Introducing chicks to a broody hen

[nono]

So cute!

It's amazing how chicks quiet right down after they go under Mom. A couple of years ago, I put 8 chicks I had incubated under a broody. It was incredible to see the the chicks go from this loud, trampling horde to dead silent in a matter of seconds. Post insertion, I would have never even guessed there was a single thing under Mom.

This evening's update! She and the chicks have have moved out of the nest box (as you both predicted), and promptly made her new nest right in front of the door to the coop (figures.) So I grabbed a large cardboard box and put it on it's side under the other elevated nest boxes, put some shavings in it, along with their water and food...and put the chicks in there. She came clucking along, quite upset...but started drinking the water (the chicks were already drinking as well), and then fluffed up and nestled down. Hopefully she'll stay put, staying with them in the box...out of the way, and with easy access to the food and water.

 

[RUNuts]

@Morrigan @Ridgerunner what is the trick? Have the momma nestled down and quiet? I probably upset mine trying to get her to the tractor. She started pacing quickly. I let her back out. 20 minutes later, put a chick under her and she started pecking. Pulled the chick back out. I can wait an hour and retry?

@Ursuline Chick found this thread and guessing I upset her or tried too early.

I also blocked off the nest box from the others. Sounds like I should let her decide. Hmm.

 

[RUNuts]

Waited an hour. Put them in & she kept pecking. Wouldn't settle down after what seemed like several minutes. Pulled them to brooder.

Well, we tried.

 

[Ridgerunner]

@Morrigan @Ridgerunner what is the trick? Have the momma nestled down and quiet? I probably upset mine trying to get her to the tractor. She started pacing quickly. I let her back out. 20 minutes later, put a chick under her and she started pecking. Pulled the chick back out. I can wait an hour and retry?

@Ursuline Chick found this thread and guessing I upset her or tried too early.

I also blocked off the nest box from the others. Sounds like I should let her decide. Hmm.

RUNuts, I don't know exactly what you did. I don't try moving my hens around, they are well settled in their nest before I try. Sometime when you move a hen she does not accept the move, that's a basic risk of moving one. Make sure she has accepted the nest before you try.

How long had she been broody? I've had hens take chicks after being broody just a couple of days but I usually don't try that quickly. Others on here have said they have problems with hens that have not been broody very long. Each hen is an individual, you can't tell for sure what they will do.

How old were the chicks? The older the chicks the less likely it will work. The hen has to imprint on the chicks and equally important the chicks have to imprint on the hen. If the chicks don't accept the hen she may peck at then to try to discipline them, get them to obey her. I did not see what went on, it could have been an attempt to get the chick to listen to her or she may have been trying to harm the chick. That's a judgment call on your part.

I have successfully put them under hens during the day but I usually do it after dark and leave hem under the hen all night. That seems to work better.

Not sure exactly what you did but sometimes it just doesn't work for whatever reasons.

 

[nono]

@Morrigan @Ridgerunner what is the trick? Have the momma nestled down and quiet? I probably upset mine trying to get her to the tractor. She started pacing quickly. I let her back out. 20 minutes later, put a chick under her and she started pecking. Pulled the chick back out. I can wait an hour and retry?

@Ursuline Chick found this thread and guessing I upset her or tried too early.

I also blocked off the nest box from the others. Sounds like I should let her decide. Hmm.

RUNuts, When I decided to try it was because my hen had been sitting in her nest box for 2-3 weeks already....she was definitely in the "broody trance". I didn't disrupt her, didn't move her, just let her be. I didn't want to break the trance she was in...hoping that it would help her accept them. Then I did the placement of the chicks at night, when she was even more "out of it"...sleeping/broody trance.

From what you describe, it doesn't sound like she was broody enough...or maybe because you moved her from her nest, she was no longer in that "broody mindset"...she was being too disturbed from her nest that she snapped out of it.

I'm sorry that your attempt wasn't successful.

 

[RUNuts]

Thinking about this, I believe I had several issues. Thank you for confirming them.
1. This hen was playing musical nests and would leave her golf balls every 2-3 days to sit on another with eggs.
2. I tried to move her. Several times, not just yesterday and she wouldn't have it. She would be in the run for several hours, then back to a nest.
3. After pulling the chicks back, I put her on the roost and she was out with the other hens this morning. This leghorn has been broody for 19 days. I've broken her by putting her on the roost twice before this. She may just not be very committed.

So based on your information, normally, they snuggle right in. Which the chicks did, but she did not. When I pulled them the second and last time, they (6 chicks) were in the corner and she was pecking.

Thank you for the feedback. Were are brooding chicks in the garage.

 

[Morrigan]

Sorry that it didn't work out. My preferred fostering technique is to wait for a broody:

-- to be sitting at least two weeks
--leave her in her preferred nest, even if it is an elevated box
--use chicks that are 3 days old or less
--intro the chicks at night, placing them directly under her, but slipping them in from behind, so she feels them under her before she sees them. I use my free hand as a distraction, letting her peck that, while I slip the chicks in with the other. If you come in with the chick in hand in front of her, she will usually see that as an intrusion and peck both hand and chick.
--slip in a broken egg shell (preferably one from they incubator that actually hatched the chick) along with the chicks
--check back in a hour and then again, first thing in the morning.

That being said, I had one broody sitting 25 days, reject chicks using this technique. You can do everything by the book, and you may wind up with a hen that's just not be having it. On the other hand, I had a hen broody only a few days, accept a chick in the middle of the afternoon. I've also found that breeds with strong mothering instincts, like orpingtons, tend to be more of a sure thing when it comes to fostering. Some hens are good at sitting on eggs, but make poor mothers.

 

[RUNuts]

That is what confused me. Here preferred nest changed 4 times before I tried moving her. After she appeared committed, day 15, I tried to move her. Leghorns don't have a good reputation. This isn't helping in my mind.

Learned a bit. More ready for next year. Glad I didn't have eggs under her since she was bouncing around. This gives us more chance to hand tame the chickies.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Mine generally don't hop around an i don't isolate one in a broody pen. With her history I think she earned being isolated in a broody pen.

 

[Dianekw]

Sounds like you got some great advice already...just thought I'd give you my input...maybe I can add something new. My baby chicks are 4 weeks old now.

My nesting boxes are also up higher so when my broody Buff Orp started sitting, I moved the nesting box she was sitting in down to the floor of my coop, and put a replacement nesting box in it's place, so the other girls could continue laying. The way my coop is set up, the only corner I could put her in that wasn't going to block food or get pooped on under the roosts, was right in front of the nesting boxes, so I put her nesting box inside of a cardboard box set on it's side, with a little flap in front to keep the shavings that get pushed out of the upper boxes from falling on top of her all the time...and to give her a little more privacy. In the picture below, I've got a brick holding the flap up on top of the box so you can see inside better...it comes down and hangs about a third of the way down the opening, giving them lots of privacy and helping to keep it a little warmer in there for her...she's a very skinny buff orp, and can use all the help she can get with body heat. ;-)

3 of the 9 eggs I set under her hatched. She gave up a couple of times, and I thought she was done, but I managed to convince her to get back on the nest and keep sitting, so with all that, we had a couple more eggs fail than would have had she stayed on the whole time I think...there was a fully developed chick in all but one of the unhatched eggs. Anyway...

I bought two feed store chicks to add to the family, and she accepted them no problem...middle of the day, everyone wide awake. Those chicks ended up dying later...not sure why...one overnight, and the other a week later...I doubt it had anything to do with the hen...she was tidbitting for them all, and treating them just like her own hatchlings...I think maybe they were just weaker or maybe had some kind of problem themselves.

I did NOT separate the new little family from the rest of the flock...I watched very carefully pretty much all day long for the first whole week, to make sure there was no aggression from the other hens or our Roo. I had a backup plan just in case...I have a length of 4' chicken wire that I cut to fit a corner of the run big enough to put the cardboard box with the nesting box, a feeder and a waterer in there, with room to roam, but I never needed to string it. I've got hooks in the beams that I can attach the chicken wire to in a matter of minutes if needed, to cordon off a section of the run, and I'm just going to leave them there in case things turn ugly, or if someone gets sick or if I need to separate a bully, or whatever.

So anyway, I've got a feeder full of chick starter in the box with the babies, and another one in the run, cuz they've been out there all day every day since about a week old. For water, I have a nipple watering system inside and outside the coop for the bigs, and I didn't want to have to mess with poopy water even for a little bit, so I made little nipple waterers for the chicks out of plastic spray bottles....you can use pretty much any kind of plastic, but I figured I could easily hang these from the sprayer mechanisms on the top. Mommy showed them right away how to get water out of them...such a good mommy! So I have one hanging just outside the little family's box, and one outside in the run, but I also placed a cinder block and a brick under one of the exterior nipples, and mommy showed her babies how to hop up and drink from those too, so no messy water anywhere! You can see the waterer on the left side of the pic above.

None of the hens or roo have ever bothered the chicks, so I dont know if she'll defend them...I'm assuming she would have, but now they're plenty big enough to just run away...and when someone gets too close, or accidentally steps on a toe, they let out a screech and everyone perks up and gives them space.

As for the food...the bigs do end up eating some of the chick crumble, and that's ok I'm told...as long as they also have access to shells which they do. The littles tend not to eat the adult food cuz it's pellets, and they prefer crumble at this stage...the pellets are a bit big for them to swallow. I'm told it's not a big deal if they eat a little of it...for the most part there's a LOT more chick starter being eaten than layer pellets, so I dont think they're getting too much... if they're eating any at all. ;-)

I have been so totally blown away by how much EASIER it is to just let nature take it's course and let a broody hen raise the babies! I hand raised the bigs two years ago when I first started chicken-momming ;-) And it was a bit of a hassle with cleaning the brooder boxes often and worrying about the lights and temperature, and making sure they had enough room to play and enough interesting toys/food. And keeping the dogs away from em. I was all ready to do that again if my broody failed, but I was SOOOO relieved when she stepped up and Mom'ed like a champ! I realize my story may not be the norm, and I may never again have it this easy...and it may still turn ugly at some point(you never know!), but for now, I'm grateful for how easy this was, and am already contemplating letting her have another go at it next year! ;-)