Mama hen won’t adopt chick!

[Brahmabuddy]

I recently got a batch of necked neck chicks in the mail because my hen hatched some chicks and adopted the white and black ones but not the red ones and now one of the red ones is dead. Is there anything I can do to help them get along?

 

[rosemarythyme]

How many red chicks are left? Best to plan on brooding them yourself if she doesn't accept them.

 

[Brahmabuddy]

There’s only one red one left but I have 6 one month old babies that she is with now. So could I just leave her with them if things don’t work out? She’s about one week old

 

[rosemarythyme]

Unlikely the other hen would adopt this chick this late in the game (also being a lot younger and smaller, her 1 month old chicks could possibly attack it as well). If you think that hen might be agreeable you could try, never know what might happen, but be prepared to jump in if it goes badly.

As the backup plan I'd consider either getting a couple more young chicks from a feed store, or nabbing one other naked neck from the same age batch and brooding them together, just so the red chick is stuck being a solo baby.

 

[Brahmabuddy]

The one month olds I hatched in an incubator so there’s no mama hen. And they seem fine with her. She is the one in the front

 

[rosemarythyme]

The one month olds I hatched in an incubator so there’s no mama hen. And they seem fine with her. She is the one in the front

Ah sorry I completely misunderstood. If the 1 month olds are fine with the 1 week old, yes I'd just raise them as a group together, as long as she can stay warm enough (which depending on your location, might be no problem at all).

 

[Brahmabuddy]

I live near Lansing Michigan so I’ll try to raise them together

 

[Brahmabuddy]

It’s fine I should have mentioned that they were hatched in an incubator sooner

 

[rosemarythyme]

Hope the older ones take good care of her!

 

[JolieMN]

Hi everyone I’m new to chickens and I have a question. I have a hen that went broody one egg hatched this Sunday so Tuesday I went to the store and bought six more day old chicks. I placed them under her Tuesday night and she seemed to accept them. she did really good with them this morning and this afternoon I noticed she was pecking at them and not letting them into the nesting box with her only the one she hatched. one has a gash on its head so I pulled all of them out of the brooder box and brought them inside. The one she hatched on her own is yellow and the ones that I bought in the store or black. Does that make a difference? And do I try to put them under her again tonight or has she rejected them for good?