Tips to get 2 broody hens to adopt chicks

[HuskerChickMom]

I have two broody hens that I would like to raise my next set of hatchery chicks. These hens LOVE to go broody and have been broody for over 3 weeks. We just keep taking the eggs they collect. They are gentle ladies so I’m hoping they will welcome new babies with open wings! My questions are: What is the best way to introduce the chicks? and Should I separate the two hens? They both have their own nesting box and and we just moved them to a different building than the other chickens. My chicks are arriving in about a week and a half.

 

[NatJ]

You need the hen to accept the chicks, and switch from sitting on a nest to caring for chicks. You also need the chicks to learn that she is "mommy," so they run to hear when they are cold or scared.

Different people do it different ways.
I have had fairly good results doing it this way:

Set up a brooder with heat lamp, food, water. (Lamp, not brooder plate, for this.)
When the chicks arrive in the morning, put them in the brooder. They can spend the day warming up, eating, and drinking.

That night after dark, put two or three chicks under each hen. Remove any eggs she was sitting on. Leave all other chicks in the brooder. If the chicks come in different colors, pick one of each color for each hen, or a sample of the colors that are available. Some hens object if you add different colored chicks later, so it can help if they see all colors the first day.

The next day, make sure there is food and water near each hen and her chicks. The chicks will probably pop in and out, snuggling with the hen and eating and drinking. The hen will probably stay on the nest this day.

That night, put more chicks under each hen. Either put all the chicks out this night, or you can leave some in the brooder for another day, depending on how many chicks. I might aim for 6-8 chicks per hen this night.

The day after that (second day of chicks-with-hen), the hen is likely to come off the nest to take the chicks to eat and drink. Keep an eye out to be sure this goes well.

The next night (3rd night of chicks), put any remaining chicks under the hens. If all has gone well so far, things will probably continue to go fine from this time on.

If you like to free-range your chickens, I would wait several days after putting in the last chicks, before you let them out to range. The chicks need to learn to stay near the hen, and having them in a pen for several days seems to really help. I don't know what size pen is best, but I know that 3 feet each way works fine, and 4 x 8 feet also works fine. I have not tried a pen bigger than that in the first days.

For the two hens: I have had times when hens successfully brooded chicks in one coop, and times when it did not work. One of the "did not work" was because one hen would call so convincingly that all the chicks tried to get under her, but they could not fit. The other hen was all alone, calling and being ignored. I had to put the hen in separate coops, each with an appropriate amount of chicks, to make sure that all the chicks would stay warm.

Other problems are if one hen tries to drive away another hen, or tries to drive away the chicks that belong to another hen.

If they do well in one pen, I would still provide several feeders and several waterers, to make it easier for them all to eat and drink without conflict.

 

[HuskerChickMom]

You need the hen to accept the chicks, and switch from sitting on a nest to caring for chicks. You also need the chicks to learn that she is "mommy," so they run to hear when they are cold or scared.

Different people do it different ways.
I have had fairly good results doing it this way:

Set up a brooder with heat lamp, food, water. (Lamp, not brooder plate, for this.)
When the chicks arrive in the morning, put them in the brooder. They can spend the day warming up, eating, and drinking.

That night after dark, put two or three chicks under each hen. Remove any eggs she was sitting on. Leave all other chicks in the brooder. If the chicks come in different colors, pick one of each color for each hen, or a sample of the colors that are available. Some hens object if you add different colored chicks later, so it can help if they see all colors the first day.

The next day, make sure there is food and water near each hen and her chicks. The chicks will probably pop in and out, snuggling with the hen and eating and drinking. The hen will probably stay on the nest this day.

That night, put more chicks under each hen. Either put all the chicks out this night, or you can leave some in the brooder for another day, depending on how many chicks. I might aim for 6-8 chicks per hen this night.

The day after that (second day of chicks-with-hen), the hen is likely to come off the nest to take the chicks to eat and drink. Keep an eye out to be sure this goes well.

The next night (3rd night of chicks), put any remaining chicks under the hens. If all has gone well so far, things will probably continue to go fine from this time on.

If you like to free-range your chickens, I would wait several days after putting in the last chicks, before you let them out to range. The chicks need to learn to stay near the hen, and having them in a pen for several days seems to really help. I don't know what size pen is best, but I know that 3 feet each way works fine, and 4 x 8 feet also works fine. I have not tried a pen bigger than that in the first days.

For the two hens: I have had times when hens successfully brooded chicks in one coop, and times when it did not work. One of the "did not work" was because one hen would call so convincingly that all the chicks tried to get under her, but they could not fit. The other hen was all alone, calling and being ignored. I had to put the hen in separate coops, each with an appropriate amount of chicks, to make sure that all the chicks would stay warm.

Other problems are if one hen tries to drive away another hen, or tries to drive away the chicks that belong to another hen.

If they do well in one pen, I would still provide several feeders and several waterers, to make it easier for them all to eat and drink without conflict.

Thank you for all the help! We’ve had a mama hen adopt chicks before, but it was right after something got to all but one of her babies so she was desperate to be a mama. I am a little worried about one mama trying to take them all. There will be 10 chicks. Is that too many for one hen? If one does take them all, I may let the other one sit on a clutch to hatch. We’ve had a hen steal chicks before and I felt terrible for the other mama. I will definitely try introducing them at night after they’ve been in the brooder for the day.

 

[NatJ]

I am a little worried about one mama trying to take them all. There will be 10 chicks. Is that too many for one hen?

For 10 chicks, I would probably give them all to one hen.

I've had hens raise more than that, although it depends a bit on the time of year. A hen can raise more chicks in warm weather than in cold weather, because of how big the chicks are by the time they are "old enough" to sleep without being underneath ther.

 

[HuskerChickMom]

Great! We’ll try giving them all to the bigger hen first. If she doesn’t take them maybe we’ll try the other hen. We’re in Nebraska and we are SLOWLY getting warmer, but the nights are still chilly. Hopefully by the time the chicks are bigger, we have better temps! I appreciate all your help!