A wool hen - creating one today

[aart]

Am so glad Mrs.K can post pics now!!!!

Hmm.... on the wool hen, would bug me not to be able to see them...and I'd worry about tangles.
Can't wait to see more pics of the chicks under there...maybe?

 

[Mrs. K]

Updated report: Last night they went down to the run. Stayed all night, and are alive and thriving this morning! Whew! A wee bit nervous about this experiment, but it worked.

Yesterday I sectioned off the huddle box in the run with some lattice panels. The front of the huddle box has a window, and when I put the chicks in, they laid down and basked in the sun behind the window. I had to move them, as the rubbermaid box was getting too small, and they were very nearly flying out. I let the older flock out of the run, but most of them came over and checked it out. One black hen stuck her head in, and got a drink. The rooster, who has had chicks before in his flock, seemed puzzled by these chicks, but he was talking to them.

Up till now, they have been in the garage, under a small heat lamp durning the day, to give them some light, and then at night, I removed the lamp and put them under the wooly hen. When I cleaned out the tote each day, I put them in my garden space for fresh air and sunlight. However, they would only be out there for 15-20 minutes, it is quite breezy there. Yesterday afternoon, I was quite nervous if they would use the wooly hen in a new place or if I could get them rounded up and back in the garage for the night.

Just before dark, I went down for 5th time to make a final decision. They were getting cold, they were peeping pretty hard, and I was debating when one of them went over, gave a yank on a piece of yarn, like I have seen them do with a broody hen, tipped her head, looked at it and burrowed in. Others quickly followed them, the peeping dropped and then was silent. I left them. They are in the huddle box that is open on the south side, they are out of the wind.

This morning, I went down and they were all out, pecking around, cheeping and getting drinks of water. The older flock was pretty much ignoring them. I fed and watered everything and turned the big flock out. The lattice panel is a perfect one way gate. And the chicks can go through it with ease. However, they mostly stay in the huddle box and the area directly in front of this. I will watch carefully today. I have such a cold that it is a pleasant idea to sit in the sun and watch the chicks. My theory, is that this will be their safe space, they will identify this space as safe, and will stay here most of the time, and return to this space if threatened by a big bird.

As I watched, several chicks went back in under the wooly hen for a warm up. It was cool this morning, a thin bit of ice on the standing water. It got down to 29 degrees last night, but is already up to 51. My chicks are 12 days old. I will try and get a video of this today.

So far, they have not had a problem with getting tangled in the yarn. It is not that long, about 3.5 to 4 inches. I have completely changed my mind about what a chick really needs as far as temperature. They do need a place to warm up, but they can handle much cooler temperatures than I originally thought. Chicks are like chickens in that they need good food, water and dry and out of the wind spot.

My new set up, gives the chicks a lot more space. Which allows more activity and that too is good for chicks. Yesterday, they went from 4.5 square feet to 40 square feet. At first they stayed very close to each other, often climbing over each other, but already this morning, they are spreading out. Space makes for healthier chicks too.

I am pleased with this experiment, thank you for sharing it with me.

Mrs K

 

[biophiliac]

VERY interesting, thank you for sharing your observations . (tried to give you an ovation, but the thumbs up button wouldn't work for me .....OK, now i got it!

 

[Mrs. K]

I have been down several times today, just to keep checking on them. They are very happy. This is a good decision for them. The lattice pen in a big run. It is towards a part of the run, that my hens don't often use. I am not sure if it is just random luck or what, but away from the big birds is the side they tend to get out on, this is the east side, and this morning that is where the sun was.

They are eating well, their little gizzards are full, drinking from both the nipple and the black rubber bowl that I filled with large rocks before adding water. I didn't thing the nipple waterer was giving out enough water, but I have several that are using it even with the other water provided.

They were sunbathing and got buzzed by a fly, quite exciting, up they jumped, but they were a bit unsure if they should chase it or run.

Such a fun hobby. I have such a dreadful cold, that this is pretty much all I have done, when I can't stand the couch any longer, I go down and check on the babies, watch them for a while, then come back to the couch.

MRs K

 

[azygous]

This is brilliant and utterly fascinating! The concept of using the chicks' own body heat as a heat source is as revolutionary as the MHP concept. The wool hen has very important implications for people wanting to brood chicks without electricity. I've been exploring this issue on the internet and have never run across the wool hen until our own Mrs K introduced it here on BYC to us.

The wool hen concept works because the chicks convert food calories into heat, and the wool yarn acts as feathers would to keep the heat the chicks are generating from escaping.

I love stuff like this! Thank you Mrs K!

 

[Mrs. K]

Thank you, but I cannot take credit, I saw it here first. Got brave and tried it.

Once I got them down to the coop, they are no more work than the other chickens. They put themselves to bed, a little later than the bigger girls. When I got down there tonight, I was missing three, so, I lifted it, and they were already in, shortly the rest joined them. I am quite glad I tried it. I was nervous at first, but I do not have electricity at the coop, I had the yarn. Had numerous notions, but someone else suggested the bucket.

Mrs K

 

[azygous]

Well, Mrs K, you're what they call "taking it mainstream". It's an exciting concept and I see it being a real help to those folks who want to brood outdoors but can't get electricity to their coops. Thanks for presenting it to the community in an informative manner.

 

[aart]

Fascinating!!...wants to see pics of chicks in 'wool hen'.

 

[tmarsh83]

My biggest question is how to make it grow with the chicks.

By week four they are still going to need a warm-up spot, but I can't see a dozen of them fitting under there, especially at night. I suppose you could fashion whatever is holding the yarn to accept spacers to block it up, but then you'll have a gap where the yarn doesn't reach the ground. Or am I missing an obvious solution to this?

I really like this idea, especially with my plan to tractor grow meat birds in the near future. Anything to simply that process would be awesome.

 

[lazy gardener]

I believe it was Kassaundra who pioneered the wool hen. As I recall, she actually used strips of wool cut from a felted wool sweater. She preferred the real wool b/c it would hold heat even when wet, compared to synthetics like fleece. She used a 5 gal. bucket (if memory serves correct), with holes drilled, and knotted strips dropped down through the holes. The strips were long enough so that they came close to the bedding placed in the bucket, so there was plenty of height room to accommodate a growing chick.