Re: How many chicks can a hen accomodate?

From: Krys Francis (krys_at_lluestfarmpoultry.co.uk)
Date: 06/14/04 

Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2004 21:03:32 +0100

In message <nKWdnfQznOIGjVDd4p2dnA@bright.net>, Shawn Pennington
<smpenn30@hotmail.com> writes
>Hi,
>
>Just curious what is a realistic number of chicks the average sized hen can
>accommodate? One of my hens is setting on 15 eggs and she is a smaller
>breed (not bantam, however). The other hen is much larger (cochin type) and
>is setting on a battery and no eggs at all! ha ha
>
>They have both been setting for about two and a half weeks during the day.
>I take them up at night and put them in the hen house. I have no rooster,
>so the eggs are infertile.
>
>I have a batch of 25 chicks expected tomorrow.
>
>Since the expected hatch time for the setting hens and the arrival of the
>chicks coincide, I plan to give each hen some of the chicks to adopt. After
>having such good luck with my other broody hen and the four chicks several
>weeks ago, I like that idea. I would give each of them a dozen or so chicks
>if I thought they could handle that many but I doubt that is realistic. I
>must say, though, that the adoptive mother hen has had a 100% survivability
>with her four whereas I lost several in the first few days last year.
>
>Thanks for any information.

Some years ago we had a medium sized hen hide her eggs & go broody. By
the time we found her the eggs were nearly due. We afterwards found out
that there were 16 eggs, all hatched & she reared all 16 without losses.
13 were cockerels, but I thought that she did well. If giving a broody
eggs deliberately I'd probably give 8 - 10 depending upon size.
For adopting chicks, it seems amazing how many they can cope with. I
have one rather small hen who used to go broody at the same time as a a
larger hen (well she did this 3 times); when the chicks hatched the
small hen used to take all of the chicks. The most she ever had was 17,
which seemed to be one more than she was physically big enough to cover.
As the last chick pushed it's way under her, one would fall out the
other side. Good job that it was summer. Giving chicks deliberately I'd
probably give 12.
>
>Shawn
>
> 

-- 
Krys Francis