SUCCESS--I got mail order chicks on Monday. I got 30, but only kept 16 (the rest weren't mine). Anyway, I had some setting hens who started to hatch out their eggs Wednesday, so I took out the mail order chicks and gave them to two of my hens. One would only take two of them, she tried to peck the others, so the other hen got 14 plus her 5. They made it through the night just fine and today they act like they've always been with those mother hens. I'm so pleased! It is so much easier to let the hens do the work. I had them in a make shift brooder in our kitchen and they were starting to get "dust" everywhere and get just a bit stinky. I do miss them though--I think I looked at them every hour or so when they were in the house. I have made several extra trips to the henhouse though!!! I just wanted to share my good news. Everyone have a blessed day!

-- Sharon (cheesyemailaddy@notreal.com), April 27, 2002

Answers

I am glad that it worked! I have one duck(a rehabbed wild mallard who just stayed here)that will adopt ducklings(wild orphans)and it is a great thing! I can "see" you are having fun and enjoying your peeps. Isn't spring great? LOL LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), April 27, 2002.

The trick is to put them under at night. I think that it works because by morning when the hens become active the chicks have been under her long enough to take on the hens scent. She can't tell them from her other ones.

-- corky wolf (corkywolf@hotmail.com), April 27, 2002.

watch them -one of my hens was fine for 2 weeks then she decided she didnt like the diff colored ones and almost killed one.

-- chickenpea (karieltomson@hotmail.com), April 28, 2002.

I never had good luck with letting the hen take care of the chicks. When they ventured out, the mom hen would make a mad dash at any hen close to her babies, and the chicks would scatter and hide and then be scared all the time. It was a constant battle out there and I lost so many of them. I have taken away the chicks for a few years now, and then put them with them when they are old enough and fully feathered out.

We had chicks hatch out of our big incubator this morning. I had forgotten some of the eggs we got were allready under a friends hen for a week or so, and suprise, chicks! And 1 big turkey who picks on the chicks. There are a couple hundred more in there, so in a week or so, I should have my hands full!

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), April 28, 2002.