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Post by ketoriverfarm on Mar 14, 2018 3:16:24 GMT
has anyone else done this? DH came home today from town with three chicks. We have a buff Orpington who has been sitting for over a week with no eggs under her. After dark tonight he put the chicks in the back of the nest with her. Waited 30 minutes and went out to check. The hen is all fluffed up with the chicks under her wings.
Suggestions to make this successful?
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Post by Maura on Mar 14, 2018 3:48:34 GMT
Awww... I think the hen knows what to do. Don't helicopter. Now that she has hatched out a family, she should be spending more time off the nest and foraging. If it is cold in NE Washington make sure she doesn't have far to go to get her food and water.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2018 5:21:54 GMT
Yes, I’ve done it several times. Once I put 21 chicks in cage with a Buff Orpington who wasn’t broody then but had been once before. She and another hen shared those babies and it worked out well. I was working FT and the relative I thought would be living with me wasn’t so there had to be a way to have good care without me! 🐥🐥🐔
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Post by mogal on Mar 23, 2018 20:13:47 GMT
Yep, I've done it too with a Black Australorp and a mixed heavy breed hen. Good results both times. The chicks I put under the BA hen were from a week old meat type chick down to some day old babies. She never looked back. It was cuter than cute when the chicks poked their heads out from her wings and feathers since they were all colors--black, yellow, red.
Second the suggestion to keep food/water close by for the hen so the babies don't get chilled.
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Post by ketoriverfarm on Mar 24, 2018 5:16:38 GMT
Short update. One chick did not make it, but the other two are growing up fast. Mama hen is very protective of HER babies. She has brought them outside on two very warm days. They have learned to come to me when I put out chick starter for them. Today mama hen did not try to chase me away. So I have to say our experiment has been successful.
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Post by wally on Mar 26, 2018 9:38:32 GMT
I had no idea hens would do this, I've seen nurse cows but never nurse hens..
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2018 14:14:55 GMT
We have stuffed up to a dozen day old chicks under a broody banty hen, with great success. I have a friend who has put turkey poults under broody hens and had 100% survival (much better than the turkey hen was doing!)
It's so nice to let the "experts" brood the chicks!
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Post by countrymom22 on Mar 26, 2018 20:45:52 GMT
That's great! Mother nature always does a better job than we do!
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Post by ketoriverfarm on Apr 5, 2018 1:04:04 GMT
Another update. The two chicks are out every day now. And they know to come running in the evening when I head to the enclosure outside the coop with scratch.
We plan to do this every year. Just get a few chicks to replenish the supply of laying hens. No work except setting up an area for the hen and her chicks, waterer and chick starter.
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