Broody Hen Thread!

[SilkieNation]

Reminds me I should have my water tested - it's been a long time. I do have a filtration system due to high iron and manganese, but it doesn't filter out everything. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[aart]

Do you have any water problems? My parents had to get rid of all our dairy cows because of our water problems. I had to get rid if my registered dairy goat herd that I worked very hard on for ten years because our water was lowering their immune system so much that they were getting uncommon diseases and were losing weight.

Quote:
Which minerals?
...and how where they effecting the livestock?
What about your drinking water?

 

[Free Feather]

Is there chloroform?

 

[SilkieNation]

Where would chloroform come from?

 

[svfarm]

It was mostly the manganese. The cows wouldn't drink the water , so then they weren't producing as much milk. They were losing weight and had runny manure. Towards the end, some of the calves had birth defects. One calf was born with an uneven face. The one half looked permanently swollen (it was a bull calf so it didn't really matter). My favorite was a calf that was born pretty small. She was only a little bit more than knee high, where as most calves were about waist high.
With my goats, it was heart breaking. Some did better than others. Some were losing weight. They all would get diarrhea if I didn't keep them loaded up on minerals. When they were finished growing, they were a little smaller than they should have been. It lowered there immune system pretty bad. I had goats for ten years. Every time the babies were born, we would disbud them and we didn't give them tetanus shots. Well that last year of breeding, I knew I should have given them their shots first. My parents went and disbudded them anyway. Seven out of eleven of the kids ended up with tetanus. At the time I didn't know that the horse vaccine would cure it, so I lost some very beautiful babies. A year and a half before that, my first girl got sick and died. I didn't know what she had until months later when another of my girls got sick. She was younger so I actually saw all the symptoms. They had gotten lysteriosis. I later realized where they would have gotten the bacteria: normally I fed Purina or other name brand feed. But when I was low on cash or couldn't drive as far, I would get feed from the local mill. Since their immune system was so bad, even the littlest bit could effect them. Where as an animal with a good immune system could fight it off. We also had calves that were getting sick and would die within a few days. They had most of the same symptoms packed into a short amount of time. Eventually, I just couldn't take anymore and decided the best thing for them was to find them a home. So I sold them cheap to someone who said he'd keep them together. He lied. Sold the one buckling, that was absolutely perfect, for meat. This buckling could have been sold as a breeder for $300+. He was the most perfect buck I had ever seen. Luckily all the adults and some of the babies made it to someone somewhat better. I would go over and visit them. Their immune system was permanently damaged. Another got lysteriosis (she only fed feed from the mill), and they were still getting things that weren't common to the area.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Well, she managed to crack one of the six, so I chucked it out. Thank goodness they were cheap!

 

[alibabba]

What is it that you are referring to as a 'yolker'?

The infertile eggs, after a few days, all the fertile ones you can see the veins and embryos, but in "yolker" it's just a floating yolk. Like a store egg would be.

The infertile ones were just taking up valuable space!

 

[alibabba]

Yep, in our coop we usually just call them clears but yolkers makes sense also... but then again I call eggs 'sloshy' rather than 'quitters' but they are essentially the same also... everyone has their preferred slang for them.

Ewww, "Sloshy" LOL!!! I only called 'em yolkers because it made sense and was kinda cutesy. I got it from You tube - candling videos.... "Yolkers, Quitters and Winners"!



Last time I peeked a couple days ago, I saw wiggles in one green egg, but not much else. I didn't want to handle more eggs that far along.

If she started sitting 6/2. Today is 21!!!!! Now what what was it, that outside may take longer? I think she was out for her morning stroll, so I guess it's not yet....

I am sooooo hooked on candling. Just hope some hatch....

(Then I can be hooked on broody hatched baby mixed up chickens!) Great.....

 

[AnnieSantiago]

When my broody hen gets off the nest, how long can she safely stay off the nest?
Won't the eggs get cold?

 

[katatonic123]

Going to try to reintegrate mom and chick tomorrow. Not sure how to really go about doing it.  Any suggestions?  I wish she was in something that I could just open up and let her come and go as she wants but only the top opens and the baby wouldn't be able to get in and out.

ETA: Would it be better to put her and the chick back in her regular coop with the other 1 year olds or in the big coop with the 8 to 11 week olds?