Recent content by Love2Homeschool

My broody hen has one baby that hatched yesterday. The second one hatched sometime last night, but I'm almost certain it is dead underneath her. She also has 3 more eggs, one of which appears to have a tiny hole in it today. Do I just leave the dead chick or should I try to get it out?

My sister suggested today that if we have a similar situation in the future, to try running a weed eater around the base of the tree. She said the vibration will make the snake come out. Wish I'd thought of that!

I had heard that the ceramic eggs would kill them since they can't digest them, but this guy actually spit them out. And he ate them on Sunday night/Monday morning. So it was about 4 days before he spit them out. I'm guessing he had a terrible case of indigestion! Anyway, I hope you either find...

That's what I thought it was. I've heard them called both. Thanks!

On Sunday night our baby chicks disappeared. Well, 3 disappeared, the fourth was still in the pen with mama, but he was dead. Also missing were 2 of the 5 ceramic eggs I had placed in the nest boxes hoping to kill the snake that I suspected was stealing eggs. I'm still really sad about the...

While I've never heard of one killing a chicken, I have heard of buzzards attacking weakened animals. I've heard of several attacks on cows during calving. They will literally eat out the entire backside of the weakened cow, who then has to be killed. This has happened to my dad's cows a few...

Yay! Guess those 3 weeks seemed like a month! Glad you didn't throw the eggs out! Yes, you should put out starter food and water. The hen will teach them to eat and drink. :)

Thank you! That was helpful. :)

Do you keep your mama hen and her chicks with your flock or separate? I would like to keep them with the flock as I'm sure the mama will protect the babies, but I'm concerned about a few things. First of all, how do I feed everyone? The chicks will need starter feed. How do you keep the...

I've found that the best way to snap them out of it is to move them. I put my broody bantam in a separate pen. I actually moved her nest as well, and was going to let her hatch, but she quit setting when I moved her. So I'd suggest if you want her to quit, move her to a new location with out...

I'm not expert, but I would just leave it alone and see. I just had a broody hen hatch. She was setting on 6 eggs. The first one hatched 2 days before they were "due". The next 2 hatched over the course of the next 2 days. Then she stopped sitting on the eggs. I was planning to dispose of the...