Putting chicks under broody hen question??

[kimmom]

We have a broody hen who has been sitting quite a while. We would like to slip some chicks under her at night. Do they have to be day old chicks or are week old OK? Thanks
Kim

 

[write2caroline]

I think day old chicks are fine. Week old I am not so sure, you can try and see. They are so funny with a broody hen and dive into her feathers. I think the broody will accept the chicks but if the chicks are a week old they may not know that the broody is suppose to be their parental unit. My aunt had a banty hen that accepted two week old baby geese and they were bigger than she was. She was so funny trying to keep them warm and bossing them around. It really depends on the hen. Also at 6 weeks my broody flipped a switch and didn't seem to recognize the babies as hers anymore. It was wierd.
Caroline

 

[shanonspeeps]

Quote:
I was really lucky on this! I had a hen that had been broody for two months. Someone kept on eating all of the eggs that she was trying to sit on. I had a run in with a predator about two months ago and lost 7 of my flock so I needed to order some more babies anyway. I ordered 26 from MM and the morning they arrived I put them AND the broody wanna be mama in the "chicken condo" and she immediately was bossing and bringing them food and it was just the sweetest thing. They are now two weeks old and I haven't lost a single one (yet) and I let them free-range with the older flock for about an hour and a half each evening. So far I haven't had any problems with my rooster or the other older ladies messing with them.

Shanon

 

[calicokat]

In our experience momma took to the babies just fine whether day olds, week olds, or even a mix of them

The last hatch (of golf balls, man - I love their reliability!) was of three 10 day old EE's and a pair of day old chicks. All were accepted just fine. We swapped the golf balls for babies at night, in the dark.