Broody Hen Thread!

[16 paws]

Nursing my chronic back problems but otherwise alive and kicking........and trying to survive winter like everybody else. How about you!?

I've got plans to finally add to my 4 Bantams. Just waiting for winter to go away. Promised DH I wouldn't set any hens or crank up the incubator he got me for Christmas until the first of March. Then I'm going to pile ceramic eggs in the nests and get Aggie to go broody and fire up the Brinsea. I've found a source for Japanese Bantams and black OEGB bantams about 45 minutes from where we live. She's going to sell me eggs and I can get more from the Amish neighbor that gave me the eggs that hatched these addictive little brats that are taking over the coop. My plan is to set half of them under Aggie or Lil'Girl, depending on which one goes broody first and put the rest of them in the incubator. I want to give a half dozen chicks to a friend who's OEGB rooster died and her hens are getting very old. I'm keeping the rest.

Oh goody,
Maybe we can have another hatch-along! Arent bantams the best? I love mine...Yes they are addictive too!
I forgot what type of bantams you hatched, werent they Old English?

Still have over 40 chickens, lost a few over the last few months to some kind of critter, a weasel I think

I lost my favorite Serama Rooster named Marshal Dillon. He was so cute, used to let me kiss his comb every night before forcing him to go into his coop. He tried to roost on top of his coop every night and I had to pick him up and force him inside. I guess he thought he was on guard up there. One night we came home a little after dark and I went down there to coop him and Pancake, my black tailed Japanese Bantam up and they were gone. Found their feathers on the other side of the fence the next day. That really broke my heart.....

But we move forward,I try not to think of it, that is the hard part of having chickens isnt it?

On a happier note I still have Chicken Little, my blind hen. She is doing great and lays eggs for me as well. She can get up and down her ramp by herself and the other day I saw her down on the ground scratching thru the wood chips! I am proud of her.

Glad to hear from you and congrats on the bator for Christmas! I am sure you are chomping at the bit to fire that baby up!
Happy New Year all!

 

[nchls school]

Quote: There is no best box. I give a wide variety of nest sites-cereal bowls, salad bowls, flower pots (upright or on the side) wooden boxes with a top, cardboard boxes, containers with no top, milk crates, Anything that provide security and privacy. There is no set size. Some like large and others like a more cramped nest. By providing a wide range of sizes and styles all my hens (about 12) have their own nest and rarely share it with another hen..I once saw a serama brooding in a yard umbrella. I have found nests in cracks, crevices, behind cages, in cupboards. Cat carriers and litter boxes make good nest as do dog carriers. Every serama hen I have broods and raises chicks. At the time I have three with chicks, three brooding eggs, three have started a new nest after weaning their chicks, and the others are on break.

I recommend variety; anything large enough to hold a serama hen, Some like to nest high up and others on the floor.

At this time I'm using pine needles for bedding in the nest and the coop; dried pine needles.

 

[nchls school]

Quote: 16 paws-yes, she used the bowl as her nest box and hatched the chicks in it. I have fourteen older chicks from this hen and her identical sister paired with a frizzle rooster. Some of the chicks are frizzle silkied serama-really quite unique; curly haired chickens!

 

[microchick]

Good to hear that Chicken Little is doing so well and coping with her challenged vision. I have a cockerel from my February hatching last year that I'm beginning to think is having vision problems. Rose Bud is such a sweet boy but I'm noticing that he is having problems judging how far down he has to go when he gets off the roosts. The other roosters fly down but he just sort of drops down with an uncoordinated messy landing. He also seems to grab at food instead of really pecking at it. I asked my husband to get out his ophthalmascope and check his eye for me. He seems to get around okay but something just ain't right. Good to know that if his vision is diminished he will do fine. He's the only rooster I have that likes to be petted and held.

Sorry to hear that you lost Marshall Dillon and Pancake. I always loved the mental image of a Silkie sitting on a coop roof like a living weather vane. Did you ever catch the culprit? We let the dogs out once and after a few minutes heard our Australian Cattle God snarling and something screeching like a demon. Went out to find him holding a dead weasel in his mouth. He got extra kibble and a big hug that night.

What do you think about the Japanese Bantams? The breeder I'm in contact with has both black tails and whites. Right now I have 2 cockerels and 2 pullets. One pullet is a Wheaton, I call her Little Dove because her body shape is like a large mourning dove. The other is a little Partridge named Sparkle. Sparkle got her name because when she was 5 weeks old she got out of the run and the little idiot thought the best way to get back in was to run and hang onto the hot wire. By the time I got my hands on her she had a few singed feathers. It was a wonder she wasn't hurt but she was fine, just singed around the edges thus her name. I knew I had one little cockerel. He is named Oliver and mostly looks like a black breasted red without the red saddle feathers. The last one was supposed to be a pullet but the little devil crowed yesterday. He's a strange looking little dude. He has feathers on on legs and some white mottling in his color pattern which is mostly black and red. I found out last month that the Amish boy that is in charge of the chickens had a little Cochin bantam rooster so that mystery was solved. He is also hen tailed. I'm wondering if he has a bit of Serama in him. I named him Pepper. When he hatched he was white with black spots. Oliver has the start of what almost looks like a pea comb so I don't know what the story is behind that.

I've really fallen in love with the OEGB's though, but the Japanese are just so darned cute!

Hatch-along! YEAH!

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

I gotta agree Bantams are wonderful I never planned to get into them but my local SPCA called and told me they have a rooster for me and when I get there is this little OEGB sitting there crowing away. Well of course I brought him home and named him "Emo" cause his comb looks like an Emo teenagers comb over quickly reached out to my local board and found him two beautiful little hen wives a Brassy Gold named her Sassy and a Silver Duckwing named her Angel and have a couple Silkies as well as placed an order with Meyers for their 5 Bantams Grab Bag. Am hoping to get some Japanese tails too. Plus am sticking one of their little Bantam eggs in my Xmas Incubator keeping fingers crossed it hatches. Here is a picture of my "littles" as I call them. ..

 

[microchick]

I gotta agree Bantams are wonderful I never planned to get into them but my local SPCA called and told me they have a rooster for me and when I get there is this little OEGB sitting there crowing away. Well of course I brought him home and named him "Emo" cause his comb looks like an Emo teenagers comb over quickly reached out to my local board and found him two beautiful little hen wives a Brassy Gold named her Sassy and a Silver Duckwing named her Angel and have a couple Silkies as well as placed an order with Meyers for their 5 Bantams Grab Bag. Am hoping to get some Japanese tails too. Plus am sticking one of their little Bantam eggs in my Xmas Incubator keeping fingers crossed it hatches. Here is a picture of my "littles" as I call them. ..

They are adorable. I love the coloring of the one in the front. I know I have to get more girls for the two boys to take care of. I saw Oliver try to grab one of the full grown Buff Orpington hens yesterday and try to get her to squat for him. He is about a third her size and she just kept walking with him hanging onto her neck feathers for dear life. I don't even think she was immediately aware of him. Talk about a big rooster in a small package. Can't fault he boy his determination. Still it was funny to watch. She finally just shook him off like she was saying "get away from me kid".

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

The gray is the Silver Wing the Gold is the Brassy. And yep they are a hoot before i got my hands on his hen wives he kept trying to mate my full size fowl and omg yes it was the funniest thing ever.

 

[microchick]

The gray is the Silver Wing the Gold is the Brassy. And yep they are a hoot before i got my hands on his hen wives he kept trying to mate my full size fowl and omg yes it was the funniest thing ever.

Agreed. I liked the look on Oliver's little face when she shook him off finally and just walked away. If a chicken could look bewildered, he certainly did. The pullets like to fly down from the top roost pole and sit on my back when I am washing out their water dish. They are real characters. I was at our neighbor's one day and saw their OEGB rooster. He was a black. I would love to find some splash or whites but I'm having trouble finding any OEGBs close to home. I was lucky finding a breeder with blacks so I'll have to do some more hunting or do the grab bag thing at Orschelns when chick days roll around again.

 

[rustymurphy]

try putting a small dish of water so she can reach it from the nest then she doesn't have to leave the nest

 

[rustymurphy]

Put some water in a small dish so she can reach it without leaving the nest