CALIFORNIA The Whole State thread

[chiqita]

Broodies are funny creatures. I can sometimes move them before, but ALWAYS after. Capa, I would recomend taking the hen who hatches her eggs away to another spot once a chick is hatched, so the other does not get distracted by the babies and ignore the rest of the eggs. If they have a peeping baby under them, they are content to stay IMO.
I have hens co brood all the time. I have 3 chickens sitting on 3 duck eggs as we speak. The biggest problem is if they fight over the eggs they can spoil them. That, and if they start setting at different times they will ignore the unhatched eggs and go with the chick in the hand, so to speak.


Jim just put up his June egg swap in the new swap section if anyone is interested. Its a new area and no one is finding it so i'm spreading the word. I'm going to have silkies and showgirls to send out, the new girls are laying like GANGBUSTERS!! How does that happen???

 

[Parkmule]

I have 2 hens that go broody together and they always share a nest. I'd like to set eggs separately, but they refuse to not be together. Take that back. I have 2 others that do it too. Silver Phoenix. Bad thing is one will start sitting, I'll add eggs and then finally give up taking new ones out. The one will lay and hang out and then go sit with the other. They have to be on at least 30 eggs right now. I did pull out 3 clear ones. Guess those didn't fit. The one Phoenix will kill the chicks after they hatch, so I snatch them out. The other 2 will walk around with a bunch of chicks together and both take care of them. They're all gonna be mad again when I snatch chicks away and stick them in the brooders.

Need to fix one of my big brooders, but right now I have 2 big brooders and one small one and then ran out of space, so using an LG as a brooder for a couple of days. I stuck 3 older chicks in with the ones in the growout pen and had to put them back in a brooder. Those birds that are the same size or just a bit bigger scalped my little OE cockerel so bad. He has no skin on his head and all the way down the back of his neck. I also need more places for broodies. I think half of my birds right now just wanna be mommas.

Oh thank goodness, I thought i was the only one that did this/had this issue.

 

[Parkmule]

My biz partner has had hens share nests and eggs. One ended badly. The hens were so busy fighting over who go tthe chicks, no one took care of the chicks. She saved the last one and moved it into a brooder.

I have hens hatching now.No one sharing. But i a just catching chicks and bringing the in. Too hot, too many other hens in the coop and too many squirrel holes for chicks to fall into. All very happy in my big brooder.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I would recomend taking the hen who hatches her eggs away to another spot once a chick is hatched, so the other does not get distracted by the babies and ignore the rest of the eggs.

This sounds like a good plan.

I can't believe that they are doing so well in this heat. It was 110 in the shade here, yesterday and the broodies were not panting or stressed.

 

[baustin]

It was 115 here yesterday and we weren't home but the chickens and birds did fine. The two momma's are still sharing the baby and are now taking it out into the pen. The other hens aren't bothering it. I think they got the word early on and are being respectful. My German Shepherd played in her wading pool yesterday while we were gone. A neighbor came down twice to check on her and make sure she had plenty of fresh water to drink. After lunch time the sun is on the opposite side of the back run so she wasn't in the sun. Our back yard has an awning also and her wading pool was under it. We didn't get home until after 10 last night and she was happy to see us. We drove over 300 miles yesterday and when we stopped for supper, my husband had liver and onions for dinner and we brought some home for Sadie. She loved it. I don't like leaving her home but sometimes she gets car sick and where we went yesterday she couldn't go anyway.

 

[Parkmule]

It was bad here. Everyone one ice water wading pools, fans got turned on and so did the misters. Chick in the garage got frozen bottles to stand on. Sat was the worst, Sun was a hair better.
Everyone made it, my biz partner lost a Cream legbar hen and a mix cockerel.

 

[WendyJeepchick]

Ok girls, time for Chicken Math...

If I have 6 pullets (7 weeks old) and want to get 4 more pullets (2 weeks old), should I introduce them slowly it just put them together?

 

[debs_flock]

Ok girls, time for Chicken Math...

If I have 6 pullets (7 weeks old) and want to get 4 more pullets (2 weeks old), should I introduce them slowly it just put them together?

Slowly, that's too wide of an age spread. I keep it to no more than a week apart, after that you have to finesse the introduction.

 

[PetRock]

Ok girls, time for Chicken Math...

If I have 6 pullets (7 weeks old) and want to get 4 more pullets (2 weeks old), should I introduce them slowly it just put them together?

A 5 week age difference is quite a large difference at the ages that your chicks would be. The little ones would still need a heat lamp or some source of heat while the 7 week olds should be feathered out and could be outside. I have successfully integrated young chicks with a 2 week age difference but I made sure the little ones were a few days old and that they had somewhere that they could get away from the older ones. Also, they need to have plenty of room and more than one place for them to eat & drink until they are integrated. I have also integrated older chicks with a bigger age span but as I said before, they need plenty of room, multiple feeders & waterers, and hiding places to get away from the older bullies.

 

[capayvalleychick]

We drove over 300 miles yesterday and when we stopped for supper, my husband had liver and onions for dinner and we brought some home for Sadie. She loved it. I don't like leaving her home but sometimes she gets car sick and where we went yesterday she couldn't go anyway.

You probably know this, but onions are toxic to dogs. The liver is great for them.