The last couple of days have been rather exciting with the arrival of three little chicks into our home. If you read my previous post, you will know that our chicks have been living in a baby bathtub in our laundry room instead of a proper brooder. It has all been going very well as the chicks have been happily cheeping in their makeshift home. Until last night... We had suburb wide power outage! We were told that the outage might last four hours...potential disaster for our chicks. However, it just so happens that two of our girls have been broody, Fleur (Belgium bantam) and Matilda (bantam Wyandotte) for the last few days. I had re-housed them from the coop (where they were hogging the only nesting box) to the Brooder Box (for which I do not have a heat lamp) in the garage. I had been contemplating trying to get one of the girls to adopt the chicks but had been apprehensive about doing this just incase the chicks were rejected. This power outage forced me to attempt getting one of the girls to adopt the chicks.
There are some great videos and blogs about how to get hens to adopt chicks. For my step-by-step guide i.e. summary of what I have learnt and links to these other sites check out my Chick Adoption (soon to come) page. Essentially, most of the sites recommend that it is done at night as quietly as possible and in the dark. I did this by flickering candle light and not as quietly as I would have liked.
Both my broody hens aka broodies were cuddled in the pink tray when I opened up the Brooder Box. I thought I would test their 'sleepiness' by putting a piece of cardboard near them. Matilda repeatedly pecked at it with great ferocity which led me to think she would probably peck the chicks immediately. Thankfully Fleur did not peck- she grumbled but she did not get violent. So I moved Matilda to a cardboard box lined with pine shavings (and yes she was very angry about it at first and then settled!). Then I gave Fleur about 5 minutes to settle down whilst I collected the chicks from the laundry (they were quiet...presumably sleeping). I decided to place all of the chicks simultaneously next to Fleur so that they would not get separation anxiety and start cheeping crazily.
I stood by and watched closely just incase I needed to quickly pull the chicks out. Fleur remained calm with the newcomers but the chicks were not making efforts to get under her. So I gently nudged them towards Fleur. Still nothing. So I lifted Fleur's wing and nudged two chicks under and then the third. This did the trick. I think the chicks realised Fleur was a heat source and eagerly began to nudge themselves under her. Fleur made a some mild 'broody' noises but let the chicks get under her. Yay!!!!!!!!
I did check every 30 min for the next two hours just to make sure the chicks weren't being squashed/pecked and staying with Fleur. It was all good. So I left them for the night after closing the lid on the brooder box and covering the opening with a towel to .
15 min after I introduced the chicks to Fleur the power came back on!!! Oh well. :-)
I checked on them first thing in the morning and thankfully all three chicks and mom were doing well together. So far so good.
There are some great videos and blogs about how to get hens to adopt chicks. For my step-by-step guide i.e. summary of what I have learnt and links to these other sites check out my Chick Adoption (soon to come) page. Essentially, most of the sites recommend that it is done at night as quietly as possible and in the dark. I did this by flickering candle light and not as quietly as I would have liked.
Both my broody hens aka broodies were cuddled in the pink tray when I opened up the Brooder Box. I thought I would test their 'sleepiness' by putting a piece of cardboard near them. Matilda repeatedly pecked at it with great ferocity which led me to think she would probably peck the chicks immediately. Thankfully Fleur did not peck- she grumbled but she did not get violent. So I moved Matilda to a cardboard box lined with pine shavings (and yes she was very angry about it at first and then settled!). Then I gave Fleur about 5 minutes to settle down whilst I collected the chicks from the laundry (they were quiet...presumably sleeping). I decided to place all of the chicks simultaneously next to Fleur so that they would not get separation anxiety and start cheeping crazily.
I stood by and watched closely just incase I needed to quickly pull the chicks out. Fleur remained calm with the newcomers but the chicks were not making efforts to get under her. So I gently nudged them towards Fleur. Still nothing. So I lifted Fleur's wing and nudged two chicks under and then the third. This did the trick. I think the chicks realised Fleur was a heat source and eagerly began to nudge themselves under her. Fleur made a some mild 'broody' noises but let the chicks get under her. Yay!!!!!!!!
I did check every 30 min for the next two hours just to make sure the chicks weren't being squashed/pecked and staying with Fleur. It was all good. So I left them for the night after closing the lid on the brooder box and covering the opening with a towel to .
15 min after I introduced the chicks to Fleur the power came back on!!! Oh well. :-)
I checked on them first thing in the morning and thankfully all three chicks and mom were doing well together. So far so good.