Broody Hen Thread!

[Lady of McCamley]

How is this for luck??? Checked on my chicks this morning and found something really odd. One of the chicks was stuck to the hen and being dragged around beneath her. I picked up the hen and the chick fell off. It was dead. There was a tangle of downy feathers around its neck. Apparently, some of the downy feathers on the belly of my hen were matted together in a knot. The chick apparenlty stuck his head through the knotted feathers and when the hen started moving around this morning, the tension tightened the feathers like a noose around the chicks neck. The hen tried to shake him off a couple times, which probably just made the feather noose tighter. Anyway, the chick was dead, so I am down to one lone survivor...

This is my second clutch and I am quickly learning that the success rate is not real high from start to adulthood. Last clutch she hatched 4 and only 1 lived to adulthood. And he died for no apparent reason last week. Now she hatched 2 out of 9 eggs, and within a week, we are down to 1 chick left...Mother Nature has no compassion.

I'm sorry for your losses. I know how frustrating and saddening that is. Some hatches are simply better than others, and while you try to learn from each one, sometimes there is just nothing to be done.

And you are right...hatching is only the first obstacle. There are SO MANY ways to lose a chick after its hatched.

I learned the feather dragging lesson early on too. I have to watch my Silkie as her long feathers can get matted with brooding. She had a chick get caught in her long feet feathers and was dragged to its death. I trim her at the start of brooding now (but good reminder for me...I should check her again that her feathers have not matted from the brooding again).

Each time I learn more and hopefully get better...but I know it is the nature of farming to have gains...and losses. Doesn't make the losses easy.

Lady of McCamley

 

[fisherlady]

Nice build!!

very smart

Thanks! Necessity is the mother of invention... this is a way for my nerves to rest easy and the broodies to get out of the coop and run and feel safe. The mother hens love free ranging and we allow them as much as possible, but I didn't want to have them confined to the coop and run just because I was busy with chores and such, so the portable broody run came to be... once the babies are a couple of weeks old they rarely use this, the broody mama and our 'baby daddy' roo keep them safe and they range all over.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Well it looks like it will be the 3 chicks...the other one never finished zipping (sad to say), and the egg that had never started had a fully formed chick but died in shell. Mom had left the nest to care for the 3 babies, so they were cold and dead.

Good news...I have 3 very healthy (thus far) and happy little Black Copper Marans chicks.

Mom was up and teaching them to eat and drink and scratch this morning.

Now to think of names...and hope that I have some hens for those lovely dark eggs.

Lady of McCamley

 

[fisherlady]

Adorable!! Congrats and hope you get hens also.

 

[chicken farmer]

Here are a couple pics of the set up I use. Although I like to let them free range when I am outside to supervise (cats in yard also) I prefer to have them in the pen when I am not on hand until they are about a week or so and are listening when mama calls them. Once they are listening to their mama a bit better I don't worry much. My cats rarely pay much attention to the birds, but I know they will not approach the adult birds, so as long as the chicks don't stray from mama then they are good. I also leave my dog out with them to increase their security when I am not there.






Primary large panels are dog run fencing so they are movable. I lined bottom with 1/2 inch hardware cloth, and divided with a plastic 1/2 inch mesh barrier since I had 2 broody hatches using it at same time. All is moveable and can be changed as needed.

They would like it if you put in that pen like a couple logs to jump on and a dust bath spot so they have something to do and maybe even a nest to cuddle up in

 

[chicken farmer]

I have 2 broody white silkie hens broody in the same nest and one of them has been sittin since November and the other hen started sittin with her about the end of December and they are sittin on 5 silkie eggs and none of them even started to hatch when they were supposed to so were gonna order some hatchery chicks for them so then they can take care of them togethr and get off the nest I was really hopen one of her eggs would of hatched but they didn't so there gonna be hatchery chick mommies I will post pictures when I give them there little babies

 

[elsfieldchickens]

[/IMG]
New Peking just out the bator

 

[ocap]

my silkies are similar to chicken farmer above, today is hatch day for two silkies on the same nest, but I was only able to get two eggs and I do not know if they were fertile............

 

[Hannahs Hollow]

Well, Josephina is a month old today! I spend a lot of time will her on my shoulder cuddled up as mom decided motherhood was done at 2 weeks old. Lil Bo's eggs are to hatch on Tuesday or Weds! Fingers crossed!

 

[wood&feathers]

Thing 1 has turned out to be a first rate mama hen. Her 3 chicks (I only let her have 5 eggs - I wasn't so sure about this winter broody thing) are 10 weeks old now. They have survived subzero temps in their nest with no heat except mama. Now they are roosting with the flock and scratching in all weather.