Hen-based Chick Raising (No Brooder)

Do you let your hens raise chicks?

Have you tried it before?

I currently have a hen raising a clutch of chicks and I don't think I will ever use a brooder again if can help it! The hen was broody for roughly two weeks without signs of breaking, we ended up getting day old chicks and 'stuffing' them under her. She responded positively and they are firmly her chicks.



For example, I wouldn't dare let my chicks out of the brooder until they are fully feathered out. The chicks currently with a mama hen are about two weeks old enjoying the good weather outside of their coop! In fact, mama has taught them how to use the automatic coop door and how to transverse the little ramp from the coop into the run. To be honest, I'm kind of in awe! The other hens do not bother any of the chicks, and I'm expecting little to no issues with integration as the chicks gain size.



Do you have any observations on your chickens being raised by a maternal hen? Do you prefer it like I do?

Share your thoughts!

One thing I really appreciate about having a hen raise the chicks, is that they seem to more easily integrate into the flock. Adding older pullets to the flock can resort in the other hens (and even rooster) picking on the new hens. Right now, I have three chicks with a hen, and they can go forage with the other chickens and no one picks on them. That mama hen is so big and foofy that they don't mess with her.

Our current Mama Hen isn't even that good of a mom. She doesn't give food to her chicken, and has been known to ignore her chicks so much that if they happen to be behind her when she's scratching at the ground, she'll kick them with her feet and not even care. She doesn't notice when they're thirsty and bring them to water. She's basically a warm spot for them to huddle under who's relatively protective. But, her being a mobile warm spot means I don't have to keep the chicks in the house for weeks!

My kids wanted new chicks this year, and I wasn't going to get any unless our hen went broody. We have two multi-day travel excursions this summer, and I didn't want to try to find someone to babysit chicks. But, now I have Mama Hen to care for them, so we can leave for a day or two without leaving extra work for our neighbors and friends.

Broody hens are the best chick raisers! I would always opt for letting a broody hen raise the chicks - except for the one hen in our flock who, we unfortunately found out, is a killer.
Most hens are natural momma's, but some clearly are not. If in doubt give a new potential mama hen only one or two fertilized eggs to hatch.

If you do have a good mama hen, she's worth all the praise and pampering you've got . She'll incubate fertilized eggs, care for the chicklets, teach them to forage and protect them from any danger.

At the moment we have 12 chicklets that hatched from the fertilized eggs we had to put in the incubator since our good broody hen died (of old age).
They are now almost two weeks old and in their own minicoop with an inside-run. All of it is outside, sheltered from wind, rain and sun, with a warming plate.
They can see the free ranging chicken and roos through their cage wire front, and the adult chicken and roos can see them...but aren't too interested.
Hoping all will go well when it's time to bring the two flocks together... Any tips are greatly appreciated!

Last time I tried it, my other hens killed all the babies.  I have no idea why but I've been afraid to try again.

If I do attempt it again, I'll separate mom and babies, but then reintegrating them may be no easier than if I raised them in a brooder and introduced them to the flock.

I'll never let anything other than a game hen hatch and raise young. I've had hens fight off foxes, hawks, and dogs to protect their young. They're truly noble and gallant animals

We stuck chicks under a broody hen last year and it couldn't have went any better.  She took such great care of them and showed them everything in the yard and pecked at anything that came close to them, it was glorious!  So this year I ordered chicks and expected a repeat, however, she didn't want anything to do with the chicks this time, I tried with another broody and nope she wasn't having it either.  So, they went in the garage brooder and I still have two broody hens  

The chicks have graduated from not only the coop and run but now to paddocks!

Mother Hen teaching Chicks to forage

Mama has taught them how to forage for good bits in the grass and mulch. A core group stick with her as she scratches and dive into the freshly disturbed dirt as soon as they can. They have learned to dodge her when she comes to scratch some more!

I love hearing the vocalizations that Mama has and how the 'kids' react. We have had a couple times she has alerted and they all went running into the run. The first time was a ground hog surprised her coming around a corner and the second time was a low flying crow was nearby. Other times she has found something particularly tasty and starts clucking and the chicks come running.

It is a lot of fun!

Aimee Bacon wrote:We stuck chicks under a broody hen last year and it couldn't have went any better.  She took such great care of them and showed them everything in the yard and pecked at anything that came close to them, it was glorious!  So this year I ordered chicks and expected a repeat, however, she didn't want anything to do with the chicks this time, I tried with another broody and nope she wasn't having it either.  So, they went in the garage brooder and I still have two broody hens  

Broody hens and fertilized eggs/little chicks just belong together, don't they! I'm not sure how you did the chick-slipping under the broody hen, at what time of the day?
I've read that if you put the chicks under a broody hen late in the evening or early into the night, when she's drowsing off, she wakes up to "Gosh! Look at these! I'm a mom!".
But if you try to introduce them during daytime her brain goes "na-ah, I didn't sit on them eggz, these aren't my babies".

BUT. I haven't had the experience of either, only broody hens + fertilized eggs, and that usually goes super well.

Good luck with the next round, don't give up!

We inherited 3 hens and a rooster from the previous property owner. All 3 hens went broody within a month or two of us taking them on and we suddenly went from 4 chickens to about 34!
We had never had chickens before so it was a great learning experience and I've never bothered with an incubator and brooder as we now have broody hens on hand  for much of the year. After the first lot hatched, there was obviously chicken math happening as even though we now had 34, we bought in a good few more just for genetic diversity and good egg laying traits. After 3 years I've now learnt how to select the eggs I actually want to hatch for good genetics and the broody hens do their job to great acclaim. Last spring I stopped counting after they hatched out 120! We do keep them in a separate enclosed run as we have semi resident hungry goshawks and the rest of flock forages far and wide.

I prefer it too. It’s less work for me, and the chicks seem to do better being raised by their mom. It’s awesome watching them grow and integrate with the flock.