Hi guys

I have seen a lot of posts about putting eggs or chicks with other hens. I was wondering if there is anything special you need to do if you suspect a baby is not being looked after and wish to put it with a hen you think will care for it, or do you just take the chick and give it to the hen. I realise the foster mother must have eggs or possibly babies of her own. Will most hens take a foster baby?

Hi guys

I have seen a lot of posts about putting eggs or chicks with other hens. I was wondering if there is anything special you need to do if you suspect a baby is not being looked after and wish to put it with a hen you think will care for it, or do you just take the chick and give it to the hen. I realise the foster mother must have eggs or possibly babies of her own. Will most hens take a foster baby?

Most experienced hens will take on another baby. But you must check and make sure it has been accepted and is being fed. It would be harder to get a hen to accept an older fully feathered chick...most times they would attack one of that age. But the young and pink ones are almost always accepted and fed. If its one just a day or two old, I put it in the new nest with its eggshell so the foster mum thinks one of her has hatched. As you have worked out the foster parent MUST have eggs or chicks of her own, preferably eggs that are due to hatch.

Yes as Kaz says the older the chick gets the more chance of problems of not being accepted, espeacially after feathers, but if the foster mother has chicks with just pin feathers as well it can be successful, I just always watch or listern for screams for a short while.

Yes as Kaz says the older the chick gets the more chance of problems of not being accepted, espeacially after feathers, but if the foster mother has chicks with just pin feathers as well it can be successful, I just always watch or listern for screams for a short while.

me too

How's the bub doing Sunnie?

Unfortunately it was only 2 days old and none of my other hens had chicks young enough to place or their eggs were too new I guess. Neither hen I tried with the baby hurt it, but they didnt feed it either. I lost it. I'm sorry, but I just couldnt feed a baby that tiny. I have since questioned at the club last night about crop feeding and bought a crop needle, but I am hoping I can get a demonstration before I actually have to use and I dont see that you could use a crop needle on a baby that small either?

Sunnie, a baby that small can eat and not with a crop needle. You just place some warm and runny formula near its beak and they suck it in. If you ever have this happen again, do that and put back under the hen. Keep feeding this way until the hen takes over. Unfortunately you didnt actually say you had a chick with the problem at the beginning of this topic or I would have helped you through it.

Thanks for your advice KAZ. I felt bad and panicked that I didnt know what to do I will know better next time.

Thanks for your advice KAZ. I felt bad and panicked that I didnt know what to do I will know better next time.

Sunnie, if ever an emergency comes up please ask and you can PM me anytime for help.

 

Cheers Kaz

Thank you for the offer and the support

Often a young chick will not be fed for some hours when real young, just be careful you don’t take them away too early before the mother has had a chance, of course if they don’t feed to long a wait can be fatal, but of course sometimes the problem is with the chick [something wrong with it] which may have been the case, as you tried it with a few hens, not all babies survive, even if we hope for this. But also trying it with a hen that doesn’t have chicks of similar age or is due to hatch may not work.

 

If you breed some will die there is nothing you can do about it, it's part of life, don't blame yourself.

Thank you for your supportive and informative comments Norm

Very current topic actually Sunnie as I have just experienced a hen who would not feed her babies the past couple of days as well. She let the first one die and I hadnt noticed its arrival as it was at the back of the nestbox. I watched her closely as she had another 2 eggs. I missed the next chicks arrival and then the 3rd chick arrived. I watched...nothing...so I fed them and put them back under her. She still ignored them. I gave her all opportunities to feed them but NO...she would not. I brought them into the house....one just over a day old and the other 3 days old. I fed them and went out to choose their new foster mum. It was hard, as my breeding team had either chicks too large and too old in with them or they just had eggs or were just laying.

I chose a hen that had 4 eggs of her own but was still laying. I took a chance. Put them in with her. Two hours later I checked. She had the eldest chick under her and the youngest had been pushed away and was stone cold. I warmed the chick and placed it back under the hen for the night. This morning, I expected to see both chicks dead. They were pink and wriggling and fed .....a great part of that would be the foster hens chosen partner as he had entered the nestbox hearing the chicks and he was also feeding them. Success.

Edited October 14, 200717 yr by KAZ

Oh that's great news KAZ, I'm pleased for your success

I have just checked them and both chicks are well and fed and growing.

Hi guys

I have seen a lot of posts about putting eggs or chicks with other hens. I was wondering if there is anything special you need to do if you suspect a baby is not being looked after and wish to put it with a hen you think will care for it, or do you just take the chick and give it to the hen. I realise the foster mother must have eggs or possibly babies of her own. Will most hens take a foster baby?

 

 

I find using the end of a matchstick for new borns works best for me :sport:

I have used a match stick before. I didn't have an eye dropper handy and dipping the dead end of a match stick (after removing the red part) into the feeding solution, i found it easier to drip the solution to the chicks beak. It worked until the hen started to feed the chick it self.

 

Now I keep an eye dropper handy.