Mama hen will hatch a few eggs one week before new chicks arrive

[humblehillsfarm]

My question is, can I introduce the new chicks, there will be five, to mama's one week old chicks while they are sleeping? Has anyone ever had success with this? There will likely be 1-3 chicks from mama.

 

[nchls school]

Some hens will accept new chicks when given to them at night; especially when the new chicks are similar in appearance to the first ones. This does not always work so you need to have a backup plan. I'd pull the first chicks and put them under a heat lamp (save the shells) and give the hen some dummy eggs to brood until the new chicks arrive. Then in the dark I'd put all the chicks and shells under the hen. Remove the dummy eggs. This usually works well, but there are exceptions. Sometimes the older chicks will not accept the hen as mom. Good luck.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Some hens will accept new chicks when given to them at night; especially when the new chicks are similar in appearance to the first ones. This does not always work so you need to have a backup plan. I'd pull the first chicks and put them under a heat lamp (save the shells) and give the hen some dummy eggs to brood until the new chicks arrive. Then in the dark I'd put all the chicks and shells under the hen. Remove the dummy eggs. This usually works well, but there are exceptions. Sometimes the older chicks will not accept the hen as mom. Good luck.

In this case the mama's chicks will be the older ones. I don't want to let her sit any longer just because she's already been broody for almost two months and it'll be close the three by the time these hatch. I'm concerned for her health!