Hen is constantly Clucking the morning after giving her adopted chicks

[Rost]

Hi there we recently got a small group of 4 baby chicks we are hoping to introduce to the rest of our flock And we were just curious about something with the broody we gave them to.so last night we finished sneaking the chicks under her and in the morning we let out the rest of our chickens and she tails them down the ramp before circling back around under it she then pokes her head back into the coop where the nesting boxes were and starts making a chirping clucking ? sound then after a bit we decided to pick her up and put her with the chicks again and she had been aggravated clucking for a short while after before settling down.
Info:They have accessible food and drink we are checking on them almost hourly she isn’t aggressive with them just pecking I assume to keep them in line we had good success introducing the first chick to her one night before we gave her the other 3 the chicks the chicks themselves are roughly 4-5 days old
And in the second night where we gave her the 3 chicks we missed an egg she was sitting on and retrieved it in the morning today if that’s something to note.
We wanted to know if this is a sign of her not imprinting on the chicks properly ?
Was she trying to call them over ?
and should we leave her be if that’s the case or isolate the chicks and her ?
How should we approach this going forward ?

 

[fluffycrow]

I'm a little confused with the timing. Did you give her one chick the first day, and three the next?

The clucking by itself is not bothersome. Broodies, and especially broodies with chicks/mothers will cluck very regularly.

Is she pecking them when they come near her? Have they accepted her as their mother?

 

[Penpal]

She is talking to them. They need to know the sound of her voice as opposed the other hens.

 

[Rost]

I'm a little confused with the timing. Did you give her one chick the first day, and three the next?

The clucking by itself is not bothersome. Broodies, and especially broodies with chicks/mothers will cluck very regularly.

Is she pecking them when they come near her? Have they accepted her as their mother?

1.Yes we did this to test how she would react to it since this is our first time raising chicks this way and its her first time being a mother once we confirmed she was ok with it we gave her the remaining three the following night

2.Not really and not in any way that seems harmful i caught her a few minutes ago with two of the chicks under her so it seems like she is taking to them well

 

[EggSighted4Life]

so last night we finished sneaking the chicks under her and in the morning we let out the rest of our chickens and she tails them down the ramp before circling back around under it she then pokes her head back into the coop where the nesting boxes were and starts making a chirping clucking ?

Welcome to BYC!

She was trying to lead the chicks out and calling them to follow her!

We wanted to know if this is a sign of her not imprinting on the chicks properly ?

They may not have imprinted on her just yet. I usually tuck all chicks in at the same time so they can hear the hens voice over night and hers. She's ready to lead them off the nest.

How should we approach this going forward ?

Sounds like you did good by settling her back in on them. I personally would just keep checking rather than isolating the family.. unless the other hens were causing problems.. then I would only isolate VERY short term (preferably in sight of the flock) while the chicks finish imprinting on the hen.

Congrats on your new little family.

 

[fluffycrow]

1.Yes we did this to test how she would react to it since this is our first time raising chicks this way and its her first time being a mother once we confirmed she was ok with it we gave her the remaining three the following night

2.Not really and not in any way that seems harmful i caught her a few minutes ago with two of the chicks under her so it seems like she is taking to them well

I see. In that case, there's your answer. Seems like she's accepted them. The behaviour she exhibited with the ramp points to that as well. Now it's a matter of all the rest of the chicks accepting her. Good luck!

 

[Rost]

Welcome to BYC!

She was trying to lead the chicks out and calling them to follow her!


They may not have imprinted on her just yet. I usually tuck all chicks in at the same time so they can hear the hens voice over night and hers. She's ready to lead them off the nest.


Sounds like you did good by settling her back in on them. I personally would just keep checking rather than isolating the family.. unless the other hens were causing problems.. then I would only isolate VERY short term (preferably in sight of the flock) while the chicks finish imprinting on the hen.

Congrats on your new little family.

Welcome to BYC!

She was trying to lead the chicks out and calling them to follow her!


They may not have imprinted on her just yet. I usually tuck all chicks in at the same time so they can hear the hens voice over night and hers. She's ready to lead them off the nest.


Sounds like you did good by settling her back in on them. I personally would just keep checking rather than isolating the family.. unless the other hens were causing problems.. then I would only isolate VERY short term (preferably in sight of the flock) while the chicks finish imprinting on the hen.

Congrats on your new little fam

Welcome to BYC!

She was trying to lead the chicks out and calling them to follow her!


They may not have imprinted on her just yet. I usually tuck all chicks in at the same time so they can hear the hens voice over night and hers. She's ready to lead them off the nest.


Sounds like you did good by settling her back in on them. I personally would just keep checking rather than isolating the family.. unless the other hens were causing problems.. then I would only isolate VERY short term (preferably in sight of the flock) while the chicks finish imprinting on the hen.

Congrats on your new little family.

Thank you !

And the other two chickens in the flock seem to be ok with the chicks so far we haven't noticed any aggression from them so i think they're good and to why we are isolating them we are a bit concerned Cheddar (the mother) might abandon them once she leaves them for long enough since its only the second day but we are leaving them with plenty of food and water and are changing the shavings in their zone regularly