orphan baby

[motherhen2015]

How to take a care of a little baby whos mother will not take care of him/her. I had chickens given to me and out of 5 was 2 hens. only one will sit and hatch eggs. This is her second time. first time she raised all her babies and the eggs hatched within 2 days. This time she hatched out 5 last week around friday. We thought she was thru with cause the other 3 egss didnt hatch all weekend, and my finace said if they didnt hatch by monday night he will dispose of them. well we came home from work around noon time yesterday and another one had hatched. Well the mother casted him to the side and buried him under the hay we have in her pen. We put him/her back under her and she immediately started pecking and trying to bury the baby again. we tried this until about 9 last night and she kept repeating the same thing. she tried to even out smart us by going to another corner of pen to start sitting in another spot. I have brought the baby in side with me and been up almost every two hrs with water dropper. any advice.

 

[GitaBooks]

Chicks can do well raised by people. She probably won't except it, though there are some ways you could try to convince her. It is best to raise a few chicks together, so you could maybe take one more of her chicks so you have two inside and two outside.
Feed them chick food, provide a heat lamp that keeps them around 95 F the first few days, provide water that they can't catch a chill in or drown in, and make sure the flooring is easy to grip (such as paper towels).

I hope this helps: http://www.nwedible.com/will-a-broody-hen-adopt-chicks/

Best of luck!

By the way, though it is stressful on the chicks and mother, if you separate the mother from her chicks, mix the new one in with them, and then release her, she she may be too frantic to keep them all safe and not notice the new one.