•2 min read•from Raising Chickens or Other Poultry for Eggs, Meat, or as Pets
We gave our broody hens babies
Our take
In a delightful twist of fate, we decided to gift our broody hens some adorable babies! After weeks of planning to expand our flock, we were surprised when two of our chickens went broody just a few weeks ago. Curious to see if they would embrace the challenge of motherhood, my fiancé and I carefully selected four chicks to introduce to our feathered friends. With a backup brooder ready in case things didn’t go as planned, I nervously waited overnight, fearing the worst. To my astonishment, when dawn broke, our broody girls had welcomed the chicks with open wings! Watching them cluck and nurture their tiny new family has been an incredible reminder of nature’s wonders—who knew our hens had such nurturing instincts?
 | We have been planning on getting more chicks this year and surprisingly two of our chickens randomly went broody about three weeks ago. My fiancé and I decided to see if our girls would raise them as their own. We picked out 4 babies and gave them to our girls about 36 hours ago right after they went to sleep. I was nervous if our broody girls would take them in as the chicks were all at least a few days old; only one chick still had their egg tooth. We had a back up brooder in the house set up just in case. I was so worried that I was going to go out the first morning and find four dead chicks. I barely slept. We checked on them at the crack of dawn and what do you know, those girls took them right under there wing and they are all doing so well! I am so impressed that our chickens are now moms and making such cute new mommy noises. Nature is amazing. [link] [comments] |
Read on the original site
Open the publisher's page for the full experience
Related Articles
- Look one of my bantam’s laid her first egg!At the end of October last year my boyfriend rescued two Old English Bantam chicks. We had a flock that was dumped by their owner in our neighborhood. Every morning 6 chickens would be on our porch wanting food. Of course we started feeding them and it became routine for us to take care of them. Then one day my boyfriend saw one of the hens had two babies chicks running behind her. With them running free we knew those chicks were probably not going to make it against predators. So we took the babies in turned the shed into a coop with a run. And been having the best time watching them grow up. We even got them two more sisters! Yesterday bf was cleaning the nesting boxes and right when he opened one our girl Scoot Scoot was making the noises they make right before laying, however she got spooked and ran out. There was no egg. We decided to go eat and run around for alittle. When we got back I thought to myself go check the nesting boxes maybe she went back and sure enough she did! Being a first time chicken owner it was absolutely exciting and rewarding to see an egg for the first time. We put a lot of TLC into these chickens and now I feel like an official chicken mom! submitted by /u/United-Camel4560 [link] [comments]
- Please tell me everything about letting a broody chicken raise day old chicksWe got 6 chickens last year, it was my first time owning chickens. We have a favorite named Lucy, she is so sweet and good natured, she would let my at the time 3 year old daughter hold her and sing to her for hours. She is still our nicest chicken, though she is low on the pecking order. They have a 9x18 foot run they stay in because we do have a lot of hawks in our neighborhood. I’ve added 12 more feet to the run with a door to separate it and we have 4 chicks ordered to arrive May 9th. Lucy has gone broody, she is our only chicken who has been broody and I would love to let her raise the chicks. I have a small coop separate from the main coop I can put in the new section of their run, I’m thinking about moving her to that area by herself a few days before the chicks will arrive and then sneaking them under her at night. I think because she’s low on the pecking order it will still be hard to integrate them with the other chickens in a few months, but it would have been anyway if we raised them in a brooder in the garage like we did with our chicks last year. I would love any tips or info about doing this, and if more experienced people think that it’s a good idea. submitted by /u/april203 [link] [comments]
- Left my chicken run door open yesterday and caught some squatters...I just had a very bizarre Sunday. I leave my run door open for my girls whenever I'm home and check on them throughout the day. Yesterday afternoon, while doing the rounds, I spotted one of these little babies running around inside the run cheeping her little head off. Absolute flabbergasted, I did a sweep of the yard and found another one huddled in a deep corner on the fence line. We live in a standard fenced-in suburban neighborhood with no real water sources nearby, so I'm very confused as to how they happened to end up in my yard that coincidentally has all the facilities to care for chicks. I'm guessing mama duck had a nest in my neighbor's yard, tried to march her new brood to water, and these two somehow got under the fence. The loud one must've heard my chickens and ran to the coop for safety. I drove around the neighborhood looking for mama, but to no avail. Once it started getting dark I brought them inside to the brooder and got them set up for the night. I immediately started imagining the movie-like scenario of raising them and eventually releasing them to a nearby pond where I could visit them for years to come, but unfortunately I understand that the best thing I could do for them in reality is to turn them over to a wildlife rehab to ensure they have the best chance in the wild. I've contacted a local facility and plan to turn them over today. I'm told they're going to be raised by their resident duck mother, Ingrid, along with her adopted flock. Just wanted to share with some folks that might appreciate it! I know every time I see some Mallards I'll imagine it's them. And who knows. Maybe it will be. submitted by /u/treasurebeard [link] [comments]
- Broody Hen!It’s my first time having a broody hen! She’s going strong on day 3. I’m hoping someone has pics of their momma and baby brooders! I think mine is to small… also how do you have momma come and go from the babies? submitted by /u/m82girlygirl [link] [comments]
Tagged with
#chickens#fear of chickens#broody#hens#chicks#babies#egg tooth#brooder#moms#nature#raising#wing#surprisingly#nervous#sleep#impressed#cute#noises#first morning#back up