Ok it figures... What now...

[kristin07035]

So today is day 20 with my incubator eggs (2 are piped)
Went to my coop earlier and my 1yr old Dominique seemed to show broody signs.
Just went to close up the coop and shes laying in the nest box instead of roosting. Nudged her and she was not happy! Yelled & poofed up at me.
I dont have a rooster so whatever she's sitting on (if anything at all) its not fertile.
Question is can I give her the hatched babies or will she only care about sitting on eggs?
I currently dont have a second coop (indoor brooder set up & ready but thought I had 6-8 more weeks before I had to set up a second coop)
I can get a second coop in about a week..so can I give her the then week old babies?

 

[Nocila]

What you're asking about is a process called grafting, and, while it's quite safe to do when the hens have been broody for a while, I don't think it's possible at the start of the broody cycle, especially not for a first time broody. I just had a hen go broody about two weeks ago, and tried to give her week-old chicks, not only did she reject them, they rejected her. If a hen has had chicks grafted to her a few times before, then she might be okay to graft chicks to early, but the chicks should be as young as possible. Week old chicks are very unlikely to accept a hen as their mother, as they've already imprinted on something else, you should try to graft chicks in the first three days or so, the sooner the better, to increase the chances of them accepting the broody hen as their mother... Sorry :/

Also, if you ever do decide to graft chicks to your hens, make sure that the hen is unlikely to harm the chicks, I've got an Asil who has a really harsh peck that tried to kill the chicks when we tried to graft them to her, but our Old English hen accepts them right away, and has always had a really soft peck. I wouldn't try to graft chicks to a hen that can hurt you with a peck, as, if she rejects the chicks, she could seriously harm them. Oh, and always graft the chicks at night, when you haven't grafted to that hen before. If the hen has been grafted to before, you might be able to get away with putting them under her at another time of day, but keep an eye on them in case they do reject the chicks...

 

[kristin07035]

Ok thanks for the great info!
It's really not a big deal (already have the brooder up)
so won't take any chances with my hen & keep the babies inside.