Broody Leghorn!! who knew!!

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J.Bird said:
I had a leghorn, Leana, go broody a couple summers ago, and she was sitting on a bunch of eggs. My dad had found the nest and he said that there were still more hatching, but it appeared that one had died, so I went to take a look. There were two chicks that were already hatched, a black and white (they were silkie mixes) and a few more on the way, but yes indeed there was a dead one that had wandered away from the nest. I was on my way to burry it when I happened to take one last look at it. It moved. It was still alive! It most have gone into shock befrom the cold morning air and warmed up on my hand. I rushed it inside, got a heating pad and heated it up. Within no time, it was peeping and was back with its mother. I didn't want to disturb mother hen Leana, so I just put a bottomless cage around her to keep the cats out and let the hatching process be completed. It was the next morning when I had gone to check on them when something was wrong. The cage had been slid into a different location with Leana still underneath it and a racoon like turd off to the side. I checked for the chicks, but I only found three: a black, a white and the one we saved which I called Luckyspot because of the spot on her back. Now panicking, I quickly brought the chicks and hen inside into a safer location. Then I went to look for anything else I could have missed. All the eggs were gone. But then something got my attention: I heard peeping from in the horse barn. I ran over and looked and sure enough, there was another chick. It ran up to me and I reunited it with its mother and took one last look outside. I found another baby under the lawnmower which was a hastle to get out. With a grand total of only five chicks out of like 20 eggs, I was a little disappointed, but happy that I happened to save the 5 of them. Later on, after I had turned them loose (when they were bigger), another tradgedy struck. There was only one chick left, Luckyspot, the chick we saved. I looked everywhere, but found no sign of the others, all except for the body of the black chick. I was so sad, so mad. But the stroy gets only better from here. I woudln't have had any chicks left over if we didn't save Luckyspot from freezing. When she became a fulgrown hen herself, she had her own chicks. But as soon as we saw that they had started hatching, we got them into a safe enviroment so nothing could kill them. And Luckyspot's hatch rate was much better than that of her mother's. Almost all of her eggs hatched. Black ones, white ones, spotted ones, gray ones, and even a little partridge colored one. All beautiful and healthy. She has had at least 3 batches of chicks now, and each of her chicks was different in their own way. Some had smooth feathers like their mother and some carried a stronger silkie gene and had fluffy feathers. Some had extra soft and plushy feathers and one little roo, was the most beautiful, black and glossy green I've ever seen and had feathers of silk. Unfortunetly, we had to sell him because of his behavior towards the hens. Luckyspot lives o today, and will most likely have more babies. Good luck with your broody leghorn!
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Wow! Your story had me on the edge of my seat!! I'm so glad Lucky Spot had a good outcome in the story. I am so excited and nervous for this adventure! It's really all I can think about to be honest! lol! I'll be able to candle to her eggs this weekend. I've never done that before either but I've been doing tons of youtube watching!!! Hopefully out of the 7 I have just one!!!! After this hatching experience I think I want to expand my flock. I haven't owned a rooster in years, had to get rid of the last one bc he was so dang mean to my little boy. I'm thinking of getting some bluff orphington and silkies maybe. not sure!!
 
EggSighted4Life said:
My ladies never move successfully where I want them to when they are just on eggs. I am very successful at moving them once they have chicks under they will stay until the chicks can follow them *usually*.

Adopting feed store chicks works great and I highly recommend it. Six day old is the absolute MAX, younger is better, during the night works best for me. I have 2 feed stores that get chicks each week and usually different than each other. I call them to see what they have and what they have coming in and plan accordingly to MY desires. :)

With her sitting in a flower pot... now ya got your next round of names for chicks... Petunia, Daisy, Marigold... :p
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I may have to drive a little bit to get chicks. I live out it the country, pretty far back in it! lol! The nearest Tractor Supply is 45 minutes away and they only had RIR and Leghorns the last time I went. There is a local feed store in the same town that usually gets more breeds. I'll have to call and see if they'll get anymore shipments in. I just bought 5 RiR babies a few weeks ago. I'll be doing some checking around today for sure!!! Thanks for the advice!!!
 
beckycrouch5115 said:
Wow! Your story had me on the edge of my seat!! I'm so glad Lucky Spot had a good outcome in the story. I am so excited and nervous for this adventure! It's really all I can think about to be honest! lol! I'll be able to candle to her eggs this weekend. I've never done that before either but I've been doing tons of youtube watching!!! Hopefully out of the 7 I have just one!!!! After this hatching experience I think I want to expand my flock. I haven't owned a rooster in years, had to get rid of the last one bc he was so dang mean to my little boy. I'm thinking of getting some bluff orphington and silkies maybe. not sure!!
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Well all I can say is that I'm glad you enjoyed my story and good luck with your eggs! Thank you so much!
 
beckycrouch5115 said:
Wow! Your story had me on the edge of my seat!! I'm so glad Lucky Spot had a good outcome in the story. I am so excited and nervous for this adventure! It's really all I can think about to be honest! lol! I'll be able to candle to her eggs this weekend. I've never done that before either but I've been doing tons of youtube watching!!! Hopefully out of the 7 I have just one!!!! After this hatching experience I think I want to expand my flock. I haven't owned a rooster in years, had to get rid of the last one bc he was so dang mean to my little boy. I'm thinking of getting some bluff orphington and silkies maybe. not sure!!
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Wait...one more question. You said you haven't had a rooster in years right? If your hens haven't been around a rooster in years, then your eggs won't be fertile, which means the eggs won't hatch. Either way, good luck!
 
Ya'll this momma gave me quite a fright! I opened up the coop door to check on her and she, for lack of a better word, completely flipped out on me! Went running out of the coop with her wings all spread out and she was all buffed up with her feathers all ruffled. She stayed outside of the coop for probably close to an hour. Thank goodness she went back in and went back to sitting on them eggs like nothing ever happened. She sure scared me though!!
 

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