The Ol' Switcharoo- Will mama accept incubator eggs after I take her chicks away?

[tinychicky]

I wasn't going to post, but I couldn't find an answer to my question. I have 5 serama eggs currently pipping under a broody LF hen in my coop. Temps will be in the 50's in my area today, and below freezing at night. I have LF eggs in my incubator that are on day 12. I prefer to take the serama chicks away from the hen and brood them myself- they might be crushed by big mama or freeze if they wander away. They will not be integrated into the LF flock in any case.

I'm wondering if I take the serama chicks away from mama as they hatch, whether I could then slip the day 12 LF eggs under her, with an aim of letting her keep and raise those babies. I know it means a few more days of sitting, but she's in good body condition and I think she could handle it. My question is...will she continue to sit?

She's been communicating with her chicks in the shell. She knows they are hatching. If her hatching eggs are suddenly replaced by silent ones, is she likely to keep sitting until they hatch, or abandon the clutch as dead?

I'm hoping for a best-of-all-worlds, humane solution where mama gets to raise the babies she wants, the LF chicks integrate with the flock, and the seramas are hand raised inside where it is safer for them. I accept that ultimately I may just have to try it and see, but thought I'd ask here first.

If anyone has experience with this sort of situation, I would appreciate knowing how it worked out for you!

Thank you!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree another week of sitting in hatching eggs should not harm the broody. Before they go broody they store up extra fat, which is most of what they live on while broody so they can spend time on the nest instead of searching for food. That part doesn't bother me. If she does run out of excess fat she may break from being broody before your LF eggs hatch, so you put those eggs in the incubator but I think that is unlikely. They usually store a lot.

Now some hindsight, which does not help you at all this time. You missed your best window to swap the eggs before these started pipping. That would have been so much less stressful. But you are where you are.

Usually hens bond with their chicks while they are pipping and switch from incubating mode to raising chicks mode. It is possible she will abandon the eggs and go looking for these chicks if you take them away. But it is also possible she will stay on the new eggs and hatch those if you take the chicks away as they hatch. You never know until you try. When people have a staggered hatch they try something like this and it sometimes works.

Or switch the eggs now before they hatch. Finish the hatch in the incubator.

I don't see any great options for you with any guarantees. Just choose a way to go and good luck.

 

[tinychicky]

Thank you Ridgerunner, you've given me a lot to think about. I waffled for too long on this and missed my window to swap the eggs yesterday I think. So I will go ahead and do the following:
I'll pull the serama chicks as they hatch and move them to a brooder. I'll put several eggs from the fridge under the broody. If she continues to sit, I'll move the incubator eggs under her around lockdown time. If she does not continue to sit, no biggie, although I will feel bad that she spent all that time and effort without getting chicks out of it.
I'll also let some eggs pile up in a nest box and see if I can entice anybody else. There is an old phoenix cross hen who goes broody at the drop of a hat. She'll be a good backup, because if this hen abandons her clutch, she'll probably take up residence in the nest herself. Heck, she might even adopt chicks without having sat on the eggs, I'll have to test that sometime...

I will post another update on how this plan goes in case anybody else has the same question in the future.

 

[tinychicky]

First two babies are out! They came from the pictured pair.

 

[tinychicky]

All five chicks have hatched and are adapting to brooder life. I took them away last night after all were dried off and swapped them for refrigerator eggs. So far mama is sitting tight.

 

[Yardmom]

Great job figuring out a test solution!

 

[tinychicky]

The hen is still sitting tight and, oops, her five well-refrigerated eggs are all developing (I thought that viability went way down after a week or two in the fridge but I guess not!?)

I noticed she has a few lice, so I am waiting for an order of Elector PSP to come in to treat her before I give her the incubator eggs. I may hatch them in the incubator, then put the chicks under her at this point so there's less of a chance she will give lice to her chicks. I'll treat the whole flock and coop, although I have only seen lice on the broody.

Also not sure whether to then put the developing fridge eggs into the incubator. Ah chicken math....

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

The hen is still sitting tight and, oops, her five well-refrigerated eggs are all developing (I thought that viability went way down after a week or two in the fridge but I guess not!?)

I noticed she has a few lice, so I am waiting for an order of Elector PSP to come in to treat her before I give her the incubator eggs. I may hatch them in the incubator, then put the chicks under her at this point so there's less of a chance she will give lice to her chicks. I'll treat the whole flock and coop, although I have only seen lice on the broody.

Also not sure whether to then put the developing fridge eggs into the incubator. Ah chicken math....

I know how you feel lol I had a "Broody" who probably sat for two days, tops. aaaaaand now I have twelve eggs at day seventeen, and three eggs I set in the incubator a day or two ago.

 

[NatJ]

The hen is still sitting tight and, oops, her five well-refrigerated eggs are all developing (I thought that viability went way down after a week or two in the fridge but I guess not!?)

Not helpful for this batch, but if you ever have a similar situation in future: giving fake eggs to a broody instead of refrigerated eggs will be a way to avoid unexpected chick development.

"Fake eggs" can actually be golf balls, or wooden eggs, or ceramic eggs, or those plastic Easter Eggs that are in all the stores right now, or anything else vaguely egg shaped. I've seen hens sit on avocado pits, too.

After-Easter sales could be a pretty good time to pick up egg-shaped things in the stores to use for fake eggs.

 

[tinychicky]

Thanks NatJ! I went with what I had, but I will make sure I have an alternative on hand from now on.