Will mother "adopt" chicks?

[stumpdog]

One of our hens went broody but eventually only one egg hatched a week ago. The hen seems a good mother. Does anyone have any wisdom about bringing in additional chicks? Will she adopt them and raise them?

 

[Kat'sChicks]

I've had broodies adopt chicks several times...in fact I have them showing chicks what to do now. Keep in mind that not all mothers will accept "strange" chicks. I know which of mine will for the most part. I wait until everyone goes to bed then take the adoptee(s) to the surrogate mom and let them burrow under her. Usually you'll know then if she'll accept them - if mine will accept them they'll let them snuggle in...if not, they throw a fit and peck at the chick in question. I also go out first thing in the morning to check on everyone to make sure things are ok and the chick is being treated like one of the group, or mom is protecting it and showing it how to find food. The ideal situation is having a broody sitting on several eggs that are at various stages of hatch.....then she thinks she hatched them!
Good luck.....please update!

 

[dufus]

looking for good answers myself, as i have a late hatched chick, that i'm dealing with. [ another thread started ]

 

[Judy]

I've done this a few time successfully. Failed once, but I tried to do it during the day. Worked every time well after dark.

 

[joe17]

I have a silkie momma who hatched one chick. I put her in a separate pen and had some other chicks that I had hatched. I put them in with the momma and the other babies kept following her around. She kept pecking at the new chicks but after a few days, they now sleep all tucked under her! I'm glad that the moms crest and beard was so big that she couldn't really see well enough to attack the new chicks. They easily avoided her when she started pecking.

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

I recently snuck two chicks under a broody Australorp. The chicks were close to 2 weeks old. I did it nightfall, and kept all the other hens away from her. Then I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best! All worked out great, she's a wonderful mama, and loves them very much. Now my other Australorp hen wants to help out. She hangs out close to her "sister" and watches the chicks too. Its really cute.

 

[stumpdog]

Thanks all! Sounds like it's well worth a try.

 

[goatranch]

I put all my babies in my silkie pen. They take turns brooding the babies. My roo is even pretty good with them. I love silkies!!