Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[galanie]

She'll stay on her nest if she's a good broody. She sounds like she is though! HAhaha yes they can be pretty fierce looking when broody but none of mine actually bite me. The funny thing, the broody I have now, all she does is growl at me when she's broody. But when she isn't, and I bother her when laying, she SCREAMS at me!

 

[al6517]

Mine all want to sleep with the man in the flock. They will fuss and fight and crowd to get next to him. One man, too many women...sigh.

Yeah I wish that were me LOL, nice problem to have, I am jealous of those Poligimist fellows LOL.

 

[gardendufus]

Yeah I wish that were me LOL, nice problem to have, I am jealous of those Poligimist fellows LOL.

I find it amusing that this is the note you choose to return to the thread on. Or maybe troubling.

 

[Beekissed]

Yeah I wish that were me LOL, nice problem to have, I am jealous of those Poligimist fellows LOL.

You'd be tearin' your hair out with both hands if you had that many women, Al!!!

Just think of all the nagging, hormones, and expense!

 

[armorfirelady]

Bee-
Will greek yogurt or ground up eggs & shells cause runny stools? Yogurt didnt smell bad to me......and there was less than 1/4 cup that I mixed in with 12 hard biled eggs I had chopped up.

My Mom called me at work in a tizzy cause someone has them & thats the only new food I gave them lately. Im not overly concerned. I have learned to watch them for few days before getting worried.

Of course she couldnt figure out why the hens were in the coop scratching at the litter. I told her its probably because I threw crack corn in there a couple of days ago & they just realized it & doing their part to stir up the litter

 

[Beekissed]

Sometimes, with livestock, introducing foods that aren't their normal fair can cause a little gastrointestinal upset. Even in humans this happens. Hard to say for sure but I doubt it had anything to do with the nature of the food, just the difference in the diet.

 

[armorfirelady]

Sometimes, with livestock, introducing foods that aren't their normal fair can cause a little gastrointestinal upset. Even in humans this happens. Hard to say for sure but I doubt it had anything to do with the nature of the food, just the difference in the diet.

Thats what I was thinking as well. They have had the yogurt before but I dont give it often. More as a treat thats good for them. I will just keep an eye on the stools for now and see if it occurs for more than a few days. I will just give less of the yogurt/egg mix for the next few days. It was again just a way to use up what I had in the house the other day & its good for the hens as well.

 

[normanack]

Speaking of broodies, is it necessary to protect the broody and chick(s) from the flock? If so, how?

My first broody (her first time and mine), who has been sticking to her nest like glue, is on her 20th day. Only one egg. She's been so good. She is nesting in the dusting box in the coop.

 

[Beekissed]

It's not necessary but it sure goes a long way towards a peaceful brood without anyone laying an extra egg or two in the nest if the broody has to get a drink. It also is better for her when she is first trying to keep an eye on the chicks. The other hens are naturally curious and may even peck at the little boogers and then you have a big ol' hen fight.

You can move her and the eggs in the night to a new location. Don't turn on the lights, just use a dim flashlight. Put her somewhere quiet and private and she'll have a more successful time. When chickens do it out on the range, they disappear for awhile and come back leading a troop of chicks....private nest, private time with new babies. Those kinds of broods seem to be the most successful of all and also seems to yield the highest hatch rate.

I normally just drape a towel over her for this transfer and upend a cardboard box with a doorway cut out over the new nest so it is dark and she doesn't feel like exploring or complaining about the new surroundings. A good broody won't leave those eggs, even without the darkness of a box, but I've had a few that really needed that extra insurance when they realized they were separate from the flock....just nerves, really. After a day, I just remove the box and see how she handles it...it always works.

 

[normanack]

It's not necessary but it sure goes a long way towards a peaceful brood without anyone laying an extra egg or two in the nest if the broody has to get a drink. It also is better for her when she is first trying to keep an eye on the chicks. The other hens are naturally curious and may even peck at the little boogers and then you have a big ol' hen fight. You can move her and the eggs in the night to a new location. Don't turn on the lights, just use a dim flashlight. Put her somewhere quiet and private and she'll have a more successful time. When chickens do it out on the range, they disappear for awhile and come back leading a troop of chicks....private nest, private time with new babies. Those kinds of broods seem to be the most successful of all and also seems to yield the highest hatch rate. I normally just drape a towel over her for this transfer and upend a cardboard box with a doorway cut out over the new nest so it is dark and she doesn't feel like exploring or complaining about the new surroundings. A good broody won't leave those eggs, even without the darkness of a box, but I've had a few that really needed that extra insurance when they realized they were separate from the flock....just nerves, really. After a day, I just remove the box and see how she handles it...it always works.

Thank you! And I appreciate the details of how to move the hen -- most instructions seem to leave out that part! In this case her one egg is either going to hatch within the next day, or not hatch. So -- if it hasn't started hatching by this evening, should I move hen and egg? And if it has hatched, should I wait? I could fence her off inside the coop, right where she is -- maybe fence her off inside, and fence off an area within the chicken yard outside as well, carrying them between? Or will she and (hopefully) chick be happy hanging out in the coop at first? Or (sorry so complicated!) there's a pop door from the coop to the separate smaller run -- I could fence her off inside the coop next to the pop door. The run doesn't have grass or as many bugs as the yard though. None of this even occurred to me beforehand, of course. And I never thought any of the eggs -- or Mrs. Broody -- would make it this long.