Annoyed: Want to have hen raised chicks!

[PaulaJoAnne]

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What do you mean?

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Once the eggs hatch, the hen will do everything on her own. Its during the setting time, that there can be issues like almost dying from thirst and starvation. I am certain it has soemthing to so with the fact that most of us are starting out with hens that were incubated and not raised by a hen. They lose a bit in translation

 

[jersy87]

okay that is understandable. I meant seperating the hen

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

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You only want to separate the hen from the rest of the flock, not the hen from the chicks.

 

[jersy87]

ya i know what she meant. but why.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

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From our experience, yes. But. When you have one go broody, you need to put it in a seperate pen. This solves issues with egg swapping, and hen eviction, that flocks tend to do.
And, it is important to ake sure the hen gets off the nest to eat, drink nad poop once per day.
More often then not, since back yard flocks are not wild, you have to haul them off the nest each day, for a few minutes.

Other things to note about Cochins. They are not mature until 9 months of age. They do lay the same amount of eggs as production layers, but it is spread out more, so you get a longer time period of eggs out of them.

You might be able to find someone near you that has pullets for sale. That can shorten the waiting period for you.
Just make sure to practice good isolation for a couple of weeks first.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

When you have several hens in a coop, the most popular box, will be th eone that is occupied. THe broody will get pushed out of the nest, and more eggs will get mixed into the nest.
Now, the broody may not even go back to the correct box! She may go sit on an egg she spied in another box, when she was pushed off of hers.

We have a large dog kennel that we use for our broodies. A good layer of hay on the bottm, a waterer secured to prevent spillage and a food bowl.
These should be placed where whe has to get up to go get them.
Take her out to poop once per day as well.
Once the chicks are hatched, do nto put them in with the main flock. Set up a pen next to the other flock, so the can socialize without harm for a bit.

Its different if you have free ranging hens. You would not have to worry so much about the chicks getting hurt, like in the more confined backyard pens.

 

[MareeZoCool]

The first thing I was told when I spoke so dreamily of my own hen raising chicks: "LEAVE HER WITH AT LEAST 3 EGGS in her nest." I did, after two days of leaving eggs, she started refusing the rooster's loving attentions. after day 4, she sat on her nest. and my questions began,(pestering everyone in this forum with all my fears & worries!)

Good luck to you & your:cd

Hope all your dreams are fulfilled!

 

[elmo]

When did you remove some of the eggs? Was it very early on after she started setting? Sometimes it takes a day or two or three for the hormones to really kick in. If you removed the eggs too early, the hen may have considered the clutch not yet "full" so she came back off.

It took a clutch of around 7 or 8 eggs for my little bantams to decide to set. I let them sit for a few days before I removed any eggs, and that didn't disturb them. The bigger hens probably like a much bigger clutch because they can cover more. If you try again, I'd let her sit for a while on the clutch before you remove any.

 

[jersy87]

i think im going to remove the eggs tomarrow. Ive gotta clean the house again anyway. ITs been lil over 2wks and nothing now. I started removing eggs 5 days after. It has 15eggs in it now...