Broody Hen Thread!

[FaerieChicken]

Microchick and who ever else is following along concerning the blind chick.
I have an up-date.
It was a little bit of a rough night for Chicken Little, (that is what I decided to name her), she kept coming out of her mama heat pad cave and getting cold.Fortunately I could hear her from my deck when she would start chirping the distress call. I had to go down to the coop 4 times and put her back under the heat. I guess she didnt know it was night time.
Well today she is doing great. First thing this morning I raced down to the coop to see how she was doing, ( almost expecting to find her dead), and there she was just eating, pecking and making a huge mess of her food. She was really enjoying herself. The sun came up and she was relaxing and basking in the sun. I even moved her water and she found it right away. I am so proud of her for being a fighter. So for right now she does have quality of life and as long as she seems content and she is not in pain I will just take this thing one day at a time.
Thanks to those that offered advice or support, I really appreciate it.
Marie

That is so awesome! So my question is, how do you know she is blind, is it that grey/bluish colored eyes? Perhaps her vision will develop a little bit after a couple of weeks, like how human babes and other animals do.... ?

I am rooting for her for sure! Good job momma !

 

[FaerieChicken]

That's Great and her food is fine. As you probably know I would ask to see if the food is next to her nest? In my experience food/water where she can not get to it without getting off the nest---usually keeps her from pooping in the nest---mainly the last 2/3 days. Good Luck

Also, can I add, that if they don't get up off the nest enough to stretch out their legs and wings, it can be bad for them. I had my last go round with my first time broody Leghorn not want to get off the nest and after the babies hatched, although she didn't keep them long, she got up and was wobbly and walked funny! I can't imaging being confined to a bed while going through labor, I did that once, they wouldn't let me up for 5 days, it was horrible. Poor chickies....

 

[PD-Riverman]

. I hate culling, but that is what I may be left to do. (@PD-Riverman and @fisherlady what do you do with excess, and staggered, little roos....you can't keep them all.)


LofMc

Roosters---small, few weeks Old take them to the auction and hope some one buys them and they usually do for about $1 ea. Now, I have not figured the feed out but I can grow them roosters to good size adults and sell them usually for 12$ to $15---some times higher, yea some times a little lower. I am sitting on about 100---different ages right now.

 

[FaerieChicken]

I would not wash them----Take out what you can from busted eggs, then Hands Off. "I" never bother my hens at hatch time. Good Luck

I had a similar situation when a few rotten eggs broke, but when I had candled them they seemed viable, with development but then POP, they were stinky nasty mess! I kept thinking the momma crushed them but I believe that the combination of it having been rotten and momma moving eggs around or getting on/off cause the bursting. I took a warm damp paper towel, did not scrub but I just wrapped the egg(s) in it to soften the dried or drying rotten-ness. It transferred to the paper towel nicely, and didn't have to wipe or scrub the eggs clean. I did have to remove the nesting liter and replace it.

 

[fisherlady]

Light of morning shows a clear head dot on the other CL/Barnevelder chick....rats...3 boys and 1 girl this season thus far for that pairing.

Posting free roosters doesn't do much around here. Sigh. I hate culling, but that is what I may be left to do. (@PD-Riverman
 and  @fisherlady
 what do you do with excess, and staggered, little roos....you can't keep them all.)

But this season thus far has produced 2 Black Sexlink pullets, 1 red laced pullet (who hopefully has her mother's terra cotta egg color genes enriched with Barnevelder color), and 1 Olive Egger Barnebar pullet.

Now to get that Splash Marans laying again so I can hatch some blue laced dark layers (hopefully) before winter sets.

LofMc

Our extra roos are processed whenever they get big enough, or too big for their britches, whichever comes first. We pressure can our roosters, when they are smaller, or when we are only doing one or two because they have become problems we will butcher, skin, take off the breasts, tenders and the bulky thigh meat. Cut off either the drumette (first wing section) or drumstick also. We leave it in big chunks and place it in a qt or gallon freezer bag. Weigh and mark the bags with date and weight. When I get enough meat to do a 'run' of jars I allow it to defrost and then process as normal. As a rough estimate I figure 1 lb per pint, 2 per qt. I place a drumette in each pint and a drumstick or two drumettes per qt to add extra flavor.
With the remaining bones/carcass we make broth. You can do small batches for single soup pots or freeze the bones and do a larger pot of broth and can it. I have done both. Again I use the pressure cooker for broth...all the bones and scrap (but not the organ meat) go in, add water and bring up to 15 lb pressure and let it rattle for 90 minutes. Strain broth and then run bones and scraps through a sausage type grinder which produces something we call chicken mush. We freeze the mush in qt or gallon zippies and feed it to the dogs or back to the chickens, who go crazy for it.
I have pictures of the project in the 'processing support group' thread.
The smaller birds may not have much meat on their bones but they make great broth birds!

 

[fisherlady]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/768107/lightbox/post/12851534/id/5850367

 

[fisherlady]

Messed up copying.... i don't know how to cross post.

 

[fisherlady]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...hrough-the-emotions-please/1450#post_11599346



Please remember folks, this links to a processing thread. Some folks may by upset by the pictures....

And we now use the pressure cooker almost exclusively when doing broth and mush....you can do it in a stock pot, but it takes many, many hours to get the bones soft enough for grinding.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Roosters---small, few weeks Old take them to the auction and hope some one buys them and they usually do for about $1 ea. Now, I have not figured the feed out but I can grow them roosters to good size adults and sell them usually for 12$ to $15---some times higher, yea some times a little lower. I am sitting on about 100---different ages right now.

I assume you are selling them for pasture raised food?

I can't give a rooster away up here...only if I am very, very lucky, and top line bird from an expensive breed, can I sell one.

Roosters are just not a commodity unless you are doing strictly Cornish Cross meat birds as pasture raised, organic.

Thanks for the info though.

Not sure what I am going to do with 3 roos at once.
LofMc

 

[PD-Riverman]

I assume you are selling them for pasture raised food?

.
LofMc

No, it has to do with Big and Pretty. If its big and ugly, missing feathers etc or pretty and light----the "Meat Buyer" will not buy it or will not bid hardly anything. REAL big and pretty will bring Top Dollar. All the meat buyers birds go to "China-Town"----18 wheeler or Big trailer load every week. The Meat Buyer or his helpers goes to every Big Chicken Auction within a couple hundred miles and tries to buy 100's to 1000's per week.