wanting to put a chick under a broody

[smom1976]

I need some hints and tricks please.. I tried and she attacked the little chick

then I tried the other broody and she didnt attack but didnt really like it too much and got up off the nest.

 

[ibpboo]

Oh man that's sad. Sometimes they just won't accept them. I've had to raise them in the house a few times when my broody didn't accept. If she's been sitting for at least 3 weeks, then try chasing her away, break the eggs, leave a little shell there, place the chicks, let her find them and see if she thinks the eggs hatched. That's what I do. Sometimes it works, but a couple times it didn't.

 

[Nemo]

I've not tried it, but I've read you let her sit on some eggs/egg-substitutes for awhile, then switch them out for the chicks in the middle of the night while she's sleeping.

 

[Southernbelle]

How long were the broodies sitting on their eggs? What kind of chickens are your broodies? I've never tried to graft chicks onto a broody, but more than once I've had the babies adopt a different broody hen.

 

[smom1976]

buff cochins.. one has been sitting for almost a month.. the other 3 weeks..

 

[flakey chick]

Please more advice. I desperately want to do this too. My broody has been sitting for about a week. In another two weeks I would like to slip some babies under her.

So the best chance is to slip them under her at night and then she is supposed to start mothering them when she wakes up, but they might not and you have to be prepared to take them away and brood them inside. Does that mean I need to get up before the chickens? Do I have to sleep in the coop in case she decides to eat them for a midnight snack?

 

[Indiana hens]

Don't do it you are likely to end up witha massacre! I have only done it with a hen with chicks already and it can't be a different color!

 

[Portia]

I just stuck 15 day old hatchery chicks under a broody that had been setting for over a month waiting for chicks. She wasn't about to leave the nest until she had chicks, so when I walked in the coop with the box of chicks she started cooing up a storm. I put them up with her and she immediately shoved them underneath her, settled on top of them and started doing the mama broody cluck. I'm not sure I'd try it with any other breed, but I tell you, speckled sussex are excellent mothers to their own and others.

When you put them in with her did you shove them beneath her or put them beside her? I'd try it at night also and put them completely beneath her. Leave the eggs there until she accepts them, then remove the eggs.

Good luck!

 

[smom1976]

Ok I put them under her last night.. and she let them say under her all night long.. I went out this morning to put fresh food in there and she got up to eat.. when she went back to the nest the littles didnt and they were out in the cold.. still not sure how this is going to unfold. but it went much better with my other broody.. the first one attacked them right away my second one did not and lets them sit under her.. but when they wiggle she gets anoyed..