Bantam thread(including polish and silkies)

[Rock17]

Can not have any more chickens at the moment so she was not sitting on anything. I have tried everything to make her stop. She is going in full time broody jail.

 

[Rock17]

My silkie has now been broody for 48 days

That is nearly enough time to incubate an ostrich egg

 

[Farmgirl283420]

That is nearly enough time to incubate an ostrich egg

Maybe you should get her one!

 

[NatJ]

That is nearly enough time to incubate an ostrich egg

I once had a hen that did sit long enough for an ostrich egg.

I hadn't given her any eggs, because I didn't want chicks, but she seemed to be healthy enough so I just kept letting her sit. She did eventually quit of her own accord.

 

[SarahLadd]

Can not have any more chickens at the moment so she was not sitting on anything. I have tried everything to make her stop. She is going in full time broody jail.

My millefleur hen is in broody jail for the 4th time since January. :/ I'm sorry, we will make it through!

 

[SarahLadd]

A 2 minute video of my bantams cuddling with me and sleeping.

 

[Rock17]

@bantamsrmyfav

 

[Ladybird CA]

I have 3 bantams left..buff cochin and 2 seramas. Sadly bantams don’t do well here in eastern Canada even with our insulated coops and DH doesn’t want to add extra heat.

Getting a lone sexed “Americana” on Tuesday from TSC (called Peavey Mart here) who gets them from Hoovers. Planning to add one chick at a time whenever they go broody or once a year. They allow one chick purchases in store in Canada. I think where I lived in California it was a 6 chick minimum.

I read on here about someone’s hen sitting for 5 months until she died. We get them off the nests to remind them to eat and drink when we can.

 

[Debbie292d]

I have 3 bantams left..buff cochin and 2 seramas. Sadly bantams don’t do well here in eastern Canada even with our insulated coops and DH doesn’t want to add extra heat.

Getting a lone sexed “Americana” on Tuesday from TSC (called Peavey Mart here) who gets them from Hoovers. Planning to add one chick at a time whenever they go broody or once a year. They allow one chick purchases in store in Canada. I think where I lived in California it was a 6 chick minimum.

I read on here about someone’s hen sitting for 5 months until she died. We get them off the nests to remind them to eat and drink when we can.

I'm in Wisconsin so nearly the same thing. We do heat our coop to 40F for two reasons...

(1) So homey doesn't have to haul water through snow drifts in the wintertime because their water froze.

(2) No frozen eggs, chickens, wattles, etc.

We use a thin, oil-filled, radiant heater we've had for years. On it's lowest setting, it will keep the coop to 35-40F, but we do have a cozy coop on the floor, which doesn't help much. During that polar vortex or anytime it's -20F or lower, it can't keep up so we have to turn it up a bit. Silkies don't fly so it's safe there.

Rats, I just checked and it's out of stock and Lowes used to also carry them are out. Well, anything oil-filled usually can be tipped over and won't start a fire and mounting them on a shelf or in a cage to keep chickens away is the only necessity.

I too have read about hens dying in the nest and I know of someone whose hen died being broody. I will not allow it except in the winter. The hens look so much healthier too!

Our broody jail takes 2-4 days to get them back to their senses.

That's all temp/grow-out pens there, not our coop. I told hubby our backyard is starting to look like a homeless camp.

 

[Ladybird CA]

I had found oil radiators on Amazon and still have a Cozy coop heater and 2 pet heating pads. DH let me use it the previous year with the Eglu Cube. Then last year we got a large coop and paid extra for insulation so I couldn’t convince him to pay a higher heating bill. Most died when it got to -10 C and we forgot to close the little doggy door that leads to their run. Also read about needing extra ventilation in the winter so we weren’t overly worried about it. 2 frizzled serama survived but were weak so I brought them inside and even changing their bedding often they were just too smelly and my cats wouldn’t leave them alone. When the weather got better brought them back out and found Camille’s body in a rat hole. Rehomed Pinecone before she would die too. Probably won’t get any more bantams until I move back to California many years from now but at least with the standards they come sexed because we are only allowed 5 hens in the city.