What is the temperature when they are out on that ramp?
Broody in Michigan Winter?
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- #62
It was about 38F in there today....the older ones(hatched before 4 pm yesterday) were the ones most often on the ramp....the ones that hatched today mostly stayed in the nest and under mama.
Was a nice mild weekend, next week is another story......hope they can handle it:
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- #63
It was 5F out there this morning and some of the chicks were in and out eating and sipping.
This afternoon a balmy 34F had all 7 out and about.
Not sure if mama has been out of the nest since they hatched....hope she can still walk and hasn't pooped up the nest.
This afternoon a balmy 34F had all 7 out and about.
Not sure if mama has been out of the nest since they hatched....hope she can still walk and hasn't pooped up the nest.
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- #65
Big Broody and Baby Chickie Drama this morning!
Went to grab one of the chicks out of the nest.....and it was stuck to mama somehow.
I've read about chicks getting tangled/lost in broody feathers before so wasn't too surprised
I kinda tugged and it squawked, felt like it was attached by the neck...OyVey!
So I went and grabbed my headlight and some round nosed scissors, got my crippled knees to bend enough to sit crosslegged in the cramped coop partition and tried to get a better look. Couldn't really see well but I could feel that it seemed to just be a tangled broody feather, so I snipped the feather between mama and chick and freed the chick, no blood-whew......... but chickie looked to have a little feather boa around it's neck.
Course everyone's cheeping and clucking and growling and not real happy with the human invasion as I'm trying to get this feather from around the chicks neck and it's not coming off...I'm gonna have to take it inside.
All the chicks are running around the partition, mama is upset and thinking about coming out of the nest too and I figure this is a good time to get mama out of the nest and see if it needed to be cleaned and make sure she could still walk. So I put all the chicks in a bucket with some shavings away from the nest which drew mama out, pulled a huge chicken plop out of the back of the nest, then put all the chicks but the boa wearer back in the nest. Mama can walk fine and dropped another load(I should have grabbed her made sure she wasn't 'pasted' - next session) she went back in with the babies while to took the one chick inside.
Had to cut off the tangled feather 'noose' off the chicks neck, luckily it was loose enough to get the scissors in there but I think it was too tight that the chick would not have been able to slip out by itself. Mama welcomed the chick back to the nest with no problem and all is fine once again. I have no idea how long that chick was stuck there but it convinced me that it was good thing I've checked on them each day to make sure all 7 chicks are out and about.
Another lesson in chicken keeping faced and resolved backed with anecdotal information from my copious reading on BYC.
Next 'planned' decision...when to remove the coop partition wall and expose mama and chicks to the rest of the flock? Planned to wait at least a week, until the chicks are strong and going in and out of the nest well, but may go further until we get another decent weather day.
Went to grab one of the chicks out of the nest.....and it was stuck to mama somehow.
I've read about chicks getting tangled/lost in broody feathers before so wasn't too surprised
I kinda tugged and it squawked, felt like it was attached by the neck...OyVey!
So I went and grabbed my headlight and some round nosed scissors, got my crippled knees to bend enough to sit crosslegged in the cramped coop partition and tried to get a better look. Couldn't really see well but I could feel that it seemed to just be a tangled broody feather, so I snipped the feather between mama and chick and freed the chick, no blood-whew......... but chickie looked to have a little feather boa around it's neck.
Course everyone's cheeping and clucking and growling and not real happy with the human invasion as I'm trying to get this feather from around the chicks neck and it's not coming off...I'm gonna have to take it inside.
All the chicks are running around the partition, mama is upset and thinking about coming out of the nest too and I figure this is a good time to get mama out of the nest and see if it needed to be cleaned and make sure she could still walk. So I put all the chicks in a bucket with some shavings away from the nest which drew mama out, pulled a huge chicken plop out of the back of the nest, then put all the chicks but the boa wearer back in the nest. Mama can walk fine and dropped another load(I should have grabbed her made sure she wasn't 'pasted' - next session) she went back in with the babies while to took the one chick inside.
Had to cut off the tangled feather 'noose' off the chicks neck, luckily it was loose enough to get the scissors in there but I think it was too tight that the chick would not have been able to slip out by itself. Mama welcomed the chick back to the nest with no problem and all is fine once again. I have no idea how long that chick was stuck there but it convinced me that it was good thing I've checked on them each day to make sure all 7 chicks are out and about.
Another lesson in chicken keeping faced and resolved backed with anecdotal information from my copious reading on BYC.
Next 'planned' decision...when to remove the coop partition wall and expose mama and chicks to the rest of the flock? Planned to wait at least a week, until the chicks are strong and going in and out of the nest well, but may go further until we get another decent weather day.
Holy chicken feathers! I am happy you went out to check too. Phew.
I'll admit I have never seen anything like that. It is a continuous adventure.
Do whatever you feel comfortable with in the integration. I like to get them with the main flock as soon as possible but certainly before the hen weans them so she can manage integration for me. But one of the risks that is much greater in winter is that a chick might get in a tight place or on the wrong side of a fence and can’t get to Mama to warm up. In warmer weather that is not usually a big deal but in really cold weather the risk is much greater.
In winter I don’t expect your broody to wean them at three to four weeks, which I’ve seen in summer.
Do whatever you feel comfortable with in the integration. I like to get them with the main flock as soon as possible but certainly before the hen weans them so she can manage integration for me. But one of the risks that is much greater in winter is that a chick might get in a tight place or on the wrong side of a fence and can’t get to Mama to warm up. In warmer weather that is not usually a big deal but in really cold weather the risk is much greater.
In winter I don’t expect your broody to wean them at three to four weeks, which I’ve seen in summer.
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- #68
Yeah, the colder weather is what makes me want to wait until they are maybe a couple weeks old.
When all more active wandering around the coop partition, in and out of the nest, using the feeder..... including mama.
Giving the flock more time to seem them active out of the nest...there has been some interest but nothing over-interested or aggressive that I've seen.
A day when the weather is more mild so the flock is out in the run rather than stuck in the coop and bored.
I'll play it by ear and eye.... and keep this thread updated with any interesting occurrences.
When all more active wandering around the coop partition, in and out of the nest, using the feeder..... including mama.
Giving the flock more time to seem them active out of the nest...there has been some interest but nothing over-interested or aggressive that I've seen.
A day when the weather is more mild so the flock is out in the run rather than stuck in the coop and bored.
I'll play it by ear and eye.... and keep this thread updated with any interesting occurrences.
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- #69
About 15F in the coop this morning, I saw mama get out of nest and cluck the chicks over the the feeder, that was good to see and the nest is 'clean'.
They didn't stay out long....part of the downside to broody-chick behavior and flock integration progress with these cold temps.
They didn't stay out long....part of the downside to broody-chick behavior and flock integration progress with these cold temps.
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