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This year I had some humoungous pumpkins, so big I can barely pick them up. They didn't ripen before the freeze, though - but I've stashed them all in the run. Smaller pumpkins, I let them peck at and when they have created a bowl, I put their feed in them. Helps to let the smaller and more...

yeah, I think you are right. going to have to wait it out. Luckily, daylight is long in the summer and I'm easily home before dark (when I was 20 I thought it was soooo funny that older folks went to bed by 9, payback is a stitch). If this was fall or winter I would be in trouble since I...

well, I'm a bit frustrated with a few chicks. I had those two broodies who each hatched out 3 chicks. Petunia abandoned her chicks at about 3 weeks. The other hen sort of adopted them, but didn't teach the how to enter the coop through the chicken door. She only taught her chicks (involves...

galefrances, that is wonderful news! you probaby know this, but your hen has to get reintegrated - strange, but the flock needs to re-establish the pecking order now that she is back, and some will treat her as if she is a brand new hen. I would try having her side by side with the rest of...

AFL, it looks like you have several tarps on top - wondering why - I did ahoop coop this spring, and have been using it for just a week with new chicks. Still trying to figure it out. I am having a heck of a time regulating the heat, it gets like a sauna in there even with sides rolled up...

I have 6 chicks hatched by two different broodies - let's see, they are about 6 week old or something. the mama hens are finished with them. Now, it is chaotic in the coop - the babies come in after everyone is on a roost, everyone pecks and chases them off the roosts. Of course, the lowest...

Galefrances, that is really good news that your hen is eating on her own. Besides moistening her food, you could offer her watermelon or grapes to help hydrate. I had a hen survive a dog attack - four serious puncture wounds, deep enough to insert a finger all the way in - and it took about 5...

9 is way way too much to deal with! I did have some luck sticking the extra broodies into a pen. Didn't work as fast as the cage, but.... good luck!

You have my sympathy - last summer it seemed there were always 2 or 3 broodies, and the broody breaking cages were always in use. Absolute best cage was one of those wire kennels, up off the ground about 3 feet. No hay or bedding. But such a hassle! Thats why I have I let the 4 hens hatch...

I don't have that much experience, but the broodies I've had usually stay on the nest with the new ones for two days or more. I just keep feed and water within reach so she doesn't have to get off the nest unless she is ready. She hatched out all her eggs?

thanks everyone for the ideas - I've trained chicks I've brooded, but broody-raised chicks....not so much. If I try to give them a treat they go running. Good news, that little baby chick survived AND found his/her way back to the run. It has wing feathers, and a teeny tail, but just down...

I had a pretty tough afternoon yesterday. You know I have those two mama hens with 3 chicks each penned up in the coop. Yesterday I took off work to be able to supervise letting them out of the pen. I started at 4 and didn't get into the house til after 9. There was a lot of commotion - the...

thanks Leahsmom and oldhen, I'll give it another try as soon as I get a day off. work sure interferes with good chickenkeeping! jsmith, I don't have any suggestions, but would love to hear what you try and how it goes. I've had to cull one hen with prolapse....read that you should...

I'm having a problem with the two new mamas. They and their chicks are in chicken wire pens in the coop. Tried to let them out yesterday, chicks are about two weeks old, and the mamas were more interested in fighting with each other than anything else. They never even got more than a foot...

Leahsmom, I have a bo that gets that way, 3 times since I was given her last fall. She is about a year old. Sometimes I see her just standing still, usually behind something. Once she didn't come into the coop at night on her own, and another time I saw her her standing and straining, and...

I gave both broody hens a box or pan of dirt since they have been caged up since the hatch. They were very appreciative, immediately started scratching and dustbathing. one even moaned - I swear she was saying "oh this feels soooo good". One set of chicks started dustbathing, one set didn't...

She still had the chicks under her when I went to check at night, and in the morning (it was cold here, in upper 30's) they were still tucked under her. When I set out fresh feed, she got up and called the chicks over...so I left them with her. I knew it was going to get into the mid 70's...

One of the mamas seems ready to abandon her chicks. She was restless, pacing back and forth - I opened the door but she didn't go out. I checked on her a couple of times since I was working remotely from home, she was doing the mama thing. But this evening, when I went to check, the chicks...

If you have had a broody on the nest, you know the typical behavior when you pull them off for a break to eat, dust bathe, and let loose with one of those famous broody poops - somewhere in that sequence she'll stand up tall, flap her wings like crazy, and scream/roar. The little game hen...

Remember that time I ordered eggs to be hatched, and the woman got it all screwed up and I got potlock? The rooster came from that, as did 3 of the 4 broodies, a little gamebird type hen, an icelandic, and a sulmtaler. The sulmtaler broody was one of the three sulmtalers that coparented the...