Will a hen recognise her chicks?

[10hambta]

Hi all!
So I've got my first broody hen at the moment, and shes quite distressed. I own no roosters, so needless to say she isn't about to be a mummy! I've tried to break it and it worked temporarily but wore off. I will continue trying to help her but I worst comes to worst I will by a fertilised egg. The issue is that I do not want a rooster. If an egg hatches into a rooster, and I were to buy another female chick and swap them, would my hen notice? I don't want her to be upset or confused where her baby is! Thanks anyone who can help!

 

[Poultrybreeder]

It depends on how old the chick is. Some hens are good anyway even if they know it is not their chick, others, not so much. Almost all of my 50 hens attack a chick with them after their chicks reach a certain age.

 

[theoldchick]

Unless you are vent-sexing by the time you realize the chick is a rooster, your mother hen will be not be upset to lose her chick. I have determined broody right now. I simply left her alone and check her twice a day to make sure she's eating and drinking-you can feel the food in her crop.

 

[critterkeeper83]

I was able to get my hen to adopt three chicks that I hatched in an incubator the same time hers hatched. So I'd say no they do not recognize their own chicks. But they can count! We took her and the babies out of the tractor (because the babies would fall out of the bottom if we tried to move the tractor with them in it) and she wouldn't quit squawking. Turn out one of her babies had his inside the coop part of the tractor. Luckily we found it while double checking for ground eggs before moving the tractor. Sad she did a better job counting to 7 than I did. But I agree with theoldchick that by the time you know if you have a roo chick the hen will be ok with them going to a new home.

 

[lazy gardener]

Hi all!
So I've got my first broody hen at the moment, and shes quite distressed. I own no roosters, so needless to say she isn't about to be a mummy! I've tried to break it and it worked temporarily but wore off. I will continue trying to help her but I worst comes to worst I will by a fertilised egg. The issue is that I do not want a rooster. If an egg hatches into a rooster, and I were to buy another female chick and swap them, would my hen notice? I don't want her to be upset or confused where her baby is! Thanks anyone who can help!

1. Is she sitting on the nest day and night with only a few minutes off the nest/day? How long has she been doing so? Can you tell us exactly how you attempted to break her from her broodiness?

2. Breaking a hen from broodiness requires you to be more stubborn than her. It may require more work on your part. If an elevated broody buster cage (bare wire floor without any bedding) for 3 days has not done the trick, you may try setting a fan up to blow a gentle flow of air under her. Or you might try soaking her in coolish water. (think lake water at the beginning of the swimming season) Repeat daily until she gives up her broody notions.

3. Strongly recommended against giving a broody hen a single egg to set EVER! Reason being: that egg may or may not hatch. If it doesn't, she has lost yet an other 3 weeks of her condition and still doesn't have a chick to lure her off her nest. And, if that single egg is unfortunate enough to hatch, you're left with a broody mama who has only one chick. Single chicks, even with a broody mama have a hard time with their socialization. So... 5 weeks later, you find that you have a young cockerel on your hands? What then? Are you able to keep a rooster where you live? Are you willing to cull him yourself, or give him to someone else to eat?

My recommendation:

Put more effort into breaking her. If you want to enlarge your flock, and actually have the space to do so without crowding (for raising chicks, IMO, you need more than the recommended 4 s.f. in coop and 10 s.f. in run/bird) and IF you have an exit plan for any and all cockerels that you hatch, then, and only then, should you consider letting her have a clutch of eggs. If that's not the case, then you could re-home her to someone who is willing to work with a broody.

 

[rebrascora]

As others have said, by the time you realise you have a cockerel it will be too late to graft a chick onto her, both because she will realise it is not hers.... the bonding starts a day or two before they hatch and also because she will be about ready to cast it off (fledge it). If you want to add to your flock and satisfy her mothering instinct, you could try grafting a newly hatched sexed pullet chick on to her.

 

[10hambta]

1. Is she sitting on the nest day and night with only a few minutes off the nest/day? How long has she been doing so? Can you tell us exactly how you attempted to break her from her broodiness?

2. Breaking a hen from broodiness requires you to be more stubborn than her. It may require more work on your part. If an elevated broody buster cage (bare wire floor without any bedding) for 3 days has not done the trick, you may try setting a fan up to blow a gentle flow of air under her. Or you might try soaking her in coolish water. (think lake water at the beginning of the swimming season) Repeat daily until she gives up her broody notions.

3. Strongly recommended against giving a broody hen a single egg to set EVER! Reason being: that egg may or may not hatch. If it doesn't, she has lost yet an other 3 weeks of her condition and still doesn't have a chick to lure her off her nest. And, if that single egg is unfortunate enough to hatch, you're left with a broody mama who has only one chick. Single chicks, even with a broody mama have a hard time with their socialization. So... 5 weeks later, you find that you have a young cockerel on your hands? What then? Are you able to keep a rooster where you live? Are you willing to cull him yourself, or give him to someone else to eat?

My recommendation:

Put more effort into breaking her. If you want to enlarge your flock, and actually have the space to do so without crowding (for raising chicks, IMO, you need more than the recommended 4 s.f. in coop and 10 s.f. in run/bird) and IF you have an exit plan for any and all cockerels that you hatch, then, and only then, should you consider letting her have a clutch of eggs. If that's not the case, then you could re-home her to someone who is willing to work with a broody.

Hey, thanks for your reply! So she stopped laying a week ago but only started sitting on a nest yesterday. I managed to tempt her out of the coop and I closed the door. She got really upset and distressed but I managed to stay calm and not open the door again! This is just for the coop where they sleep and lay, so she has plenty of other space in their run. I tried breaking her with a cold water dip too, and just distracting her. A few hours later she came away from sitting next to the coop to join her flock and seemed fine. She ran over for treats and was dustbathing. But this morning it started over. Same thing happened and shes fine now (before I posted this! ) so hopefully won't have too much of a problem and she'll be ok soon.


Thanks for the warning though, I definitely wouldn't be able to keep a rooster but wouldn't cull either. There's where reality hits that it just isn't possible.

But thanks so much for the advice! I'll keep you posted.