You've got very good instincts so far!So, with Moonshine and the Spitz chicks, egg #4 was started 1 1/2 days behind. Yesterday, I discovered mites in the little nest box they had been confined to. Mama was standing, trying to avoid the bugs. So I quickly moved them to their pen in the coop, egg and all. Mama abandoned the egg and stayed w the chicks. I brought the egg in the house and improvised a makeshift hatcher with a heating pad. The egg hatched this morning! So now I have this little orphan,
View attachment 1812799 and want to introduce it to mama after it gets active, hopefully today. The 3 other chicks are now 2 days old. @Faraday40 (and anyone else) any thoughts on how this might work out? Thanks!
btw I got permethrin poultry powder and treated mama hen and the coop, nest boxes after completely sweeping it out. Fingers crossed on that.
Well done (Moving the birds, treating the mama, hatching the last egg, waiting for chick to be walking, etc)
To add the chick, I'd wait for a time when mama is calmly sitting & staying on chicks. (probably when they settle down just before dark) Sometimes a mama will peck at a new/different chick as an intruder, so if the mama doesn't see the chick she won't peck at it. Just slip the chick under her & she won't be able to "see" it. Chick will feel cozy & should stay put. When they wake up in the morning, the chick has already spent the night & will most likely be considered part of the family.
It's best to check on the broody a few times in the beginning & again early in the morning.