Chronicles of Raising Meat Birds - Modern Broilers, Heritage and Hybrids

[jolenesdad]

Hows this for off-topic @aliciaplus3 ?

I have two broody hens right now.

Orpington - 8 months old. Went broody when a hen hatched eggs 4 weeks ago. Clearly because of the chicks running around. Started sitting about 2.5 weeks ago, started clucking every time she saw the chicks. She is a lower hen on the pecking order.

Marans - 2 years old. Previous broody. My top hen, but not a meanie. Has been sitting for 5 days.

Im thinking I don't want them to have chicks at the same time so the top hen doesn't just take them all.

Should I give the orpington day old chicks this week so she has them for a week or week and a half before the top hen hatches a larger broody?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Personally I'd break one and give the other either day old chicks or eggs to hatch. I've had broody hens fight over eggs just as they started to pip, half the eggs were destroyed. Just as they started to pip.

I know some people have multiple broodies hatching and raising chicks at the same time without problems, I just haven't been that lucky.

 

[Morrigan]

Should I give the orpington day old chicks this week so she has them for a week or week and a half before the top hen hatches a larger broody?

Good to have you back @jolenesdad. I so hate breaking broodies, I've had a lot of multiple broody with chicks at the same time situations in my coop. Until last year, it's always been fine, and they left each other alone -- even in cases where I've handed out foster chicks on the exact same day.

Last year, however, I had some problems, both involved a forced co-brood and both involved the same hen. It was an interesting situation (to me at least), so I thought I'd share it. It's a bit long, so bear with me.

First instance was a mid-pecking order Sussex, who went broody. I started a batch of shipped eggs in the incubator. 10 days later a low-pecking order orpington went broody. I had a second shipment of eggs coming in so I set another batch in another incubator. (Side note, I usually give my hens foster chicks rather then eggs, it just works better for me set-up).

From the first set of shipped eggs, only one small chick hatched. What was I to do, but give it to the Sussex who, I swear, gave me a "is that all?" look when I gave her the little chick. But, she mothered that little chick, and after a few days had it off the nest and outside with her, which I thought was great, as she had no interest in being near the nest boxes where the orpington was. The second incubation turned out much better and I had 5 chicks hatch. Giving them to Orpington was a breeze. I didn't even have to be sneaky about it. As soon as she saw a chick in my hand she was talking to it. So far so good.

But, by the next day, the Sussex discovered the new chicks in the coop. She plunked herself right outside the nest box with her chick, just staring at the orpington's brood. The orpington hated this and puffed up and hissed, causing the Sussex to give a "stop that" peck to her. Poor orpington freaked out. At this point I intervened, I put the orpington and her chicks in a sectioned off part of the coop. For the next several days she was in there, and every day the Sussex and her chick would sit on the other side of the barrier watching. Finally, I decided to open the barrier up to see what would happen. What happened is that the Sussex wanted to co-brood with the orpington, She did not want to steal the chicks, she did not want to attack the chicks. She just wanted to be with the orpington and her chicks. Unfortunately the orpington wasn't really down with the plan. For the first day or two, she would puff up as the Sussex got near, the Sussex was rap her head until the orpington de-puffed. The orpington finally resigned herself to the situation the the two of them peacefully co-brooded until the chicks were raised. Here are the picture of the two of them with their chicks.

Well, on the next go around, the Sussex learned something about karma. A few weeks after the chicks were weaned, she went broody again. This time I ordered some slow-white broiler chickss to arrive after she had been broody a couple of weeks. The very day I got the chicks, a second hen went broody. The second hen, nicknamed "Mean Whitey", is a 4 year hen who had never gone broody before and is a strong second in the pecking order. I didn't even know she had gone broody until I went into the coop that night to sneak the fosters under the Sussex. There was Mean Whitey, tranced out in the next nesting box. Great, I thought, now I'm going to have to round up some more chicks in a couple of weeks.

I put the fosters under the Sussex, who was being difficult about it. The chicks were 3 or 4 days old and not staying put under mom. After a bit of back and forth, she had accepted them all except for one chick, who had a black dot on her head. That chick, she decided to attack. I waited another hour, tried again, but no dice. Sussex was not going to have that chick. In utter desperation put the chick under Mean Whitey -- broody for less than day -- crossed by fingers and went to bed.

First light, I was in the coop to see what had happened. The first thing I see is not one, but two chicks poking out from under Mean Whitey who was sitting there serenely clucking at them. The next thing I see is black dot chicken poking out form under the Sussex (!) who was also clucking. Over the next couple of days, I would watch chicks dart from hen to hen, with no problems. Everyone was happy. Until the hens led the chicks off the nest, that is.

Now, it was the Sussex, who wanted to be left alone to rear her chicks, and who got to experience the joys of having an older, senior hen who wanted to co-brood. I wasn't there to see the worst of it. I came in to see a deeply unhappy Sussex with her comb bloodied and Mean White calmly sitting next to her with chicks darting between the two of them. Later that day I did see the Sussex get a second beat-down when when she protested Mean Whitey's presence. Again, Mean Whitey did not want to steal the chicks. She just wanted to raise them together. As before, the situation resolved itself peacefully in the end, and the two raised the chicks together. It actually worked out well, as the Sussex would take the stronger more adventurous chicks outside, while Mean Whitely tended the stragglers inside the coop. The Sussex tired of mothering together after 3 1/2 weeks, and Mean Whitely mothered the lot of them until they were 8 weeks old.

Here they are together.

 

[jolenesdad]

Thanks @Ridgerunner and @Morrigan!

Great story morrigan. I think I'm going to try and keep them both broody. With chicks running around, both of these girls are going to just go right back to brooding, I feel like. I just cannot decide if I try and separate them hatching by 2 weeks.

Who has taken chicks from mama before she is done? My other broody has 13 4 week olds. It's sort of too much for her. She lost one yesterday to something, i don't know what. They were everywhere, running through the field fence while mama was on the other side of the fence. Im thinking of taking half or more and selling them if it wouldn't stress her too much. The chicks are really independent. I get the feeling she isn't super motherly, and is pretty neurotic. Sort of just like she is going through the instinctual motions right now. I expect both of these other hens to mother more than she does.

 

[Morrigan]

4 weeks old is when my "just OK" broody hens start to lose interest in mothering, especially if the weather is nice. I think it would be OK to take some the chicks away from her if you want.

 

[aliciaplus3]

sweetheart the turkey hen with her 5 they ste 2 or 3 ? Weeks old.

this gal is a cuckoo marans/ dark cornish mix and she managed to hatch 2! Still have 8 more bodies in assorted coops sitting... a couple will not be allowed to hatch chicks and one is too scaredy to sit steady as I check her eggs.... sigh what a mess.

how about this featherless broody mess?

 

[jolenesdad]

I did it. I sure hope it wouldn’t have been better to keep them same ages to co brood if possible and now they don’t just fight but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ the top hen will hatch her eggs in two weeks.

the orpington took the three silverrud babies I picked up in the middle of the day. Lol. I keep checking but she is cooing and all looks good.

 

[Morrigan]

Awww. Orpington's make such great mamas. I still miss my avatar hen.

this featherless broody mess?

My goodness. What happened to all her feathers? Is she molting?

 

[aliciaplus3]

Awww. Orpington's make such great mamas. I still miss my avatar hen.



My goodness. What happened to all her feathers? Is she molting?

She is a necked neck so she didnt have many feathers to begin with... ???? I wish I knew what happened to the rest

 

[Morrigan]

She is a necked neck so she didnt have many feathers to begin with... ???? I wish I knew what happened to the rest

Poor thing. She looks like a cartoon chicken who got frightened out of her feathers.