A wool hen - creating one today

[lazy gardener]

Quote: Last night in the wee hours, I was thinking about the materials I might have on hand to make a wool hen, then my mind flitted to cutting up an old sweat shirt, and leaving the neck hole intact to make a dog coat for my poor dog who is always cold, and what would I use for straps, and ... SQUIRREL!... when I should have been sleeping.

 

[Mrs. K]

I like that idea of the mesh, it would work. My yarn is not in loops at the bottom, just straight strands hanging down.

This morning, I thought it was damp, so I flipped it to dry out during the day in the sun. Dry just seems healthier. Of course, a squall blew in this late afternoon, so then I hauled it to the house, and used the hair dryer on it it. Glued a pom pom tighter. On the way down to the house, I thought, dang it, should have brought the phone, really wished I had, as I set it up, immediately they gathered around, peeping, pulling on the yarn, looking this way and that, and then... they start popping in snuggling down, then the late ones stand there telling someone to move, then climb in too. The woolly hen moves a bit, a few peeps and then silence.

Mrs K

 

[Mrs. K]

Further update: Lattice panels and integration.

Went down today about noon, two of the hens are in the chick part. Nothing is upset, chicks are all over the run yard, roosting on a branch I have in there. Nothing chasing, or harassing. Chicks are calm. Chicks will be 3 weeks old on Monday.

I went ahead and opened up the pen. I did leave one lattice panel up in the middle, and leaned the other against the wall.

Really this has been pretty effortless. My chicks are healthy, active, and living with the big girls. A couple of points, my flocks have had chicks raised in the flock for years, and so did the other hens I bought. I have a large run 20 x 30 feet. I do have hide outs, and mini walls and different roosting heights.

I still have two water and feed stations set up, and probably will for some time, it is no big deal, and it will make sure the chicks get enough.

I am a believer in a wooly hen, and it is certainly a viable way of raising babies without electricity in even moderately cold weather. The lattice panel worked well as a one way gate. I have been raising chicks for years with a broody hen, and was rather dreading this whole deal, getting them feathered up, getting them integrated into the flock, and really it went pretty easily.

Mrs K

 

[bobbi-j]

Thanks so much for sharing your adventure with us! It's good to know that it's possible to keep chicks warm without the benefit of electricity.

 

[lazy gardener]

Further update: Lattice panels and integration.

Went down today about noon, two of the hens are in the chick part. Nothing is upset, chicks are all over the run yard, roosting on a branch I have in there. Nothing chasing, or harassing. Chicks are calm. Chicks will be 3 weeks old on Monday.

I went ahead and opened up the pen. I did leave one lattice panel up in the middle, and leaned the other against the wall.

Really this has been pretty effortless. My chicks are healthy, active, and living with the big girls. A couple of points, my flocks have had chicks raised in the flock for years, and so did the other hens I bought. I have a large run 20 x 30 feet. I do have hide outs, and mini walls and different roosting heights.

I still have two water and feed stations set up, and probably will for some time, it is no big deal, and it will make sure the chicks get enough.

I am a believer in a wooly hen, and it is certainly a viable way of raising babies without electricity in even moderately cold weather. The lattice panel worked well as a one way gate. I have been raising chicks for years with a broody hen, and was rather dreading this whole deal, getting them feathered up, getting them integrated into the flock, and really it went pretty easily.

Mrs K

? What were your low temps? No heat at all, even during the first days? How many chicks? Size of wool hen? The lattice that you used, was it the large hole or small hole'd lattice?

 

[Mrs. K]

I kept them in the garage the first week. I did have a light on them, but it was a small bulb, and really the temperature was about 80 degrees. At night, I turned off the light, and the 12 chicks went under the wooly hen. The temperature would be between 30 - 50 degrees at night in the garage. I think that stressed chicks peep, and the more stressed they are they peep louder and more rapidly. The chicks actually peeped more under the light.

Once they were under the wooly hen, they went to sleep. The started in a rubbermaid bin, but rapidly out grew that. They went down to the chicken house/run and I set them up in an out in the run huddle box. They were 12 days old. I think if it was bit later in the year, I could have taken them down earlier.

It is rainy and 45 degrees here today, they are in and out of the huddle box, in and out of the wooly hen.

In years past, I have always waited on the whim of a broody hen to hatch out chicks, because I have no electricity in the chicken set up, and I did not want to brood them myself. This was nearly the same as having a broody hen.

It is different way of raising them. Chicks do need wind protection, they do need a warm place to warm up, but they do not need a constant temperature of 100 degrees. And they really do need supplemental heat for weeks and weeks, and maybe not at all.

Mrs K

 

[lazy gardener]

I kept them in the garage the first week. I did have a light on them, but it was a small bulb, and really the temperature was about 80 degrees. At night, I turned off the light, and the 12 chicks went under the wooly hen. The temperature would be between 30 - 50 degrees at night in the garage. I think that stressed chicks peep, and the more stressed they are they peep louder and more rapidly. The chicks actually peeped more under the light.

Once they were under the wooly hen, they went to sleep. The started in a rubbermaid bin, but rapidly out grew that. They went down to the chicken house/run and I set them up in an out in the run huddle box. They were 12 days old. I think if it was bit later in the year, I could have taken them down earlier.

It is rainy and 45 degrees here today, they are in and out of the huddle box, in and out of the wooly hen.

In years past, I have always waited on the whim of a broody hen to hatch out chicks, because I have no electricity in the chicken set up, and I did not want to brood them myself. This was nearly the same as having a broody hen.

It is different way of raising them. Chicks do need wind protection, they do need a warm place to warm up, but they do not need a constant temperature of 100 degrees. And they really do need supplemental heat for weeks and weeks, and maybe not at all.

Mrs K

Excellent re-cap. This needs to be written up into an article for the learning center.

 

[Mrs. K]

I have had them in the run with the hens & Rooster, I would say they are fully integrated today, 3 weeks old, as I saw one run right under the rooster. They are a sub flock, and they give the big birds plenty of room, but all are pretty calm, no chasing or pecking.

They have been in a huddle box, just a shelter from the wind out in the run, but we have heavy rain predicted for the next 48 hours and I wanted them in the coop over night. It will be much dryer in the coop. Way too quick for me and my knee to catch them. I wound up shutting off the huddle box, and with a little herding, got them next to the dog carrier with the woolly hen inside. It took a few moments, and then they were all inside and under her, and I just scooped up the dog carrier and put it in the coop. So they will be dry tonight.

I don't think I will trap them into the coop, wish I was staying home tomorrow, but they should be out of most of the weather in the huddle box, I may set up the dog carrier outside again tomorrow, I just don't really expect them to put themselves back to bed tomorrow night, after just one night in the coop. We will just have to see. I had it sectioned off, earlier, but it was a hassle, and when they started getting along with the big girls, I took the barrier down. Maybe I could get it set up tomorrow morning. Then I could keep the chicks in the coop, and let the hens do what they want.

Mrs K

 

[tmarsh83]

I just want to thank you again for sharing this. Great alternative for people to consider, and you did a great job explaining it along the way. Awesome stuff.

 

[Mrs. K]

Further update:

For the last couple of days, I have been putting a dog crate with the wooly hen in the run just before dark, and then carrying it full of chicks into the coop. Tonight, I was late getting home, wondering how I was going to get them in the coop. When I got home, they had gotten themselves to bed in the coop.

There, fully integrated into the flock. Really I rather dreaded this whole ordeal, and it was nothing. For years, I have waited on the whim of a broody hen, so as not to have to deal with the whole brooding and integration.

I am pretty sure that I have mostly rooster chicks, and there is an incubator at school…**** chicken math.