Pullet Rejected Chicks

[JellyrollBrahma]

I'm not sure why you expect this hen to accept some chicks when she's still sitting on her own eggs.
Some might but.....
I get problems here if the chicks get in front of the sitting hen. The mother knows they shouldn't be there. She can't protect them there and she can't keep them warm there either while she is still trying to hatch eggs. So, she pecks at them to encourage them to get back underneath her. If they won't move, sometimes they can't make their way back underneath her because they are not mobile enough she pecks them more. I slide the chicks back under her rear end and everything is fine.
If you had just left her alone to get on with what she does best I don't think you would be having this problem. Some mothers do attack and kill their chicks but they are a small minority.

She has been sitting for the full 21 days and her 3 eggs have begun hatching. She broke the one that was on its way to zipping. She heard the sounds and when I introduced her to them at night, I didn't show them to ger but snuck them under her. So what would be the big difference if it had hatched underneath her and was up and moving by morning? I guess I don't see your point of view 100%

 

[JellyrollBrahma]

How long has she been setting ? Broody hens who have been setting close to or beyond the 21 day incubation period are likely to foster chicks. Hens, especially first time mothers, setting less than this may not accept chicks.

The full 21+ days. This is her first time and she had only been laying a couple months before she went broody

 

[Shadrach]

Does a broody hen come to recognize the voices of her chicks, when they peep in the egg? If so, she might be more accepting of ones that actually hatch under her.

I think many animals do recognize the voices of their own offspring, but I don't know about chickens. (Baby chicks all sound pretty much alike to me, but I'm not a hen.)

It's been proven that chicks recognise the sound of their mother while in the egg. It has also been suggested that chicks recognise the calls of their siblings while in the egg.
Mothers can recognise the distress calls of their own chicks and differentiate between them and another hens chicks giving distress calls. I don't know if this applies when the chicks are still in the egg.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My broody hens will hatch any eggs, not just their own. Mine almost never hatch any eggs of their own. I don't start collecting eggs to give to her until she goes broody, they typically stop laying when they go broody.

I regularly put a few eggs in the incubator when I start a broody hen with her own eggs. Stuff can happen to a broody hen's eggs, like the time a snake ate her eggs out from under her. I put in a few golf balls to keep her interested and gave her the incubator chicks to raise. No problems with her accepting them that time.

I've only had a problem one time. For whatever reason, that broody hatched two days early, Day 19. She only had a few eggs and all her chicks were red. When the incubator chicks hatched on time I put them under her. She accepted the red ones and rejected the black. I think she imprinted on her red chicks and considered the black ones strangers. She did not try to kill them but pecked them to run them away.

This was not a first time broody. She had successfully hatched and raised a brood earlier that year, including both red and black chicks. I've had as much trouble with hens that have been broody before or even raised chicks before as I have with first time broodies. I've had as much success with first time broodies as with more experienced hens. Whether a hen or pullet has been broody before doesn't play into it when I'm deciding whether or not to give her eggs.

In my experience, there is no correlation between numbers of eggs and numbers of chicks. My typical method is to wait until dark and put the chicks under her. I generally do not remove any eggs when I do this if they still might hatch. I do not candle. This almost always works but like anything else with chickens, almost does not mean always.

I have introduced chicks to a hen during the daytime, when she had brought her chicks off the nest but the incubator chicks weren't ready in time. This usually goes well but I consider it a bit more risky than the nighttime-in-the dark method.

I did have one hen that hatched 8 chicks and killed three of them. She raised the rest. I don't know why she killed those and not the others, color did not play into it. I was out of town when she hatched and the chicken sitter saw her killing a chick. While most broody hens are great and really handle the entire process well you can certainly get one that does not.

It's not that unusual for a hen to peck a chick as a matter of discipline. It's not just when that chick is in front of her from what I've seen. If the chick doesn't do what she tells it to, then she gets its attention. She's not tying to kill it, she's trying to keep it from getting killed. It's not always easy to tell when she is trying to kill it or just discipline it. You have to use your judgment as to how vicious it is.

Chicks do start chirping while in the egg after internal pip. That's their way to tell Mama they are on the way. Most broodies stop leaving the nest for their daily constitutional until the hath is over when that happens. Again most, not necessarily all. Mama talks back to them. probably calming or encouraging them. I don't know how important his is to actually imprinting. I generally haven't seen a problem with chicks I introduce during daylight imprinting on the hen or the hen imprinting on them. She clucks to them and they run to her. It's done. I do think this chirping helps some when they are under her most of the night, but how much it actually helps I don't know.

I think a lot of whether it is successful depends some has to do with the hen's individual personality and some on the age of the chicks. Definitely the younger the chicks the better. It's not a case of always or never. It's a case of sometimes.

 

[Shadrach]

She has been sitting for the full 21 days and her 3 eggs have begun hatching. She broke the one that was on its way to zipping. She heard the sounds and when I introduced her to them at night, I didn't show them to ger but snuck them under her. So what would be the big difference if it had hatched underneath her and was up and moving by morning? I guess I don't see your point of view 100%

I don't have enough data and enough experience trying to introduce chicks to a broody hen to give you a proper answer.
I tried here a couple of times many years ago and it was a disaster.
It's been quite apparent when I've had more than one hen sitting and hatching in their tribe coops that each hen knows exactly which chicks belong to which hen. However, when they've done combined sits and hatches; two hens on one nest. three hens covering two nests, the chicks get sort of shared between the hens, each hen taking turns at looking after some or all the chicks.
Between the science (mums recognising what they hatched) my arrangements here (solo sitting hens only being allowed to hatch their own eggs) and the disasters mentioned earlier, my view is (I have no proof) that there is a much higher chance of the hen rejecting chicks and even attacking them, if she didn't hatch them.
Having watched hens with chicks free ranging here, if another hens chicks stray to the wrong mother, they get pecked at and driven away.
It's the hatching part that seems to be important, not the provenance of the eggs. If a hen hatches them then they are her chicks.

 

[fisherlady]

I have introduced incubator hatched chicks to broodies many, many times and every time is different. First time broodies are the most unpredictable by far, but even experienced hens have their moments.
I would keep the incubator chicks in a quiet dark place for now, this hen is in super broody protective mode right now because she is feeling her own eggs hatching, suddenly introduction of fluffy butts will seem confusing and intrusive to her. Supervise her as her own eggs hatch and allow her to sit with her own chicks a few hours. You will (should) hear her start to talk to her chicks as she sits, it will be a soft, throaty "chook, chook" sound, but increase to a sharper toned trilling noise if she gets nervous about something. That trill is a warning for her chicks to freeze and be quiet and is normal to hear when you approach a defensive mama hen.
Once she has sat for the better part of the day with her new chicks (they are drying under her) you will notice them peeking out. She should be talking to them at this point and you should see her being calm about chicks moving around in front of her and she will lift slightly to encourage them to duck back under her. Once she is at this point is when I would graft those other chicks to her. Don't show them to her, simply tuck them under her wing or butt fluff and then back off to watch for a while. Most of the time a hen who is talking to her own chicks but hasn't left the nest yet to start feeding them will be good with adopting new ones as long as they are the same age as hers (within a day). Sometimes if the new ones are a much different color the hen will be much more suspicious of them also.
If the hen reacts aggressively to the chicks when they pop out simply cover them with your hand and tuck them back under to give her more time to settle and let her transition from 'sitting mode' through 'hatching mode' and into 'mother mode'. This process can be very time consuming and nerve wracking but the end result is worth it.
Yes, there can be homicidal broodies, but they are very much the exception...it is much more likely that a hen harming a chick is more from confusion, misguided over protectiveness and just lack of experience and given a chance she may become the broody you are hoping for. That doesn't mean she will be a stellar broody, I have had a few who love to sit but are pretty air-headed about raising their chicks, but even those can be helped if you have a safe spot to keep them so chicks don't get lost or left behind. A truly hands free broody is priceless and even they have their moments...so don't give up yet.

 

[JellyrollBrahma]

I have introduced incubator hatched chicks to broodies many, many times and every time is different. First time broodies are the most unpredictable by far, but even experienced hens have their moments.
I would keep the incubator chicks in a quiet dark place for now, this hen is in super broody protective mode right now because she is feeling her own eggs hatching, suddenly introduction of fluffy butts will seem confusing and intrusive to her. Supervise her as her own eggs hatch and allow her to sit with her own chicks a few hours. You will (should) hear her start to talk to her chicks as she sits, it will be a soft, throaty "chook, chook" sound, but increase to a sharper toned trilling noise if she gets nervous about something. That trill is a warning for her chicks to freeze and be quiet and is normal to hear when you approach a defensive mama hen.
Once she has sat for the better part of the day with her new chicks (they are drying under her) you will notice them peeking out. She should be talking to them at this point and you should see her being calm about chicks moving around in front of her and she will lift slightly to encourage them to duck back under her. Once she is at this point is when I would graft those other chicks to her. Don't show them to her, simply tuck them under her wing or butt fluff and then back off to watch for a while. Most of the time a hen who is talking to her own chicks but hasn't left the nest yet to start feeding them will be good with adopting new ones as long as they are the same age as hers (within a day). Sometimes if the new ones are a much different color the hen will be much more suspicious of them also.
If the hen reacts aggressively to the chicks when they pop out simply cover them with your hand and tuck them back under to give her more time to settle and let her transition from 'sitting mode' through 'hatching mode' and into 'mother mode'. This process can be very time consuming and nerve wracking but the end result is worth it.
Yes, there can be homicidal broodies, but they are very much the exception...it is much more likely that a hen harming a chick is more from confusion, misguided over protectiveness and just lack of experience and given a chance she may become the broody you are hoping for. That doesn't mean she will be a stellar broody, I have had a few who love to sit but are pretty air-headed about raising their chicks, but even those can be helped if you have a safe spot to keep them so chicks don't get lost or left behind. A truly hands free broody is priceless and even they have their moments...so don't give up yet.

That was so encouraging and wise, thank you!

 

[JellyrollBrahma]

UPDATE:
I let the pullet hatch an egg under her and she brutally killed the baby. Even when I tried to remove it she went after it again. This is a sad night

 

[Morrigan]

That really stinks. So sorry your first experience with a broody had to go like this.

 

[2 many chickens]

I'm sorry to hear that.
I would remove any unhatched eggs from her. Not a good idea to leave anything with her.