Broody vs Egg Bound- How do you know?

[VHoff]

If you decide to graft young chicks onto a broody it is best to let her be broody on a nest of sacrificial eggs or golf balls for at least a couple of weeks before trying to swap the chicks for the eggs. There is also a chance that a first time broody will not accept chicks like that as it is such a sudden shock..... during the final days of incubation, a broody hen starts to bond with the chicks inside the eggs and they talk to each other. This helps prepare her for when they hatch. If she hasn't experienced hatching chicks before and doesn't have this pre hatch bonding time and suddenly finds strange little beings in her nest and doesn't figure it out, it can end badly.

If you hatch sex linked eggs, the cockerels are still to cull and killing cute little day old chicks is harder than full grown adolescent males that will at least make dinner.

Good to know about the hen/chick bonding period. Marans are supposed to be very good mothers, but I don't know how the bonding issue might affect that.
Yeah, I'm OK with processing adult chickens that will also end up as dinner, but I think I'm too much of a wuss to kill chicks myself. If I ended up with cockerels I would probably give them a few months until they were of appropriate dinner proportions.

 

[CannedMonster]

If you decide to graft young chicks onto a broody it is best to let her be broody on a nest of sacrificial eggs or golf balls for at least a couple of weeks before trying to swap the chicks for the eggs. There is also a chance that a first time broody will not accept chicks like that as it is such a sudden shock..... during the final days of incubation, a broody hen starts to bond with the chicks inside the eggs and they talk to each other. This helps prepare her for when they hatch. If she hasn't experienced hatching chicks before and doesn't have this pre hatch bonding time and suddenly finds strange little beings in her nest and doesn't figure it out, it can end badly.

If you hatch sex linked eggs, the cockerels are still to cull and killing cute little day old chicks is harder than full grown adolescent males that will at least make dinner.

That was foolish of me to suggest fertilized eggs as a solution for cockerels lol
I should probably clarify that Phoebe had raised chicks before this and my friend had grafted chicks to her successfully.
She wouldn’t have suggested it unless she knew it was likely to have a good outcome.
I wouldn’t try it with a young inexperienced bird.
I guess I was trying to share my experiences rather than trying to help the OP with their dilemma.

 

[rebrascora]

@ChooksNQuilts

I didn't mean to criticise you or your suggestion at all. I know it often works to graft chicks onto a broody and it can be a great compromise. I just wanted to clarify the circumstances under which it is best to try it, so that other people reading this understand that it will be not be successful in all situations and how best to achieve a positive result. It is always best to try to set yourself up for success rather than failure in my experience, so I try to ensure that other people are informed enough to help them achieve that..... I'm probably a bit pedantic in that respect

 

[CannedMonster]

@ChooksNQuilts

I didn't mean to criticise you or your suggestion at all. I know it often works to graft chicks onto a broody and it can be a great compromise. I just wanted to clarify the circumstances under which it is best to try it, so that other people reading this understand that it will be not be successful in all situations and how best to achieve a positive result. It is always best to try to set yourself up for success rather than failure in my experience, so I try to ensure that other people are informed enough to help them achieve that..... I'm probably a bit pedantic in that respect

Not a problem at all.
You didn’t hurt my feelings.
I appreciate the detailed explanation for the same reason.
So those reading will come away with a full understanding of what to expect.

 

[VHoff]

I appreciate the full range of suggestions with the understanding that there may be different approaches and different experiences for everyone. I also don't take much as absolute-- rather, I try to synthesize what others say and adapt it to my circumstances using my common sense and instinct. So far I haven't heard anything that struck me as "wrong". Thanks again to EVERYONE!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I appreciate the full range of suggestions with the understanding that there may be different approaches and different experiences for everyone. I also don't take much as absolute-- rather, I try to synthesize what others say and adapt it to my circumstances using my common sense and instinct. So far I haven't heard anything that struck me as "wrong". Thanks again to EVERYONE!

VHoff just reading a few messages on here. I can tell you already have a good head for chickens on here. Thank you for not bringing chicks into a freezing environment btw. Too much can happen and chicks raised on Warm May/June Weather just seem to have a good healthy glow to them. It helps out that new Momma too. To not have an added environmental factor to worry about.
I think each broody is different. I've heard of miraculous graftings. Actually tried it on a silkie who had two chicks she hatched on her own. I wanted to give her two more. She was horrible to the newcomers. Flinging them across her broody coop. So Plan B: I brooded them in my garage.
Two years later she hatched just one Welsummer chick for me. Which was disappointingly taken at 3-4 weeks old by a hawk. I found the silkie broody in the coop for two days looking still broody but grieving, and scared. I brought her up to my garage to show her some chicks that I just brooded on my own given her history of flinging. Just maybe she would cheer up with some babies...? I was already letting them out for short free ranges in the afternoons. She began chooking for them and showing them tidbits. She wanted to be their Mom! I was taken aback. Crazy Hen. The adopted chicks were quite independent in their own right already and it took them a week to accept her tid-bitting. But they did take her up on her good hard work and ended up forming a family unit. Then on schedule at their 6 week age ( only about two weeks later) she started pushing them away to independence. Fun to watch the behavior dynamics. You just never know what you're going to get. And you can never tell from one brood spell to another how a hen will act to grafting for that matter either.
Harvesting extra cockerels is something to wrap your head around. I've done about maybe 10 birds going on 6 years. I don't know if it gets easier as I don't care for the job. But I understand it's part of it and I get why people don't like doing their own. If I could get DH to do it I would. LOL. But he tells me it's my hobby. Deal with it. But kind of nice knowing where that supper came from to be sure. And some pride in it to be certain.

One thing I've done to break a broody Australorp I had was a clean wire cage in the garage and left the lights on. What lights do is switch the hormones over to egg laying tendency. Which kicks them out of the dark warm recesses of broodiness. LOL. It's messy business without bedding though and kicked over water founts and spilled feed from a pacing broody. But it does the job. I'm usually treating the prisoner with high end treats. So I hope she doesn't think it's too horrible.

Good luck with your broody girl.

 

[VHoff]

VHoff just reading a few messages on here. I can tell you already have a good head for chickens on here. Thank you for not bringing chicks into a freezing environment btw. Too much can happen and chicks raised on Warm May/June Weather just seem to have a good healthy glow to them. It helps out that new Momma too. To not have an added environmental factor to worry about.
I think each broody is different. I've heard of miraculous grafting. Actually tried it on a silkie who had two chicks she hatched on her own. I wanted to give her two more. She was horrible to the newcomers. Flinging them across her broody coop. So Plan B: I brooded them in my garage. Two years later she hatched just one Welsummer chick for me. Which was ripely taken at 3-4 weeks old by a hawk. I found the silkie broody in the coop for two days looking dejected and scared. I brought her up to my garage to show her some chicks I was brooding and letting out for short free ranges in the afternoons. She began chooking for them and showing them tidbits. She wanted to be their Mom. I was taken aback. Crazy Hen. The adopted chicks were quite independent in their own right already and it took them a week to accept her tid-bitting. But they did take her up on her good hard work and ended up forming a family unit. Fun to watch the behavior dynamics. You just never know what you're going to get. And you can never tell from one brood spell to another how a hen will act to grafting for that matter either.
Harvesting extra cockerels is something to wrap your head around. I've done about maybe 10 birds going on 6 years. I don't know if it gets easier as I don't care for the job. But I understand it's part of it and I get why people don't like doing their own. If I could get DH to do it I would. LOL. But he tells me it's my hobby. Deal with it. But kind of nice knowing where that supper came from to be sure. And some pride in it to be certain.

One thing I've done to break a broody Australorp I had was a clean wire cage in the garage and left the lights on. What lights do is switch the hormones over to egg laying tendency. Which kicks them out of the dark warm recesses of broodiness. LOL. It's messy business without bedding though and kicked over water founts and spilled feed from a pacing broody. But it does the job. I'm usually treating the prisoner with high end treats. So I hope she doesn't think it's too horrible.

Good luck with your broody girl.

Thank you! I think parenting is difficult work for human children and animal "children" alike-- hard love is always going to be difficult to mete out, but one hopes for happy and healthy children in the end who may (or may not) appreciate your efforts.

 

[CannedMonster]

VHoff just reading a few messages on here. I can tell you already have a good head for chickens on here. Thank you for not bringing chicks into a freezing environment btw. Too much can happen and chicks raised on Warm May/June Weather just seem to have a good healthy glow to them. It helps out that new Momma too. To not have an added environmental factor to worry about.
I think each broody is different. I've heard of miraculous grafting. Actually tried it on a silkie who had two chicks she hatched on her own. I wanted to give her two more. She was horrible to the newcomers. Flinging them across her broody coop. So Plan B: I brooded them in my garage. Two years later she hatched just one Welsummer chick for me. Which was ripely taken at 3-4 weeks old by a hawk. I found the silkie broody in the coop for two days looking dejected and scared. I brought her up to my garage to show her some chicks I was brooding and letting out for short free ranges in the afternoons. She began chooking for them and showing them tidbits. She wanted to be their Mom. I was taken aback. Crazy Hen. The adopted chicks were quite independent in their own right already and it took them a week to accept her tid-bitting. But they did take her up on her good hard work and ended up forming a family unit. Fun to watch the behavior dynamics. You just never know what you're going to get. And you can never tell from one brood spell to another how a hen will act to grafting for that matter either.
Harvesting extra cockerels is something to wrap your head around. I've done about maybe 10 birds going on 6 years. I don't know if it gets easier as I don't care for the job. But I understand it's part of it and I get why people don't like doing their own. If I could get DH to do it I would. LOL. But he tells me it's my hobby. Deal with it. But kind of nice knowing where that supper came from to be sure. And some pride in it to be certain.

One thing I've done to break a broody Australorp I had was a clean wire cage in the garage and left the lights on. What lights do is switch the hormones over to egg laying tendency. Which kicks them out of the dark warm recesses of broodiness. LOL. It's messy business without bedding though and kicked over water founts and spilled feed from a pacing broody. But it does the job. I'm usually treating the prisoner with high end treats. So I hope she doesn't think it's too horrible.

Good luck with your broody girl.

LOVE that story.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

LOVE that story.

Thank you chooksNquilts. I learned a ton from that silkie.

 

[rebrascora]

I agree. @Bogtown Chick ..... Great post!