2018 Newbie Chat!

[PNW_Peepers]

Well... I intervened. Went to check on mom this afternoon and she wasn’t keeping the babies under her very well. One of them was just hanging out next to her. I couldn’t trust her to do her job. She still has two more eggs that have yet to hatch so fingers crossed she takes care of them at least.

Olive Egger (above)
Welsummer X Black Ameraucana

Blue Ameraucana (above)
Black Ameraucana X Blue Ameraucana

 

[PNW_Peepers]

It appears my broody ate an entire chick. I found another empty shell that very clearly hatched.... no baby though

 

[Cbarr00]

It appears my broody ate an entire chick. I found another empty shell that very clearly hatched.... no baby though

Oh no! That's terrible. Does she have eggs left to hatch?

 

[PNW_Peepers]

Oh no! That's terrible. Does she have eggs left to hatch?

I gave her four to begin with.
She hatched three, ate one.
Now somehow she has two eggs left to hatch. I think she snuck one of hers in sometime while brooding. Which means I’ll have a staggered hatch, if they hatch at all. I’m so glad I took the babies from her when I did.

 

[Cbarr00]

I am also new, I had a flock of 5 bantams but they all dies from fox. Got 5 more about 6 months ago. One of them is broody with 5 eggs. My friend told me to isolate it in its own egg box with its own food and water. Should I do that? also should i leave the chicks in the cold or should I take them from mother and raise in house? Plz respond

You can separate them if you're equipped to do that. Sometimes it's for the best for the safety of the eggs/chicks. We didn't because our coop is an old work shed turned coop so our broody and her chicks have plenty of room to separate from the rest of the flock. And our nesting boxes are on ground level so the chicks don't risk falling anywhere. We had one situation with pecking from another pulley but that was because our broody was in the favorite nesting box and the other pullet wanted to lay an egg. So we moved our broody to the other side of the coop in the nesting box that never gets used. No more pecking and the other pullets leave them be. The broody is plenty capable to take care of the chicks and keep them warm but like Peepers above some broody hens just dont have good mothering instincts and you may need to step in. If the broody is a good mom and they're safe in the coop I would let them be raised there. That way you dont have to worry about introductions later on. They will already be part of the flock. We are checking on the chicks every hour or so making sure no one is being a bully and actively seeking out the chicks. So far so good but if that did happen we would separate the broody and chicks from the flock for their protection.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

I have my broody in a seperate area in the coop. I think her instincts are faulty. I removed babies and will raise them myself. I want more social chickens anyhow.

 

[Cbarr00]

I gave her four to begin with.
She hatched three, ate one.
Now somehow she has two eggs left to hatch. I think she snuck one of hers in sometime while brooding. Which means I’ll have a staggered hatch, if they hatch at all. I’m so glad I took the babies from her when I did.

I read that first time broody hens can act that way and it may get better with time if she goes broody again. I'm not sure how willing you are to try again. I'm not sure how willing I would be to try again if I were in that situation either. I guess that's one downfall to hatchery breeding. Since the hens never need to raise chicks we don't know if they have good mothering instincts bred into them. Kind of like with mean roosters.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

My broody being an EE doesn’t help either. They’ve bred the broodiness out. I had her go broody in an attempt to save her life. She’s very thin, but won’t stop being broody. I’ll candle the remaining eggs tonight or tomorrow to see if they are viable.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Well... I intervened. Went to check on mom this afternoon and she wasn’t keeping the babies under her very well. One of them was just hanging out next to her. I couldn’t trust her to do her job. She still has two more eggs that have yet to hatch so fingers crossed she takes care of them at least. View attachment 1533144
Olive Egger (above)
Welsummer X Black Ameraucana
View attachment 1533145
Blue Ameraucana (above)
Black Ameraucana X Blue Ameraucana

So beautiful

 

[Anna Ranieri]

So we were gonna let our broody, cricket, sit on eggs and see what happens. Well my husband went out to candle the eggs last night on day 5 and couldn't see anything. He thought they were duds and threw 4 of the 8 in the dumpster. When he looked in he realized they were actually developing! I'm not sure if the other 4 are fertile or not. So now we've decided to just put some chicks from TSC under her and see how it goes.
Here's broody Cricket in the center and Dak in the back trying to lay in the fave nesting spot.
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Our chicks were labeled black sex link and ameraucana
View attachment 1532636
(My sweet 7yo was born with his left hand missing due to amniotic band syndrome)
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Gorgeous pictures