What are the chances that our lone hen will adopt the new chicks?

[AmyRey]

We have one lone buff orp hen (2ish years old) staying mainly (but temporarily) in a dog crate in our garage. This has made her much more sociable, actually - towards us anyways.

A friend of mine has ordered four newly hatched buff orpington bantam pullets (along with "a couple of male somethings" for shipping purposes) to use as props for pictures (she's a photographer) and will be giving them to me after the weekend is up.

My hope is that our girl will take to them and become their "mom" - although she has shown no brooding tendencies in the past, nor is she now.

Are my hopes useless? Or might this actually happen? Are there things that I can do to facilitate this?

 

[gryeyes]

I'd be really hesitant about trying it.... be prepared to put them in a separate brooder and raise 'em to a few weeks old if she doesn't take to 'em.

They kinda have to be broody-ish to feel motherly towards chicks.

 

[AmyRey]

Oh yes - this definitely won't be an unsupervised endeavor. At all.

 

[chickenX]

a hen usually has to be in a very broody "space" to care for chicks.
my prediction is she'll probably be annoyed by the fuzzy butts.
you don't want her peckin' at their fragile noggins so be super careful.
i have a feeling that in the end YOU will be the mama chicken.
have fun - baby chickens are hilarious and adorable.
take lots of pics.
and beware, once you raise baby chickens you will NOT be able to pass the chick bin at your local feed store without feeling seriously compulsed to snatch them all up and bring 'em home.

 

[speakup4kids]

You never can tell… I have one hen that adopts anything she can find… doesn't seem to matter if she is broody or not. And I'm not kidding, ANYTHING she can find, mice, kittens, you name it, she steals it and tries to sit on it. I think she may have some issues...

 

[AmyRey]

I literally laughed out loud.

I hope I'll get lucky with her. I'm sure she's MUCH more suited to be a chick mother than I am.

*fingers crossed*

 

[Funsizeracing]

Quote:
That is great! What kind of hen is she?

 

[mkwags]

ya, I was wondering the same thing, what kind of hen is the loving hen?

 

[Chihuahuamom444]

I had a lone hen for a few years and she hatched her own babies (thanks to ebay), they grew up and she still wants to be a house chicken and just go out during the day and wouldnt even Think of sleeping in the coop with the rest. She has a bunny type cage and is perfectly happy being a house chicken. I tried to give her new babies cause she was sitting on eggs and she Knew they weren't hers and wanted nothing to do with them.

 

[pixiedouglas]

Quote:
what breed is the hen?!