NY chicken lover!!!!

[featherz]

I went to TSC today too. My chicks are still cuter. Theirs all had pasty butt and seemed kinda runty. nyah nyah.

On the sad side, down one chicken at head count this evening. Did not hear any alerts and was outside most of the day, but maybe it happened when I was in the house or maybe it was a snatch and grab while she wandered off. No evidence, so I guess it's slightly possible she went off to be broody or got stuck in a box somewhere. Figures, when I sell off a bunch of my adults the rest get picked off by predators. grr.



He's sexy and he knows it! Four chicks out, lots of pips in the brinsea but not too many in the hovabator. I hope some of annie's eggs hatch for me. =(

 

[vmdanielsen]

Here's what I do. I generally either give eggs or chicks. I put the chicks under at night. So far so good. Have in the past been able to put chicks under 'early' (like after two weeks or so), but you are risking her getting po'd and trying to kill the chicks. If I put eggs in, I have an incubator handy in case she decides to stop being broody. Also, if you give her fertile eggs and she's not separate from others, make sure to mark 'your' eggs so you don't get confused which is which because others will lay eggs in her spot.

I personally keep the hen in the coop with all the other ones and have had no problems so far. I don't have time or space to set up separate broody areas. Mom will take chicks out and protect from other chickens and this has worked out fine, plus momma will get the chicks integrated into the flock. Others will separate out, but this means you'll need to re-integrate when you can and that's no fun. But you have less risk of damage to the chicks that way.

When I have mixed ages in the coop I feed everyone grower feed like Flock Raiser and give extra oyster shell on the side. I use nipple waterers so I set up a low to the ground chick waterer for the babies, or you can provide 'steps' so the babies can get to the water. Avoid large open bowls of water - lost one chick that way when I forgot about a water bowl in the yard that had water in it.

Thank you for your input! I may be brave and try this!

 

[In His Service]

I have a broody BO with expected hatch date next Wednesday. She is sitting on 7 BO eggs, and one from the Favorelle (from featherz) and 3 from our silkies and bantams.

 

[stonykill]

4 broody Sumatra's here.

 

[Kit-Kat]

Hello! I just joined the board a few days ago-! Fellow NYer here, just outside of Troy/Albany. There's so much great information here, but sometimes I get so lost trying to sort through it all- I figured I'd ask you guys!
I was wondering if any of you knew of a local place or person that I could get a few EE chicks from? I should be getting six chicks in the mail around the 16th and I'm belatedly realizing that I should've ordered more (what with shipping trauma and predators ;_; eek)! I'm really only looking for about three (I'm living in fear of chicken math- though I know it'll get the better of me, I still feel like I should put in some effort to keep my flock small-ish...!)

Anyway, any help or information would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[Cass]

No I plan on leaving them with her. I have some inside on lockdown in 'bator (24+) should I take them out before they hatch and add them to her lot? or can I add them after they hatch? I only have one more outside but it woold be easier if she raised them all (or some of them). Less I would have to intermix later.

I have never done what you are proposing, but let me repeat what Rancher Hicks says he does...parapharsed, not word for word. He takes the first chicks to hatch from the momma and then puts them all back under the cover of darkness when the last chick hatches. So that seems to mean that hens will accept the addition of chicks when they are hatching eggs.

Personally I would not move eggs in lock down. Too high a risk of turning the egg (by mistake) and causing the chick problems (premature puncture of the air sac, neck twisting etc) and decreasing the hatch rate. Again, Personally, I would wait for a few chicks to hatch under the hen then add the incubator chicks under her, after it is totally dark in the coop. I'm not sure she can cover 24+ chicks, so you might want to only add 1/2 of the bator chicks to her load. The nice thing about chickens is they don't have to nurse their young, so you are not limited to the number of teats the animal has when determining adoption numbers.

PS Hens can't count. She won't know that she has more chicks than eggs she sat on for 21 days. Also, she won't leave the nest until the last chick hatches....and once she leaves the nest she won't return to hatch the last eggs in it (meaning she has decided that they are duds) She might leave to poop and eat, like regular broody does, but once she takes those chicks for a walk, she won't return to the eggs and may roll the eggs out of the nest to make room for the little ones.

 

[Cass]

4 broody Sumatra's here.

I'm gonna move next door to you....I have a lot of eggs I want to hatch and ONE broody...and a silkie at that...so she can only cover about 5 eggs

 

[Cass]

Hello! I just joined the board a few days ago-! Fellow NYer here, just outside of Troy/Albany. There's so much great information here, but sometimes I get so lost trying to sort through it all- I figured I'd ask you guys!
I was wondering if any of you knew of a local place or person that I could get a few EE chicks from? I should be getting six chicks in the mail around the 16th and I'm belatedly realizing that I should've ordered more (what with shipping trauma and predators ;_; eek)! I'm really only looking for about three (I'm living in fear of chicken math- though I know it'll get the better of me, I still feel like I should put in some effort to keep my flock small-ish...!)

Anyway, any help or information would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Contact Happyhensny . She has chicks hatching soon. I do not know what is in her bator right now, but I do know she is going to set eggs for me this weekend, as soon as the bators are free of their current load.

To send her a PM (personal message) find her name in the thread and mouse over it or search for it in the search box at top of page. She's a wonderful person and I don't think her prices are high....Pretty much in line with TSC and other hatcheries....I don't know if she currently has EE eggs to hatch, but I can round up some eggs here if she doesn't have any. (we live about 11 miles apart so I can run eggs over but mine would be olive eggers and Ameruacanas which both lay colored eggs)


Edited to add

and this thread

 

[rancher hicks]

Just wondering...what happened in the "pre-incubator" days when you actually had to wait for a chicken to go broody?

Well pre incu days were gone looonnnnnggg ago. The Egyptians or some other group was hatching with stone oven type incubators. Not sure of all the details but you can look it up.

Of course you can always rely on a broody hen but they are unreliable and unpredictable. I've had hens go broody when young and then never again. Others more than once and right now have Frenchy who if she is serious this would be her third time in four years. She hasn't laid and egg in I don't know when. She's my little bantam Frizzle.

 

[Cass]

Well pre incu days were gone looonnnnnggg ago. The Egyptians or some other group was hatching with stone oven type incubators. Not sure of all the details but you can look it up.

Of course you can always rely on a broody hen but they are unreliable and unpredictable. I've had hens go broody when young and then never again. Others more than once and right now have Frenchy who if she is serious this would be her third time in four years. She hasn't laid and egg in I don't know when. She's my little bantam Frizzle.

Now now, Rancher....you know that silkies can be counted on to go broody at least once a year. Isn't that why you LOOOOOVE them?