Can you put a baby chick under a different mother

[Brian8anegg]

We have a outdoor coop and our chicken numbers have deteriorated over time due to natural causes (hawks, cyotes, and one seemingly disappeared.) But we want to know If we can put fake eggs under a hen, wait 20 days, and then put real baby chicks under her? We want more chickens but we are cautious because we don't want our current 2 hens to reject any chicks we put there. We want to have more chickens. We have no roosters. Any strategies for us? This is our first time owning chickens, and we got our group of originally 6 as chicks back in Feb 2023. What can we do?

 

[thecatumbrella]

You can definitely do that, but be prepared for the hen to reject them. I would sneak the chicks under her at night, then come back at the crack of dawn to observe without too much interference. Have a brooder ready to go if things go south. Worse case, you have to integrate the chicks later on.