Need advice on first time mama hens/baby chicks

[Teila]

I have two hens, hatched here, same mum; one is confident and the other very skittish. However, the confident one is moving her way up the pecking order and the skittish one is still bottom of the pecking order. Being bottom is one of the reasons she remains skittish. There is no real bullying etc but the occasional reminder that she is bottom is enough to make her nervous .. no fun being on the bottom of the order

Sounds like the move went well….congrats! If you are not giving any chicks to the remaining broody it will be best to break her or, as you suggested, she may sit on the eggs [or even an empty nest] and waste away. If you need any tips on breaking a broody, happy to help, just let me know. Having bantams, I have some experience with broodys

I have to duck outside now to supervise free range but can reply later tonight.

 

[mamabokbok]

Yes please, I'd rather she stop and hopefully get well

also I wonder if you know why, after all this time there is only 4 eggs? They are all the pekin eggs, the black one usually would lay every day and she's been broody for much longer but never even laid one egg

 

[Teila]

Turns out hubby is watching the girls so I can reply now

Hens do not lay while they are broody.

How it usually works is that lay a clutch of eggs 8, 10, 12 or however many they like and then they stop laying and sit on the eggs. While they are building up the clutch, they do not stay on the nest and carry on business as usual. The eggs do not start to develop until the hen sits on them ensuring that they all hatch around the same time, same day etc. Having said that, a determined broody [like mine] does not care if she has eggs or not; if she is broody she will sit on nothing but straw, a fake egg, a pebble etc

One problem that does arise is that other hens may add to the collection after she has decided to sit on them and also, she will steal eggs from other hens. I have seen a broody tuck an egg under her wing to move it to her nest and another roll one across the coop floor into her nest.

The best idea is to mark the eggs she is sitting on so you know that they are hers and which ones are new. This will stop you getting a staggered hatch which is not good as she will leave the nest to raise her little ones and any remaining eggs will not survive.

While she is raising her little ones, the hen will also not lay. The average time frame for returning to laying would probably be when the chicks are 5 to 6 weeks or older.

With breaking the broody, I use the crate method. Others may have other suggestions but this has worked best for me in the past and I believe it is kinder than ice baths etc.

The broody is placed into a raised, wire bottom crate or cage etc so that she can not get too comfortable and has an air flow under her [sitting on bricks is sufficient, it does not have to be high]. Obviously she will need food and water and you can add a perch if you like.

The idea is that with the air flow and no nest in sight, her hormones are cooled and broodiness is broken. She may need to be in the crate for 2-3 days or longer sometimes, depending on how long she has been broody. Some leave them in the crate 24/7 but I prefer to let them out for supervised free range with the flock, ensuring that she does not have access to the coop or a nest. Also, in the evening, I pop the broody on the roost with her flock mates, ensuring that the nest boxes are blocked off and she will not have access in the morning if she gets up before you. In the morning, pop her back into the broody breaker and then open up the nest boxes for the others.

As I mentioned, she could be broken in a couple of days and the sure way to know is to let her out with access to a nest .. if she makes a beeline to the nest, back to the broody breaker she goes.

 

[mamabokbok]

Ok so the black one must have went broody without laying any and/or we might have been collecting fertile eggs from them before we decided to just start leaving them alone to see what happened? The black hen lays white eggs that's how I know they are all the pekins eggs they are all brown, so they should have all been laid within the same Time frame, but the black hen was taking and sitting on the eggs as they were being laid

so they would have been activated on the day they got laid? ****, I don't have another cage the spare is this one that I just set up as a nest box?

 

[Pork Pie]

Maybe in future you may wish to consider collecting and storing fertile eggs (mark each one) and then put them under a broody in one ay way all your chicks should hatch within 24 hours of each other.

Ct

 

[Teila]

CTKen has raised a good point. As I do not have a rooster, when my gals get fertile eggs they are ones I have ordered so they are all just given to them at the same time.

I do not think it is normal for a hen to go broody before she starts laying but I guess there is always an exception. Any chance she was, in fact, laying and has a clutch of eggs stashed somewhere? They are good at hiding nests in the garden, under decks, in corners of the shed etc? She may have decided to leave those for the comfort of the nest box and the eggs the Pekin laid.

Yep, if the Pekin laid an egg and the black hen stayed put on that egg, it would have started to develop. If the Pekin then laid three more eggs over three consecutive days and the black hen continued to sit on them, you could end up with a staggered hatch with some hatching up to 4 days after the first. But, as mentioned, if the black hen leaves the eggs to raise the chicks, the remaining eggs will not survive. Unless you give them to the Pekin maybe?

Hhhhm, shame you do not have another crate or cage. If you do not decide to give the Pekin any remaining eggs the black one leaves, any chance you can make one? Or just pick up a cheap one? If not, while not as effective and a longer process, is there any way you can keep her out of the nest boxes while not upsetting anyone else wanting to lay?

As free range is always supervised here, when I have a broody I am letting free range and want to keep her out of the nest, I simply lock them out of the coop. Then, if I see one of the hens who is allowed to go in and lay an egg jumping up and down to get in, I let her in and then out again when she has laid.

 

[mamabokbok]

Yes haha maybe next time I should give that a go! I didn't aim for chicks, I didn't really think that any of the eggs would actually even hatch to be honest, the rooster is so young, but I just let them all do their thing and this happened. I've put food and water in both the nest boxes today and they are both still nesting but also both eating and drinking now, surely they will eventually stop being broody on their own?

 

[mamabokbok]

That's good news, maybe she's a sweet heart after all :-/ I always thought she was so stand offish and wild, the only time I've bothered to handle her was right at the beginning when I had to treat her for scaly leg mites and she was very hard to catch and hold then so we just leave her alone.

I think another egg has started to hatch this afternoon as there is a tiny hole in one, two days apart too so makes sense

I'm getting nothing done round here today, too much excitement and anticipation! I think this looks promising? She's moved it back underneath so now I can't see if there is progress.. but I'll be back to update.. assuming this one hatches, then next one should be due on Monday/Tuesday and then the next on Wednesday/Thursday, does anyone know if there is there any way that I could manually incubate them myself for a few days if she does decide to stop sitting on them in between then? she's been getting up and eating and drinking and pooping a lot, I'm worried she might give up on the last two?

 

[FatChicksDigMe]

That's good news, maybe she's a sweet heart after all :-/ I always thought she was so stand offish and wild, the only time I've bothered to handle her was right at the beginning when I had to treat her for scaly leg mites and she was very hard to catch and hold then so we just leave her alone. I think another egg has started to hatch this afternoon as there is a tiny hole in one, two days apart too so makes sense e I'm getting nothing done round here today, too much excitement and anticipation! I think this looks promising? She's moved it back underneath so now I can't see if there is progress.. but I'll be back to update.. assuming this one hatches, then next one should be due on Monday/Tuesday and then the next on Wednesday/Thursday, does anyone know if there is there any way that I could manually incubate them myself for a few days if she does decide to stop sitting on them in between then? she's been getting up and eating and drinking and pooping a lot, I'm worried she might give up on the last two?

Any update?!

 

[holm25]

X2!?!?!?!?