she's been broody at least 2 weeks (broody meaning she quits laying, stays on the nest all night and only gets off once a day or so to eat/drink/poop) and slip the chicks in at night. It works most of the time, but it's not 100% so you still need to be prepared to brood the chicks yourself if she rejects them.
