BYC Café

[Meg-in-MT]

Morning! Sounds like things are rolling along nicely here.
It is SUNNY and not freezing.
No, this cold spell is not normal even for our elevation. My lilac hasn't even bloomed yet, or maybe it started but the hail came. I will know in a couple of days because it is supposed to be hot; I think near 75...
Have a great day and thanks for the coffee.

It's unseasonably cool around here as well. Cool and dry. My uncle lives in North Pole and it's been in the mid 80's there. We shouldn't be colder than Alaska, right?? I hope your lilac blooms!

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Me, have an opinion!? Good grief, you must be thinking of someone else.
Not only do I have some opinions on this subject, I have scientific evidence to back them up, not to mention my own observations.
I check broody hens every day assuming I can find them. I make sure they get off their nests at least once a day, break the broody trance properly, eat, drink, dust bath and poop away from their nests. Most do this naturally if they are not confined. The ones that don't or I am doubtful about I lift off the nest and carry to one of the feed points and feed them there. Quite a few of the broody hens here now come and find me when they get off the nest. They know I'll feed them.
I try not to touch the eggs. I definitely don't candle, wash, play egg billiards, drop them in water, show them to my friends, or use an incubator because I want to play at being mum.
I will remove eggs if the clutch is of a size that could produce more chicks than I can house and feed. Six eggs to eight eggs is what I normally go for. If all the eggs hatch half are likely to be male. Given the ideal ratio here seems to be one male to two or three females extra males I'll have to kill and eat.
I'll move an entire clutch and hen if I consider her nest site unsafe. I'm not concerned about the eggs, I'm concerned about the mum. Some pullets pick some seriously stupid nest sites mainly because they are not confident about defending their nests and chicks in their tribes coop from the senior hens. As far as the senior hens are concerned they are the ones that should be furthering the genetic line because they got to be senior. Not many die of old age here.
If there are egg breakages in the nest I clean up the nest and hen as best I can. The reason for this is if the hen's underside is covered in sticky egg, she can't maneuver her eggs into the optimal position and this can cause birth defects in any chicks that hatch.
There have been a few studies regarding the importance of letting the hen manage her clutch.
It has already been proven that a hen in a well made and undisturbed nest has a better hatch rate than an incubator. (papers on this are relatively easy to find)
The paper below isn't so widely read and judging from an exchange on BYC on another thread, the implications of the findings not well understood.

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1516-635X2016000600001&script=sci_arttext
The above paper was the stepping stone for a number of other studies. I've read two more now which you would need a university pass to access. There are some others apparently that you can purchase but I haven't read them.

Great, thank you! I will read through that paper as time allows today.

I started candling for fun and so that I knew what I was looking at and when, as opposed to finding pictures on the internet. I try not to handle too much or disturb the eggs too much while doing so. Although, I have tossed a couple of quitter eggs when I found them. Do you not worry about those? I figured if I got them out at least they wouldn't start to rot and break.

When the eggs hatch, do you confine the broody and her brood or do they immediately go out with the rest of the tribes? How is your success rate from hatchling to hen? (Or roo/cockerel…) The only luck I've had with the chicks getting to weaning stage is with two hens watching them. That's happened twice and hopefully going on the third.

 

[N F C]

It's unseasonably cool around here as well. Cool and dry. My uncle lives in North Pole and it's been in the mid 80's there. We shouldn't be colder than Alaska, right?? I hope your lilac blooms!

Are you related to Santa?!?!?!?!?

 

[Shadrach]

I don't worry about the non fertile or partially developed eggs. Sometimes mum busts them open and eats them.
It doesn't really matter if the eggs are fertile, or not, if you're going to allow the mum to sit. You can't do anything about it. It's not like you can revive a quitter in the egg, or make one fertile.
I don't confine broody hens, not when they sit and not once they've hatched. They are free to leave the nest at any point with, or without their chicks in daylight hours. Most are out and about on day two post hatch. Staggered hatches can mess this up. I've found if the mum is free to leave the nest when she thinks she should the staggered hatch problem is reduced. Some hens just march their chicks out leaving partially hatched chicks in the nest. If that happens I end the deserted chicks life as quickly as possible.
All 22 chickens here now are second, third and fourth generation except Fat Bird who is the last original chicken from eight years ago, so yep, some make it.
The chick death rate is appalling. This is the way it is in nature. Over half those that hatch die from predation. It used to be a lot worse. The chickens adapt over time. I stopped crying over dead chicks quite a few years ago. I get really upset if I lose a mum. I breath a big sigh of relief once mum finishes caring for her chicks and lets them cope by themselves. The problem is while they are being mum the chicks always come first and in the event of a predator attack the mum sends the chicks to cover and takes on the predator. I have two mothers that have fought the worst predator we have here which is the Goshawk and lived to tell the tale. The rest died.
The bright side. They have a wonderful life if they can stay alive compared to their feral counterparts and imo those that are confined to some grubby little run. They all eat well, get medical care, have their disputes policed if necessary, have lots of sex, most will be mums and dads at least once in their lives. They get secure nighttime accommodation if they will use it and of course my love and devotion.
People pay good money for that type of life.

 

[igorsMistress]

We got all those breeds because breeders bred them.

Yes but if they cared, would that breeding have been successful? Don't get me wrong, any port in a storm and all that. I had a Naked neck roo that LOVED a fully feathered girl. They would sit and clean each other, pick at combs or wattles. The roo would literally stand there in a trance almost. It was actually a threesome, one white NN rooster, the black Australorp and one of the black NN hens. So I didn't see the separation by breed in my flock.

The 2 nn hens hung out but they came here together and the two Rhode Island reds were co bosses but the flock comingled all the time and rarely separated by appearance.

 

[room onthebroom]

My coffee's in a to go mug today. I just got back from the doggy DDS. Meatys stiches have dissolved & he's been cleared to return to pug duty.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Are you related to Santa?!?!?!?!?

I know! Haha. I thought it was so funny when they moved to North Pole from Fairbanks and then I found out it is actually SOUTH of Fairbanks. My geography isn't all the stellar

 

[N F C]

I know! Haha. I thought it was so funny when they moved to North Pole from Fairbanks and then I found out it is actually SOUTH of Fairbanks. My geography isn't all the stellar

That reminds me of a new member intro a month or two ago...his user name was Santa Claus (I think) and his avatar photo looked exactly as you would imagine. That was a fun greet to do!

 

[room onthebroom]

That reminds me of a new member intro a month or two ago...his user name was Santa Claus (I think) and his avatar photo looked exactly as you would imagine. That was a fun greet to do!

I remember that! That was crazy!!! Has anyone seen him around lately?

 

[igorsMistress]