Breeding silkied Cochin bantams to the Standard

[3KillerBs]

On at least one occasion I can recall witnessing Gus try to breed her and her just laying on her side under him instead of properly squatting for him.

I wonder if she didn't like Gus or didn't want to be bred at all.

It would be interesting to see how she deals with the males in the mixed flock.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Not sure. I'll let y'all know how it goes! For now I have her with Boba still and moved Athena and her two pullets over to that side as well. I had planned to move Zinni to another pen when her blindness was worsening, but when it stopped I decided I didn't want to just take her away from everything she knows. So she's flocked with those birds and when the two pullets are mature enough I'll move one or both of them together with her so they have a buddy or two in the big flock.

Athena, meanwhile, wants to brood again, but only in the nest boxes in the side of the coop she had been living in, thus far no interest in the nests in the side of the coop she's in now. So in a way she's being broody busted but I don't have to set up an actual broody buster for her. She's gone all hormonal about brooding to the point that she's even been tidbit chirping for the two pullets and feeding them pellets first thing in the morning when I put their feed down for them. At least she has someone to mother still!

 

[3KillerBs]

She's gone all hormonal about brooding to the point that she's even been tidbit chirping for the two pullets and feeding them pellets first thing in the morning when I put their feed down for them.

I've got a plague of broodies again but don't want to have them sitting in this heat even if I weren't still trying to sell spring birds.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It's fortunately been pretty mild here for a few days, but I still do not need any more chicks with all the ones already out there on the ground! I'm down to Athena and Roxy, one of the silkied Reds, wanting to brood now. Rox is one of the ones that usually goes broody late spring to early summer and just stays broody all summer no matter what I do, so I'm not holding my breath on her breaking any time soon. Of course she's held off and gone broody after I've finished hatching for the year this time, so I couldn't even put that dedication to use! Trixie also has started clucking grumpily lately, so she may be thinking of going broody now, too. Hopefully she changes her mind so that I don't have to fight with her, too. I really cannot hatch any more chicks at this point, I've got babes stashed in practically every pen I have out there!

 

[3KillerBs]

It's fortunately been pretty mild here for a few days, but I still do not need any more chicks with all the ones already out there on the ground! I'm down to Athena and Roxy, one of the silkied Reds, wanting to brood now. Rox is one of the ones that usually goes broody late spring to early summer and just stays broody all summer no matter what I do, so I'm not holding my breath on her breaking any time soon. Of course she's held off and gone broody after I've finished hatching for the year this time, so I couldn't even put that dedication to use! Trixie also has started clucking grumpily lately, so she may be thinking of going broody now, too. Hopefully she changes her mind so that I don't have to fight with her, too. I really cannot hatch any more chicks at this point, I've got babes stashed in practically every pen I have out there!

I feel you. There are four feathered pancakes in my boxes this morning. I can't break them fast enough with only one breaker.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I decided to let Washburne and the birthday baby out to mingle with the corner coop flock this morning, and just as soon as the fence was opened, Wash took off and left her baby in the dust! I waited a few minutes hoping that the baby calling for her would draw her back to the coop, but she just went about her business like she was taking a break from incubating eggs rather than a hen brooding a chick already. I briefly moved the baby out of the coop and she followed her mama around, but mama didn't seem to be paying much attention to baby and the other adults were being pretty brutal. So, back into their fenced off corner of the coop. Wash nestled down and let the baby warm under her just fine once she was fenced off in the coop again. No idea what's going on in that head!

I'm feeling pretty disillusioned about the Cochins being mamas at this point. I thought Athena's iffy mothering skills were just because she was so young, under a year old when she went broody, but Wash is two years old so certainly plenty mature enough. The Silkie and Silkie mix hens that have hatched chicks, meanwhile, have been nothing short of amazing with their babes, even in the big mixed flock. I haven't had to worry about them for a second. Goes to show that the breed has their reputation for a reason, I suppose! I do wonder if Wash and Athena will improve if I let them hatch again, but I'm starting to feel like maybe I should just leave it to the proven mamas from here on out.

 

[3KillerBs]

I decided to let Washburne and the birthday baby out to mingle with the corner coop flock this morning, and just as soon as the fence was opened, Wash took off and left her baby in the dust! I waited a few minutes hoping that the baby calling for her would draw her back to the coop, but she just went about her business like she was taking a break from incubating eggs rather than a hen brooding a chick already. I briefly moved the baby out of the coop and she followed her mama around, but mama didn't seem to be paying much attention to baby and the other adults were being pretty brutal. So, back into their fenced off corner of the coop. Wash nestled down and let the baby warm under her just fine once she was fenced off in the coop again. No idea what's going on in that head!

I'm feeling pretty disillusioned about the Cochins being mamas at this point. I thought Athena's iffy mothering skills were just because she was so young, under a year old when she went broody, but Wash is two years old so certainly plenty mature enough. The Silkie and Silkie mix hens that have hatched chicks, meanwhile, have been nothing short of amazing with their babes, even in the big mixed flock. I haven't had to worry about them for a second. Goes to show that the breed has their reputation for a reason, I suppose! I do wonder if Wash and Athena will improve if I let them hatch again, but I'm starting to feel like maybe I should just leave it to the proven mamas from here on out.

That's sad.

My large-fowl Cochin has never gone broody. About 1/3 of my Australorps do it, my homebrewed OE did it, and, of course, the Java I've mentioned before is a champion broody.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It is. I was pretty disheartened watching that poor baby yell for her mama without any response. Thankfully, Wash seems to do fine as long as she's contained with baby. Too much freedom and apparently she's ready to take off without the little one.

My large fowl Cochins are occasional brooders, maybe once a year. My big ol Splash girl actually went broody a month ago or so! I briefly considered grafting chicks to her, but I feared with as large as she is that she'd squash little bantam bitties, or maybe even lose them in her abundance of dense fluff.

Editing to add, to be completely fair to the Cochins, I haven't had the opportunity to let the silkied Reds try yet. They're the ones that go broody for months on end even while being put in a buster to break them. The Silkie mixes that have chicks right now are half Silkie, half that line of Cochins, so perhaps that's a sign that they would do better than the BBS line has so far.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Last night, I went out to close coops and could hear distressed peeping in the distance. I thought, since it was overcast with heavy rain on the way, that the brooder-reared chicks were just a bit more antsy than usual to be taken back up to the coop for the night. But then I realized that that peeping was not coming from that pen, it was coming from around the corner at the corner coop. I ran over there to see what was going on, and come to find out Washburne had flown up out of their little fenced off corner and gone to roost for the night, leaving her poor baby on the floor alone.

I put Wash back down in the pen with the baby, and she didn't really seem to pay the little one any attention again, pacing around and looking for a way out. So I opened the fence enough to give her a nest box to go into, and she went right in, little one in tow, and they nestled down for the night together.

This morning, Wash is pacing again, wanting out of that fenced off corner of the coop. She is sort of halfheartedly chirping for baby sometimes, but not really giving her much attention otherwise. I fear she's going to end up flying out again and abandoning her little one. I'm trying to give her every chance to shape up, but I think I'm just going to have to remove the little one to the brooder. This, of course, is more complicated than just that, as I've just finished treating the whole flock for mites as of early last week, including the babies with hens but not the babies in the brooder as many of them were still very small and fresh when I did the treatment. While I have not seen any signs of mites in days, I know that that does not always mean there aren't any mites present, so I'm most likely going to have to treat the brooder babies just to be safe before I can bring that little one in to the brooder. What a complete mess. Suffice it to say, I don't think I'll ever trust Wash to hatch chicks again.

 

[3KillerBs]

Suffice it to say, I don't think I'll ever trust Wash to hatch chicks again.

I wish I could loan you Mocha, who has gone back to brooding after raising the babies she took over from Nugget.