How many chicks did I hatch?!?

A lot of trickery goes on here on the farm. We had the chicks hatch out of the incubator a couple weeks ago. After selling, we only had about 7 left. A week after they hatched, I had a broody hen who hatched a couple out.

Well, no sense in wasting the energy on the heat lamps, so we decided to integrate the chicks into her brood.

Since mama was in a broody box, this was easier/safer than if she was free roaming. I would not recommend this if the chicks are far apart in age and if she is free to roam.

You have to watch for 2 big things when integrating chicks. First, that mama will accept them. When adding chicks, I add them a couple at a time, and I add them from behind. Ideally, the chicks will come out the front from under the feathers and mama hen will think she "hatched" it.

This leads to problem 2, sometimes the chicks wont recognize the hen as mama.Chicks are very visual. If they have been handled a lot and are incubator chicks, sometimes they wont recognize the hen as mom. I have found this true for a lot of feed store babies. If they don't recognize her as mom, then typically they wont nest under her to stay warm. Sometimes they get over it. If you integrate with another buddy at the same time and the buddy recognizes the hen as mom, typically the first will join.

I haven't had much of an issue with bullying in the integrated chicks. Typically, mama hen will settle the disputes. That being said, when you put them back in the "natural world" vs. their nice artificial world of temperature regulation, etc., you may lose a couple. That is ok, it is a natural part of life. To limit this though, I would not give her any more than 12 chicks depending on the size of the hen. Bigger hens can have a couple more, small hens need a few less. Keep in mind, as the chicks get bigger, they take up more space under mom.