Mother hen or not???

[mjolrdanlmj]

I have a banty hen that is sitting on non fertile eggs and I just picked up some baby chicks from the feed store and have them in a brooder in the kitchen. My question is can I move the banty from her hiding spot in the garage to the brooder in the house and will she accept the babies ? It has been 3 weeks now since we couldn't find her and just found her hiding spot in the garage, worried that she will want to keep going back in the garage if I move her to the outside coop.Maybe I should just keep them seperate and raise them on my own. Any thoughts?

 

[Pyxis]

You would do better to slip the chicks under her at night after taking her eggs to get her to accept them than taking her and putting her in a brooder full of chicks. After she accepts them you could bring them back in if you wish.

How old are they? If they look older than 2 or 3 days old there's a good chance their imprinting window has closed and even though she might take to them they wouldn't take to her if that was the case.

 

[mjolrdanlmj]

Well we decided to just keep them separate for now and raise them ourselves. Hoping that they won't be so skiddish of humans like some we have h raised with the other hens. Taking the eggs out from the sitting hen and forcing her to go back to the yard.