introduction of chicks to the mom

[Greene55]

so the baby chicks was laid by the flock and halfway incubated by me. after finding 3 dead chicks under the broody hen... anyways my question is when can they meet momma hen or do I need to introduce to the flock in the divided quarters routine... they have met like this for 2 days now ... any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Brood them yourself, and introduce them at 6-10 weeks of age by a penning them with in sight for a few weeks before doing supervised mingling. The mom unless clucking like a broody to them will just kill them. She doesn't recognize them as her own at this point if you removed them.

 

[Greene55]

Brood them yourself, and introduce them at 6-10 weeks of age by a penning them with in sight for a few weeks before doing supervised mingling. The mom unless clucking like a broody to them will just kill them. She doesn't recognize them as her own at this point if you removed them.

thank you for being so informative you answered all my questions. thank you!

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

My opinion differs from oldhenlikesdog. Now, IF momma hen shows interest in her little chickies, you should introduce them now before they get too big and momma won't take to them no more...... that way the chicks will have already integrated themselves into the flock through their mother. But if you decide to brood them yourself and reintroduce them further down the road, it's gonna cause alot of havoc and disruption in your flock dynamic and those chicks will probably get bullied around and seen as intruders.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I believe the OP said they themselves finished the incubation, so unless the hen remained broody and the chicks were slipped under her in that first day she probably won't accept them. They also said some chicks were killed already. It's always better to be safe than sorry with chickens. Not every broody is a good mom either, some will kill them.

 

[aart]

You could try the chicks with mom, but I've got serious doubts due to the rest of the story.

I would brood the chicks in a wired off area of coop and integrate using tiny doors at about 3-4 weeks old. This is how I do it:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/