The chicken adoption experiment is in full swing and proving successful, so far.
My family and I started backyard chicken farming last year. We’re on 1/3 of an acre, and I have plenty of experience with animals. We’re not allowed to have a rooster, but we figured we could look out for our flock and learned a lot along the way.
In addition to building a couple of coops, my eldest and I created a chicken run that sections off a large portion of the backyard with chicken wire and keeps predators out with deer netting over the top with tall 8-foot posts. It was a lot of work that paid off very quickly, as we haven’t had to buy eggs in almost a year, and now we have wonderful feathery friends in the backyard who happily eat leftovers, rinds, and other food waste.
There’s a reason that humans have raised chickens for countless generations. Like with dogs, it’s a perfect partnership. We look out for each other, and everyone benefits. (Yes, we feed our dog table scraps too. Dog food is incredibly bad for them and so very wasteful)
But on this chicken journey, we ended up with a broody hen. Our dark English Orpington Nix plucked out all her bottom feathers and refused to leave the nest. She took over the coop I made with the kids from scrap wood: The Purple Coop. We painted it purple and the chickens prefer it to the kit coop we built. Nix got pretty mouthy when we collected eggs, and once they were gone she grew sad.
I checked around and heard about chickens adopting chicks if you hide each chick in your hand and slide it under the broody hen when you collect eggs, so I figured it was worth a shot. Nix has been good to us, and motherhood is a beautiful natural inclination to be celebrated.
So I headed to the farmer’s market and got three young chicks. The rule of three seemed perfect here, plus there’s always the fear that one or two won’t make it.
I got home, and the egg/chick switch worked perfectly. Nix looked up at me in surprise, then started checking under her. A new light gleamed in her eyes, and she kept her chicks warm.
The kids and I checked on the new family all day. I was concerned about food, since chickens don’t regurgitate food for their babies, but Nix broke up what I brought her, and the chicks ate the crumbs from her beak. It was a tenderness like no other.
Two of the chicks thrived right away. They were curious and lively. They ate and drank vigorously.
But one was very tired. The little dear was timid and hid under Nix a lot.
We got some chick feed just in case, but this chick wouldn’t take it. Not even after Nix purposefully dumped over the water in it to mush it up for her.
I was proud of Nix for doing what she could to help her baby. She knew. She was a mom, and she did what she knew she should.
By the third day, I had to force some water into the ailing chick, but she wouldn’t eat, and the will just wasn’t there. I contemplated bringing her inside and hand-rearing her, but that would separate her from her siblings, which could be more harmful, and I’d be taking her from a caring mother who had already adopted her. More change would likely not help, so we left it up to fate.
The next day, I could only find two chicks in the coop we sectioned off as a little nursery. Nix had buried the dead chick in the hay. She kept checking the hay after I removed the body, but she also focused on her living babies. She doted on them.
We had severe storms and wind the next night, but Nix kept her babies safe and warm. The other chickens started trying to get into the coop and see the chicks when we opened the nursery. Nix put them in their place. She defended her territory and reminded them that she was busy.
I also watched over the chicks so Nix could step out to take a dust bath. Having five kids, I know the importance of taking a shower by myself, and Nix seemed to appreciate having a babysitter. As soon as she was done she hopped back in the nursery and checked on her chicks.
Yesterday, she was done with the nursery. She pushed the door open and took the chicks out to walk around the run. We still have a few holes to plug up that smaller chicks can get under, so after giving them time to explore, they were moved into our other coop: The White House haha It’s a white coop with a nice enclosed run in the bottom.
Families come in all shapes and sizes. Nix and her chicks are proving that every day.
Jessica Marie Baumgartner 
Thanks for sharing this experience—our three adopted chicks just hatched in the last couple of days. Here’s hoping all these little ones are ladies!
Oh yayyy, I hope all goes well. I love writing about it and wish I had more time to go further in depth haha Keep us updated!