Is this something that would work? Or just some made up stuff?

[Clwalls83]

A very hit or miss thing. Something I would give a swing at, if there are no other options.
Having past experience as a kid, successfully raising a newly hatched chick, in a nest made of a box, lined with towel, using a hot water bottle to keep the little guy warm, I fail to see how a lack of options could easily be a thing.

Now, if you are keen on the chance to have chicks, you could purchase some fertile eggs ASAP when she goes broody and slip them in the nest with her. Much better chance of success.

Ok, I will definitely keep that idea in mind. thank you.

 

[Mrs. K]

I am surprised at many of the responses on this post, and while I do agree with Ridgerunner, that they are animals and can act unexpectedly. I have never had a failure. I do tend to let the hen be broody close to the three weeks - give or take a few days.

It is an easy way to add fresh genetics to the flock. I don't worry about a healthy hen going broody. Contrary to the articles belief, is that a healthy hen can survive a broody period without a loss of health. It is a natural part of life.

Mrs K

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have never had a failure. I do tend to let the hen be broody close to the three weeks - give or take a few days.

I have, with a hen that had been broody a little more than three weeks plus another that killed a couple of the chicks she hatched, not chicks I tried to give her. But I agree, it usually works.

Contrary to the articles belief, is that a healthy hen can survive a broody period without a loss of health. It is a natural part of life.

Let's look at how this works. Before they even start to lay a pullet or hen stores up excess fat. I've butchered enough pullets, cockerels, hens, and roosters to see that the difference is obvious. The girls have a lot more fat than the boys. That fat is there for the hen to mostly live off of when she goes broody. The hen will occasionally come off to poop and while she is off she will usually eat and drink, but that stored fat is what she mostly lives off of. Since she is using that fat she loses weight. Some people see the hen losing weight and think something is wrong. There is nothing wrong, she is simply using that fat for the purpose it was put there, so she can stay on the nest and take care of the eggs. Once the eggs hatch she starts eating regularly and regains the weight (and fat) before she starts laying again.

 

[Perris]

this bit

is simply false (exaggeration) and suggests to me that the AI that wrote it is 'hallucinating', or if a real person, is someone who has never actually had a broody sit normally (and/or failed to pay adequate attention to them). As Ridgerunner said, chickens can and do store fat before going broody and it can provide a lot of what they need for 3 weeks, but they will still leave the nest occasionally to forage and poop and drink during the incubation period.

 

[Shadrach]

Most hens, if they are able (not locked in a nest box or broody coop) will get off their nest once a day to ear, drink, poop and dust bath.
Those that do not one can lift of their nests once a day, carry to a place away from their nest and set down in front of food and water. Most get the idea pretty quickly and will do this on their own.
Sometimes the hen won't leave her nest for the first three days. This is because those first three days are critical egg turning days.

As for giving hens chicks and hoping she'll accept them; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The better option in my view is to give the hen fertile eggs once she committed to being broody.

 

[pvkwltr]

This post popped up on my Facebook. Just wondering if this information is something to really trust and use or if this is some made up bologna. TIA for your input. View attachment 4287357

I did this. I went to the farm store and bought 3 chicks. The trick is you have to wait until late night, 11p, to put them under mama.
She raised them and it was the easiest brooding of chicks I ever did!!
I don’t have a rooster and don’t want to have chicks every spring. We had lost some hens to a varmit and I was looking to replace them.
When adding a grown hen to the flock I use the same trick. They wake up in the morning and don’t even notice there’s a new hen around.

 

[Zulu Mama]

I have been buying pullets and giving them to my broody hens for years. Probably 20 years, at least. I usually have a rooster, but hens hatching eggs gets me over 60% cockerels. I have no use for them except soup. What I do is wait until the hens have been setting as long as it takes until eggs hatch. 21 days. then I hunt down the youngest pullets I can find. I take them to the hen and put them in near the back of the hen, into her feathers. If the hen sees them too soon, she'll peck at them. If those chicks snuggle against that hens skin back behind the wings, BOOM she's a ma. I've only had a couple failures. Once, I had 2 hens that went broody about the same time. Slipped them both 2 chicks and after a couple days, they fought over the chicks, killing a baby. So, only one at a time. Even a week apart works. I had another hen that just was never receptive any time I tried her.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We had two broody hens last spring, a couple of lavender EE that both obviously had strong Orpington genetics. The first time they went broody I gave them each two eggs, and they each hatched and raised one and did a beautiful job. The second time they went broody I had ordered 15 chicks. They arrived just before the hens reached their three-week mark. We actually received 21 chicks but didn't realize it. We went in at night to give the hens the chicks but they were wide awake and on full alert. There was no sneaking them in behind their tail feathers! One of the hens went full DefCon Alert and tried to kill me! All I could do was toss the chicks in as gently as possible and hope for the best. She was paying no attention to the chicks, I was the intruder. In the morning all was quiet and peaceful. All the chicks were tucked safely away under the two mamas. It was several days before we could count them and realized how many we had. They did a marvelous job raising them.