Success rate giving first time broody live babies?

[Morrigan]

All hens are different, but the vast majority of hens -- including first time broodies -- will accept baby chicks. Some will take them eagerly, even in broad daylight. Others you have to be very sneaky about it.

The safest route is to wait until the hen been broody at 10 to 14 days, and then slip the chicks under her at night. Only once, did that not work, but that hen was real pill and a problem in other ways.

And yes, many times the hen will peck at your hand. She is trying to defend her nest after all. I try to take advantage of that, actually. I distract the hen by letting her peck one hand while I quickly slip the chicks under her from behind with the other hand. You can wear a glove if you like.

I've found that first time broody hens can be excellent mothers. It seems if they are born with the good mother gene, they have if from their very first brood.

Good luck!

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

I have been lucky because none of my broodys have ever tried to attack me. Pearl, the one that just had babies was actually very sweet the entire time. She would draw blood on the other hens anytime they would come near her or the babies but never minded me. I think it depends on each chicken. She was so used to make put my hands underneath her, she really didn’t know what was going on. I have another hen that goes broody every single year and she’s 6 1/2 years old and it’s the same for her. I’m all up in their business lol.

My other broody is sweet too and I messed with her a lot because a mama with babies is the most precious thing in the world! That one is a Cochin, not sure if breed sometimes plays into this? The mean mama now, Izzy, is a Barred rock/Wyandotte mix. She is the last Wyandotte I will have, they aren’t my favorite personality. I still love them, but they are mean to their flock mates. When Izzy gets off her nest now, she chases the geese (2 Pilgrim females) if they are closer than 5 feet. They scream and run for their lives, lol! She lets me hand feed her a couple of tiny treats when she is on the nest, but she is still all puffed up with each bite. Come in with no food and you better have gloves on! Chickens are so amazing! Pics are Izzy.

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

All hens are different, but the vast majority of hens -- including first time broodies -- will accept baby chicks. Some will take them eagerly, even in broad daylight. Others you have to be very sneaky about it.

The safest route is to wait until the hen been broody at 10 to 14 days, and then slip the chicks under her at night. Only once, did that not work, but that hen was real pill and a problem in other ways.

And yes, many times the hen will peck at your hand. She is trying to defend her nest after all. I try to take advantage of that, actually. I distract the hen by letting her peck one hand while I quickly slip the chicks under her from behind with the other hand. You can wear a glove if you like.

I've found that first time broody hens can be excellent mothers. It seems if they are born with the good mother gene, they have if from their very first brood.

Good luck!

I know that I will be a complete wreck if I put babies under her at night and can’t check on her every 2 minutes. I will do exactly as you said, but I’m going to have to go with the daytime, more risky, method! I ordered 3 babies that should be here on Thursday, the 29th.

 

[Kdlevesque]

My other broody is sweet too and I messed with her a lot because a mama with babies is the most precious thing in the world! That one is a Cochin, not sure if breed sometimes plays into this? The mean mama now, Izzy, is a Barred rock/Wyandotte mix. She is the last Wyandotte I will have, they aren’t my favorite personality. I still love them, but they are mean to their flock mates. When Izzy gets off her nest now, she chases the geese (2 Pilgrim females) if they are closer than 5 feet. They scream and run for their lives, lol! She lets me hand feed her a couple of tiny treats when she is on the nest, but she is still all puffed up with each bite. Come in with no food and you better have gloves on! Chickens are so amazing! Pics are Izzy. View attachment 3272161View attachment 3272160

She’s beautiful! Chickens are awesome! I teach school and I take them to school sometimes…only the sweet ones.

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

Results:

I can understand why it is probably best to put the babies under the mama in the evening. However it is also very simple to take them out of the box and stick them directly under the mom without having to do anything!

Our babies arrived around noon and we immediately put them under her. She liked the one that is the same color as her, but the others she started pecking at. It wasn’t viscous, but it certainly wasn’t kind, and no one would ever leave her with babies in that state. As long as the babies stayed under her, everything was fine, but as soon as they came out, she would peck at them. I did not leave them unattended for more than a few minutes until night. As soon as the other chickens went to bed, I left her alone. From what I could tell from checking on her, the babies didn’t come out all night. When morning arrived, the babies were hers and it was beautiful. There was not a single bit of pecking and the babies jumped all over her happy as can be while she sat looking like the proudest mama you ever saw.

It has been 5 days since then and everything is good. Oh how I love seeing a mama with babies!!

What I learned - It’s best to give a first time mama hatching eggs, but if you have to give live babies, it is best to do it an hour or so before dark, if possible. That way you can see how she will act. Not necessarily kind, but if she was going to kill them, I think that would be noted in that amount of time. I think a proven awesome mama can be given babies at any time of day without any problem. My second year mama was more than happy to take seven babies all at once in the middle of the day.

I may be wrong, but for now, that is what I’m going to go with! Thanks everyone for your advice.

 

[Morrigan]

I'm glad it worked out for you!

 

[PaigeWells]

I just had a young broody aracauna about 10 months old adopt 3 3 day old babies (Just today). She went broody and I could not break her- she was stealing everyone’s eggs, hogging the favorite nest box, she held on for 60+ days despite all attempts to break her- and btw, I don’t even have a rooster. She was even trying to hatch random rocks. I was worried she would starve herself so I got 3 babies and introduced them this morning. I didn’t do it at night as we were 22 degrees F and if she wasn’t on one it would die. I showed them to her and then put them under her, she did great but freaked when they wanted to go eat (they were 3 days old and were eating before I gave them to her so…). She fussed until they were all back under her. I did read here that much older and it can be hard as they think “mom” is a shiny heat lamp and not a clucking warm pile of feathers, so I worried but they did great. The most adventurous, strongest one also is the first to really run to her when she clucks. I then further traumatized her by deciding to bring her and them inside as it will be 17F here tonight (NC mountains) and that is not normal, she is in temporary living in a dog crate with the babies but handled it well. So I’d give my encouragement, I’m new to this but instinct seems to be really strong. If it had been warmer I might have done the “surprise- you hatched your unfertilized stolen eggs overnight!” thing but I just didn’t trust her in this cold. Good luck!

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

A flat panel radiant heater is really great to have around for when things like that happen. I mount ours securely to the wall which is a bit of a pain, but it’s still very portable, easy to use, and definitely can reduce some worry.

 

[PaigeWells]

My other broody is sweet too and I messed with her a lot because a mama with babies is the most precious thing in the world! That one is a Cochin, not sure if breed sometimes plays into this? The mean mama now, Izzy, is a Barred rock/Wyandotte mix. She is the last Wyandotte I will have, they aren’t my favorite personality. I still love them, but they are mean to their flock mates. When Izzy gets off her nest now, she chases the geese (2 Pilgrim females) if they are closer than 5 feet. They scream and run for their lives, lol! She lets me hand feed her a couple of tiny treats when she is on the nest, but she is still all puffed up with each bite. Come in with no food and you better have gloves on! Chickens are so amazing! Pics are Izzy. View attachment 3272161View attachment 3272160

Izzy is beautiful! Delta (my broody) did the puff and peck thing too, and would eat treats in between pecks. I got her as a 6 week old and she wasn’t as tame- I really didn’t want a rooster so I found a breeder who would sell 6 week olds with a much better chance of sorting sexes. I had never picked her up till she went broody. I’d grab her from the nest box and carry her out to the run where the food and water is everyday when I was trying to break her (and prevent starvation). I think letting her be a mom is better for everyone! I will watch to see how she handles the other 11 hens with her babies when the time comes but I hope she is nice and fierce. She seems to have the right instincts and they all have lots of room.