Mixing broody hen and older chicks?

[Ghenri]

Hello! I have a cranky old broody hen on my hands. With no rooster there is no way for her to get what she wants naturally. She seems like she is in a lot of pain so I want to help her get over it. I have chicks that I got at the end of May (it being September 2nd now) so they are not little and fluffy anymore, but they still look relatively like chicks. They have adult feathers but are still quite small. Could I give them to my broody hen and have her try to raise them? Or are they too old and she would attack them? Please help!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They're too old IMO.
How long has she been broody?
Is she sitting on eggs, fake or otherwise?
Perhaps you could get a couple of day olds and stick them under her at night.
Otherwise, your best course of action would be to put her in a wire bottom cage to break her broodiness.

 

[farnorth]

3 months is way too old. Not sure how they look relatively like chicks anymore at all. I have chicks that are only 8 weeks and they would no longer fit under a hen.

Anyway....it's not just that the hen will know they aren't baby chicks....the youngsters themselves will likely not want to be put under a hen at that age. They most likely would see her as a threat and run from her as they would run from most adult/larger/older chickens at that age as they are usually at the bottom of the pecking order and stay out of the grown up chicken's ways.

They are of an age that even if adopted as day olds the hen would have stopped caring for them at 5 to 6 weeks old.

find someone with some fertile eggs and let her hatch a few. or chicks if you can find them, 5 days old or younger.