Will a broody hen take older chicks (two weeks old)?

[British chicks]

Hi everyone! I have an ex battery hen who went broody and sat on eggs which didn't hatch. I got her four day old chicks which she has happily adopted. These chicks are now 2 weeks old.

I do volunteer work at the RSPCA and in March adopted 2 bantam roosters that had been brought in.

They emailed yesterday to say someone brought a single chick in about 5 days ago and would I consider trying to get my mama to adopt this one as well.

I said yes. I pick Chickpea up tomorrow. I think I will try placing her directly with mama, in hopes she doesn't notice an extra one, but hearing about putting chicks safely nearby, so mama can hear, will be my back up plan.

My other two hens have almost stopped laying and seem rather interested in the current chicks. I can't help wondering if one of t

hem would take to this new one?

 

[Chickassan]

All you can do is try it and see.
Just stay super close so you can snatch the baby if things don't go well.
Good luck.

Hi everyone! I have an ex battery hen who went broody and sat on eggs which didn't hatch. I got her four day old chicks which she has happily adopted. These chicks are now 2 weeks old.

I do volunteer work at the RSPCA and in March adopted 2 bantam roosters that had been brought in.

They emailed yesterday to say someone brought a single chick in about 5 days ago and would I consider trying to get my mama to adopt this one as well.

I said yes. I pick Chickpea up tomorrow. I think I will try placing her directly with mama, in hopes she doesn't notice an extra one, but hearing about putting chicks safely nearby, so mama can hear, will be my back up plan.

My other two hens have almost stopped laying and seem rather interested in the current chicks. I can't help wondering if one of tView attachment 1880393 View attachment 1880394 View attachment 1880393 View attachment 1880394 hem would take to this new one?

 

[jlwquilter]

I’m very glad to be reading the updates. It’s helpful to know how things turn out, for good or bad. Thanks!

 

[rotagen]

I just wanted to add to this older thread. Very interesting !

I have an isbar hen that is stubbornly broody going on 2 weeks now. She doesn't even care if there are eggs underneath her. My roo is also a bit too young and inexperienced so pretty much all of the eggs are infertile.
She's only 9 mos old but I have several barnyard mix chicks at almost 2 wks old (various ages).
I will try to introduce them to each other when I put the babies in the little outside coop with food in the area . I'll update.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I just wanted to add to this older thread. Very interesting !

I have an isbar hen that is stubbornly broody going on 2 weeks now. She doesn't even care if there are eggs underneath her. My roo is also a bit too young and inexperienced so pretty much all of the eggs are infertile.
She's only 9 mos old but I have several barnyard mix chicks at almost 2 wks old (various ages).
I will try to introduce them to each other when I put the babies in the little outside coop with food in the area . I'll update.

Good luck!

 

[rotagen]

Well so far not much happened. I moved the chicks to their outdoor coop next to the big chickens, pulled the broody Isbar (sitting on nothing) out of her box and plopped her next to them. She looked at them, made a few sounds as the chicks cowered in the corner and then said "huh...doesn't concern me" and walked to the door so I let her out. At least she ate some food, then back into a nest box.

Maybe with a little time, but not too hopeful.

 

[renk777]

I found this thread while looking for any anecdotes of a broody accepting older chicks. Earlier this year, I separated out my roos/hens so that if a hen went broody, I could place eggs from one group under her. But I needed a large bird to go broody as the eggs I wanted to hatch were from our LF flock. Months later, not a single LF has gone broody. 4 bantam cochins have. I broke 2 of their broodiness but one was still going strong and her sister had just started as well. We're going away in July and I really had hoped to have the flocks merged again by then so that things were easier for our sitter. I realized that at this point, even if a LF did go broody, between incubation period and growing, the chicks would be too young for me to be comfortable leaving mama and babies with a sitter. Which would mean I'd have 3 stations well into July :/ I was at a local feed store on Tues and they had a few chicks left of breeds I was interested in. I bought 6 (sadly, I already suspect 2 are roos) and figured the 2 broody bantam moms could share the load. The chicks are between 2 and 3 weeks old and I knew from limited research that it would not work. But I had faith that every animal is different and there's always a chance. I prepared a brooder in the basement that's set up and ready no matter what. I removed the other birds in our tractor and left the 2 broody hens. I placed the chicks under them at night and they immediately tucked them in. In the morning, the longest broody took to them but as is mentioned everywhere online, the chicks did not imprint on her. She did everything right but every peck and move terrified them and sent them scrambling. So she would just dutifully sit and call to them and they'd ignore her in a huddle by themselves. It was only in the 60s yesterday so I sat next to the tractor and just kept placing them back under her. Her sister did not show interest in coparenting; she insisted on spending the day still on their nest. But she'd only been broody a few days. My hope was that if the whole crew slept in a pile a few nights in a row, that in time, as her broodiness increased, she'd adopt them as well. But yesterday afternoon, I saw her going after the chicks so I removed her. So now it's just one bantam mama with 6 LF chicks. She went up last night into the coop but the chicks didn't follow her. I had the mind to just ditch the idea of a broody raising them as I can't be present 24/7 and it's just too cold out for one to be separated and me not to notice. But my kids and I both felt if we could just get them through another night together, the chicks might imprint on her a little. So we placed them all under her and I checked on them repeatedly and they didn't budge. All were underneath her last night went I went to bed after midnight. This morning, I went out at daybreak and they were still in the coop portion of the tractor...all tucked in. I opened the door to the run area and went back inside. It's pouring out today and cold so I had so much apprehension. But she did bring them out and I've checked on them and this morning, they're all snuggled under her. It's still too early to think we're out of the woods but it seems as if they're beginning to recognize her as a source of warmth at the very least. I do worry that as they grow, she can't cover all 6 so I'm wondering if I can run a line out and set up one of those lightless ceramic bulbs or a warming plate like they use in rabbit nesting boxes for any that might find they don't fit under her. I'll have to research that later. If any of you have ideas, they would be welcome. I don't love the idea of any bulb in an outdoor space...especially since the coop portion of the tractor is so small. If a chick jumps/flies, I suppose they could make contact :/ Regardless, I have much hope that my experience might inspire others to try if ever they're in a pinch. I can say that a lot depends on the bird. This particular bantam is super sweet. I would not have tried this with another one that went broody earlier this year; I don't think I would have trusted her not to kill them. I'll try to keep this thread posted with the outcome!

 

[renk777]

Update...checked on mama and chicks throughout the day. Chicks were mostly out from under her but sticking around her and responding to her vocalizations for food. They weren't huddled due to cold which led me to believe they were under her and had just come out. I went out again a few moments ago and saw some pecking around and others under her peeking out. I threw some more food in and watched her call them. Even though they dispersed when the food was tossed in, they came running to her and started eating when she called. Still don't want to get my hopes up too high but it does seem as though they're imprinting on her a bit. I'll check again later as the sun goes down to see if they follow her into the coop or if we have to place them under her. But at this moment, I'm thinking the experience above might not be completely random and that it might be possible to successfully put 2-3 week old chicks under a broody. Not sure if it matters but this hen isn't even a year old. She hatched in Oct 21 and this is the first time she's broody. Perhaps her lack of experience with what to expect was in my favor....

 

[renk777]

Now I have a conundrum. I suspect 2 of the chicks are roos. One of the Barred Rocks and an EE. The assumption with the EE is that even at this young age, the little pea dots on the entirely undeveloped comb look wide and as though they might develop into 3 rows. I wouldn't even consider that as proof of anything except that little chick grabs Mama's face and literally tries to drag her. She is so patient. The only time I've ever seen that behavior was when I had young cockerels sparring and establishing a hierarchy. I called seller and he's willing to swap out boys for (hopefully) pullets. But I'm worried Mama will notice the replacements aren't 'hers'. Is that a valid concern after just 2 days? And I worry replacements won't see mama as mom though I suspect they'd just follow what the majority does. I don't want roos. Technically, I can't even have chickens and I already have 3 roos. And the longer I have them, the more my kids and I will get attached. Advice? To swap or not to swap

 

[renk777]

They followed her in and are all under her for the night ❤ So it is possible to bond a broody with 2+ week old chicks! Her name is Popcorn. Both her parents were split to mottled. As a chick, she was completely mottled but that's mostly disappeared. She is so sweet! All the babies are under her in this pic