jmortonkeil
Hatching
- Nov 13, 2016
- 6
- 0
- 7
Hello everyone.
My name is Julia and my husband and I are raising chickens on our small farm. I have never raised chickens my husband has some experience from childhood, but says they always did things the "hard way", or that they could have done a better job. So I am saying that we are both learning. He does know the basics. I am looking forward to having access to so many people and so much information!
We have successfully hatched 2 batches of chicks. Learned A LOT from that experience. Actually had a good success rate, but learned, at least in our situation, to get the chicks out and away from the broody hen that hatched her and get them in our "chicken tractor" with another hen. The broody hen would peck the chicks to death very soon after hatching. The chicks did fine with the other hen in another cage. We had a Bardrock(spelling?) in with the chicks, and she is a GREAT mama chicken. We sold some of the chicks. The ones we did not sell are running around with the older chickens. Our chickens have stopped laying. We recently got some ducks for free and they hang out with our chickens and seem to get along fine for the most part. I read many solutions to the problem so I will be busy trying those things to see if we cannot get their egg production back up. I know they are done molting, but do think that the ducks MIGHT be a "stresser" for them. Also we have to remove the roosters that were hatched. We keep them in their chicken hose until about 11 AM or noon and then they roam on the property the rest of the day. May need to prolong daylight etc., etc.
Thank you all for the wonderful information, I will be busy for the next few weeks but will let you know how things turn out. Just FYI I am the type of person who does NOT like to sit in front of the computer. If someone sends me a message I WILL get back to you it may just take a little while. I'd rather be outside with the chickens!!
J
My name is Julia and my husband and I are raising chickens on our small farm. I have never raised chickens my husband has some experience from childhood, but says they always did things the "hard way", or that they could have done a better job. So I am saying that we are both learning. He does know the basics. I am looking forward to having access to so many people and so much information!
We have successfully hatched 2 batches of chicks. Learned A LOT from that experience. Actually had a good success rate, but learned, at least in our situation, to get the chicks out and away from the broody hen that hatched her and get them in our "chicken tractor" with another hen. The broody hen would peck the chicks to death very soon after hatching. The chicks did fine with the other hen in another cage. We had a Bardrock(spelling?) in with the chicks, and she is a GREAT mama chicken. We sold some of the chicks. The ones we did not sell are running around with the older chickens. Our chickens have stopped laying. We recently got some ducks for free and they hang out with our chickens and seem to get along fine for the most part. I read many solutions to the problem so I will be busy trying those things to see if we cannot get their egg production back up. I know they are done molting, but do think that the ducks MIGHT be a "stresser" for them. Also we have to remove the roosters that were hatched. We keep them in their chicken hose until about 11 AM or noon and then they roam on the property the rest of the day. May need to prolong daylight etc., etc.
Thank you all for the wonderful information, I will be busy for the next few weeks but will let you know how things turn out. Just FYI I am the type of person who does NOT like to sit in front of the computer. If someone sends me a message I WILL get back to you it may just take a little while. I'd rather be outside with the chickens!!
J
My favorite broody hen was a Barred Rock also, her name was Oreo (original I know). If you have any questions feel free to ask, we are all here to learn and share about chickens (or other poultry). If you haven't done so already I suggest checking our the learning center for helpful articles. As to egg production, the ducks could be a stress causer, but the egg production may also being going done because of less daylight hours. I tend to get very little eggs November-February (sometimes March), but I like to think of it as the hard earned break 
