Will She Accept Them?

[muscovy94]

Hey My Birthday is Dec. 20 and my friend drove down to see me with my birthday present.... 2 cute little baby chicks! Yay! anyway.. I was wondering something. Currently I have two broody silkies. My blue one is sitting on six eggs and they are all fertile

. but I have a splash hen who is also broody sitting on a duck egg that is not fertile. Do you think if I slid the chicks under her or put them in her nest box while she was off the egg eating that she would accept them as her own?

 

[Mrs. K]

I did this last year, with great success. But someone told me that one should mimic the natural 3 week cycle, in other words, slip the chicks about when the fake egg should hatch. But if she is truely broody, and wanting chicks you might get lucky.

I slipped mine under her at night, and because she was broody, she was also a little grouchy, and I was not quite sure how I was going to get the chicks under her, however, I decided to get them all in the nest and then I was going to lift the hen up and kind of work the chicks under her, but the chicks knew more than me, and as I placed them kind of towards her back, they just disappeared under her, she immediately began talking to them, even though I think she was half asleep and talked to them until I thought she would be hoarse, little cluckings. She shifted around in the nest a bit and then settled down tight. The next morning she was one proud mama, and they loved her.

I think you have to have very fresh chicks, and get a bit lucky, but it can work. Mrs.K