Broody Hen Thread!

[Chicken-Man]

Thank you... they are Barnyard mixes, actually... we have many breeds and mutts all together...
One rooster is a mostly gray BY mix with barring or cuckoo marks visible, the other is a Australorp, at the time the eggs were gathered there were also 2 other barnyard mixes in the coop...
Hens are barnyard mixes, barred rock, black giants and silver pencil rocks.

I don't know what they will grow up looking like, but all should be good brown egg layers... will be interesting to see how they turn out.

That's awesome!! send photos as they grow for meh!!

 

[PimentoPlymouth]

Quote:
I prefer the barnyard mixes. I think its a exciting to see how they are going to turn out and what they will look like.

 

[coltcogburn00]

The guy I been getting chickens from is quit because he want to do goats. So he is giving me 2 barred rock roster and 2 barred rock hens. He says that 1 hen is broody so I find out today at 1:30 pm

 

[Chicken-Man]

The guy I been getting chickens from is quit because he want to do goats. So he is giving me 2 barred rock roster and 2 barred rock hens. He says that 1 hen is broody so I find out today at 1:30 pm

what do u find out?

 

[coltcogburn00]

2 hens are broody and 1 barred rock and 1 Easter egg layer or a ameraucana

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Well all 7 of Rosie's eggs hatched... 6 happy and active, last one was shrink wrapped though (we found it nearly out of the shell but with a bunch of membrane dried to it) and had just a bit of hernia on it's back end. We put a spray of Blue-kot on it to prevent it getting pecked at and reduce infection risk and tucked it back under her to dry out, mother nature will decide if it makes it or not, it wasn't easy to leave it but I don't think we could do anything better for it than mamma hen, and she will be better able to control temp and humidity that will give the chick it's best chance.

A few pics to warm up a cold February evening....

I enjoy my mixed breeds a lot too...it is always fun to see what they eventually turn out to look like. And they usually are especially colorful and pretty. I have one EE/Wyandotte that is stunning...and an EE/OEGB or possibly EE/Andaulusian (can't decide) which is so pretty.

One of yours looks to have the beard/muff of EE or Ameraucana in her too.

Pretty babies. Congratulations to you and Momma Rosie
Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Well this is how "badly" my 3 BCM chicks that hatched January 10th have "suffered" having hatched and been cared for by a Broody Momma's winter care alone.

They hatched during during a cold snap (daytime hovered around freezing, nightime below freezing), then had to grow during an unusual (for western Oregon) 2 week winter storm with 4 to 6 inches of snow and high east winds of 7 degree chill factor, then freezing rain, now having to endure our plentiful Oregon rains at 40 degrees (day and night)...

The first photo is at 2 days old...then the next photos at 4 1/2 weeks old...after all that terrible weather having had no heat lamps, no controlled envirnoments....just Momma hen.





The breeder remarked...good grief they are "monsters" in size already.
At 4 1/2 weeks, they are nearly the size of my banty Silkie.

1 roo and 2 pullets (I think at this point)

I find my broody hatched babies grow faster, feather faster, lay sooner, and are overall healthier and stronger than any I've incubated or heat lamped.

Go Broodies

Lady of McCamley

 

[fisherlady]

I enjoy my mixed breeds a lot too...it is always fun to see what they eventually turn out to look like. And they usually are especially colorful and pretty. I have one EE/Wyandotte that is stunning...and an EE/OEGB or possibly EE/Andaulusian (can't decide) which is so pretty.

One of yours looks to have the beard/muff of EE or Ameraucana in her too.

Pretty babies. Congratulations to you and Momma Rosie
Lady of McCamley

I love the mixes, our hatching egg choices are usually based on size, friendliness and egging ability of parents... basically, practicality rules but pretty babies are a bonus...
We have a mix hen (who lays beautiful brown eggs) who is often a contributor to the hatching eggs, her eggs are always nicely shaped and good sized and her daughters from last year also lay beautiful eggs... she is the most likely facial fluff source on buffs and browns, on black based babies it would be another of our senior hens (solid black) with full fluff. I usually try to get at least an egg or two from each of these girls to add to the hatch because they have always laid nice eggs and they are easy going and friendly. One of our most striking babies was a black austrolorp rooster over an Easter egger with lacing and feathery feet... we got this boy...

He is maturing into a stunning and friendly fellow who I really hope we get to have around for a while...
.

 

[fisherlady]

Well this is how "badly" my 3 BCM chicks that hatched January 10th have "suffered" having hatched and been cared for by a Broody Momma's winter care alone.

They hatched during during a cold snap (daytime hovered around freezing, nightime below freezing), then had to grow during an unusual (for western Oregon) 2 week winter storm with 4 to 6 inches of snow and high east winds of 7 degree chill factor, then freezing rain, now having to endure our plentiful Oregon rains at 40 degrees (day and night)...

The first photo is at 2 days old...then the next photos at 4 1/2 weeks old...after all that terrible weather having had no heat lamps, no controlled envirnoments....just Momma hen.





The breeder remarked...good grief they are "monsters" in size already.
At 4 1/2 weeks, they are nearly the size of my banty Silkie.

1 roo and 2 pullets (I think at this point)

I find my broody hatched babies grow faster, feather faster, lay sooner, and are overall healthier and stronger than any I've incubated or heat lamped.

Go Broodies

Lady of McCamley

They are looking great!
Our broody babies from the December hatch are on their own and doing fine despite this nasty weather... They have been fully feathered since 4 or 5 weeks and when given the choice of a hay pile on the floor to cuddle in or the roost they went right up onto the boards with the big girls.
This trio were eggs from our silkie broody because at the time (November) I was figuring I wanted to hatch a few of her babies so we could get another generation of broody types, since she has been an ultimate girl in the broody department. She hatched these 3, I think 2 are girls, but not sure yet, time will tell...

Of course, shortly after they were born our other large fowl hens started dropping like crazy with the broody flu... so looks like I won't have to worry about if I have another generation... though I will always want a Gracie in my flock, she is priceless to us!

Just a bit of family resemblance! LOL (and we have no white roosters!)

Babies at about 8 weeks, on their own in the main coop.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I love the mixes, our hatching egg choices are usually based on size, friendliness and egging ability of parents... basically, practicality rules but pretty babies are a bonus...
We have a mix hen (who lays beautiful brown eggs) who is often a contributor to the hatching eggs, her eggs are always nicely shaped and good sized and her daughters from last year also lay beautiful eggs... she is the most likely facial fluff source on buffs and browns, on black based babies it would be another of our senior hens (solid black) with full fluff. I usually try to get at least an egg or two from each of these girls to add to the hatch because they have always laid nice eggs and they are easy going and friendly. One of our most striking babies was a black austrolorp rooster over an Easter egger with lacing and feathery feet... we got this boy...

He is maturing into a stunning and friendly fellow who I really hope we get to have around for a while...
.

What a pretty boy he's turning out to be.

Yes...functionality is top priority...but isn't it fun when we get good looks too?

I do hope someday to be able to keep a rooster...time will tell...where I live is old farm land that has been encroached by subdivision so while I'm still un-incorporated county, and totally legal to keep a rooster, I've got some subdivision neighbors behind my property that might squawk if he cocka doodle doo'd.

Maybe I'll gain some courage and go talk to some neighbors to see if anyone cares. I'd love to be able to grow and choose my own hatching eggs instead of having to be looking for breeders or beg from friends (and risk bringing in disease).

My BCM roo should be a pretty boy...maybe if he has a nice temperament I can convince dear hubby to let me do some neighbor talking....who knows? I might get lucky. Local and self-sustained food is becoming more and more popular where I live.

I too wouldn't know what I'd do without my faithful broody Silkie...I have other full size hens that go broody seasonally, but I can almost set my watch by my Silkie gal...she is the backbone of my hatching program as I can plan for eggs because I know she'll be going broody about every 3 to 4 months. I count on her skills! I plan to be adding some Buckeye hatching eggs from a local breeder on her next brood (about late March?)

So happy to see your growing flock.
Lady of McCamley