We had a broody hen again who sat for about a week and a half, and I thought instead of letting one hatch eggs this time, I would do the chick trick -- slip a few under her at night so she could be Instant Mom. Well when I cleaned up the hen house and got a separate area set up for her, it apparently irritated her enough that she decided not to be broody any more. In the meantime, the previously broody hen that hatched eggs last year decided to be broody again, so I thought, fine we'll give chicks to her. My kids chose two chicks and my friend who wanted more chickens took nine, and of course they all wanted to see this, so against my better judgement we introduced the chicks to her in the daytime. She seemed to tolerate them so we left them for the afternoon. In the evening I went out to check and two were under her where they had apparently crawled, and the rest were hanging far away from the hen in the corner. So I sat and watched for a while, and whenever one would come near her, which included trying to eat their food, she would peck them and they would run back to the corner and cower. So now all eleven are in my house and my question is, do I even try sneaking them in with her tonight or is it pointless? I don't know if it was too many, too soon, or she's just not falling for it...
