Broody Madness

[redranger209]

I would go for it. I’ve never had a broody hen not accept chicks that where more than a week old.

 

[Sleek28]

To introduce the hens and the chicks: 1.Pick a night and make sure all the chickens are asleep.
2.Take the chicks and slide them under your broody hens.
3.Do Not use a flash light, do not she them the chicks.
4.Wait for a while to make sure there is no commotion.
5.Check on them in the Morning. You should have 3 happy Moms
**I am not certain this will work for you because all chickens are different**

 

[tori852]

Last spring, we had 8 hens go broody together - with 9 nesting boxes!

That is INSANE... goodness... At least my situation is only 4... so it is possible to make it work though.

The only way I found to manage this many broodies is to seperate them - two together with their chicks seem ok, but not three family units. So we built a broody house (small coopette without nesting boxes), a PVC tractor with locking door (for the most aggressive Mom and chicks), a dog-house crate (like what you've done already), their original small coop (6'x10' -holds 12 chickens well) and their large coop (holds 24 chickens well). That was the only way I got this many broodies and chicks to survive. I moved the entire flock into the small coop - and let the broodies have the large coop. Once the chicks started to hatch, the Moms and chicks were moved to other spaces (dog-house coop, coopette, etc.) I had so many waterers and feeders to keep track of - it was a lot of work!

That helps a lot, thank you. I'm going to need to think on it and figure out what I have the time and space to put together.

With a broody, the chicks will not graft to you or be as close to you as with you raising them

We're ok with them not being as close to us, it doesn't seem to matter in the long run with this breed (technically a landrace) anyway. Not sure if it's different with other breeds since these are our first chickens, but the hens are very very flighty when they get older, even though they got a TON of handling when they were chicks. The rooster is the only one I can catch easily, though he aggressively attacks everyone else in the household so I guess I'm the chicken whisperer to him or something.

 

[tori852]

ANOTHER hen went broody... This is literally spreading like wildfire!!!! We have only two sane hens now. How can I prevent the others from catching the broody craze? And in the future as well? I'm not going to have any laying hens at this point! And I don't want them all to be broody! I really had no idea they would do this, it's a learning experience I suppose.

For the incoming chicks, I'm planning on using just two of the broody hens as adoptive mothers. Counting the existing mother and her four chicks (the fourth egg hatched Wednesday night), that'll leave us at three family units. I don't want to deal with more family units than that at once. I'm going to head to the store to pick up another dog crate for each and set it up like I did with the first broody, and we'll see how it goes when the family units mingle together for the first time, assuming chick introduction goes well. I'll introduce tomorrow night and tell y'all how it goes. Only way to know is by trying, but plan b is set up too.

How many chicks can each adoptive mother hen take? My plan is based on 12 chicks for each, and I've read in multiple place that 12 is a good number, but I just wanted to check with y'all since I'm so new to this.

While we're at it, how do I break these two other broody hens that I don't have a need for? I've heard sticking them in a wire cage works sometimes??? And if it doesn't work then what? Cause I want them to quit it. Don't need more baby chickens.

Again, thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

 

[aart]

So it worked!!! Mostly. If I had to do it again, I'm not sure I would recommend trying to graft chicks at 6 days old,

Ha!! What a chicken rodeo!!
Yeah, the younger the chick they more likely they will bond to the hen.
Were chicks under a heat lamp?

 

[WhatAboutBob?]

Ok so we introduced the chicks last night like I described. Went fine at night, and they were fine when I checked on them first thing in the morning. Seeing their success, Dad gave Cloud two more in the morning so she had four. Not a good idea.
Once the chicks started waking up, Cloud decided to reject her four. She chased them out of her cage and wouldn't let them come near her. Apparently the chicks can get through the dog crate so note to anyone who might use this method: attach hardware cloth to do the dog crate or SOMETHING to keep the chicks in. Though in our case it was probably good since the chicks were able to escape and thus were uninjured. They were running around the coop though and going between the cages and freaking out.

Luckily Ash (she and her chicks are uncaged and have free roam of the coop) and Nutmeg were dutifully collecting any lost stragglers, though Ash didn't want the black chicks at all and she'd nip at them for some reason. Nutmeg is doing great with her chicks and has no color preference. She immediately switched to mommy mode and is making cute little mommy chicken sounds so we gave her more until she had 12, and we let Ash keep the ones that had run away from Cloud so she has 12 as well. The last 6 chicks are in the brooder inside since we don't have anywhere else to put them.

So it worked!!! Mostly. If I had to do it again, I'm not sure I would recommend trying to graft chicks at 6 days old, I think I should have tried all of this as soon as I brought the new chicks home. The reason is that they tend to wander more for some reason (but that might have to do with the warmer weather so idk) which is why we have Nutmeg secured in a crate for now so her chicks can't run off. I think they'll all settle down alright though and get the hang of it, but I'm not sure the two mommies will be able to share space. Ash is very defensive, she attacks any hen who comes near. We'll see how things go. I'll update y'all again soon.

Putting in more chicks in the morning was likely a trigger, and all would have likely been fine until then,IMO.

 

[tori852]

Putting in more chicks in the morning was likely a trigger, and all would have likely been fine until then,IMO.

Gotcha, thank you for the reply. It's a bit of a learning process I suppose... we'll be able to handle it a lot smoother next time now that we really know what we're doing.

 

[aart]

Yeah, it was quite the chicken rodeo!!!! Baby chicks EVERYWHERE. I will keep "the younger the better" rule in mind next time.

They were under a brinsea ecoglow at the breeder's place, and a ceramic heat emitter here. If you're not familiar, the ecoglow looks like this. It mimics a mother hen because the chicks have to hide under it to get warmth. Image isn't mine, I found it on the internet.
View attachment 1332234

Was wondering if they were under a light or not.
So that rules that out.
Am familiar with the ecoglow, I faked one, love them.

Well, kudos... you worked it out, should go smoother if you try that again.

 

[Life is Good!]

Tori - I'm so glad to hear it's working out!

We too have hens would would reject chicks if they were the 'wrong' color...who knew?! But thankfully for your situation - yes, having the chicks be able to get away from demon Momma was a blessing!

Icelandics are terrific birds! Lyle Behl shows them every year at a local Rare Breed show near me. Every year it's really tempting, but thus far I've only gotten the Java's (new rooster annually so there's fewer genetic issues in my backyard flock). Perhaps this year? Hmmmmm! Because yes, it's a LOT of fun to see what hatches out. Uh-oh, I sense chicken math coming on! LOL.

And yes, I've found that a hen doesn't seem to count her chicks - unless there is only 1 or 2...then she knows. Above 2 and it's all just little legs and peeping! So, so cute to hear Momma answer her chicks in the nest box at night! Who knew that chickens cooed their chicks to sleep?! One of these seasons, I should record those noises...so, so beautiful!

Best wishes on their continued growth! Never dull 'round the barnyard in springtime!

 

[aart]

but it's hard for me to tell since these are our first chickens and I have nothing to compare them too.

You certainly have jumped in with both feet!

Our coop is about two feet off the ground and I don't think the little chicks would be able to get up and down the ramp just yet.

I have a 'training ramp' I use for chicks.
I also lined the run with 2' high 1/2" HC to keep them from getting out of the run.