Single Hatched Chick...Put with Momma & Siblings?

[JacinLarkwell]

She accepted some store bought chicks we got to go with the hatched chicks. Why wouldn’t she accept this one?

Because she knows how nany she has. Its like having a set of kids and suddenly uou have an extra. Yoi know its not yours but unlike humans, chixkens wont care for pffspring they dont consider theirs. Bloodlines mean nothing to them.

 

[Dale River]

How attentive is the mother to the current chicks? If she comes running at the slightest chick distress she may handle a day old well even if her older ones are more mobile. I've had broodies that I definitely would not trust and others I would consider doing this for. I have introduced 2 day old feed store chicks to an attentive hen with 1 week olds and that went fine.

Restricting her space for a few days would also help prevent baby from being left behind while it's most fragile.

I would be inclined to keep it in the brooder until it gets its feet under it. One day might be enough. If you think be needs another day you could even borrow one of her chicks and put it with the little guy as a buddy.

Also, in the future, if you think there's still a viable egg and mom is getting antsy, I have had luck by providing food and water to the babies in the nest box, to get Mom to stay for another day or two on the rest of the eggs. If she senses life in the eggs and isn't getting distressed peeps from the chicks that have hatched, she might be willing to give it a little longer.

Thank you so much for your response. We hadn’t planned to hatch this year, but the momma hen went broody a couple days before we lost our first, sweet hen to a hawk, and I didn’t have the heart to tell my kids we couldn’t let the hen go broody, so we’ve just rolled with it. I’ve learned a lot of what not to do in the process, such as checking to make sure eggs aren’t being added to the clutch throughout the process to ensure hatching occurs within a desirable time period.

The momma hen has been fantastic. She is protective of her chicks and goes to them when they’re too loud or we are making them uncomfortable re-filling the Waterer or feeder. She immediately accepted to store bought chicks we put under her 3 days ago and treats them just like her own.

So you think it may work to put him in the brooder tomorrow and put him under the momma hen tomorrow night?