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

[Ridgerunner]

So, a broody can raise a group of chicks in the flock? The littles won't get beaten up?

Chickens have been doing that for thousands of years. Chickens have worked out how to live together and raise new flock members. A lot of these ways depend on the weaker running away or avoiding the stronger, so they need room to run away and avoid. I think most of the horror stories told on this forum related to integration or a broody are because of a lack of space.

But a good broody mother is something to behold when her babies are threatened. She still needs some room to work, but a good broody takes care of her babies.

There is another great myth in this forum. That is the myth that the other adults lay in wait and actively try to kill all new chicks. What a load of rubbish. Not all broodies are good, not all hens are good, and not all roosters are good. They are living animals kept in different conditions, but I have never seen a mature rooster threaten chicks in any way. I have seen mature roosters help a broody take care of her chicks.

If a young chick gets in its personal space, a more mature chicken is likely to peck it to tell it who is dominant. But if that chick does not get into that hen's personal space, that generally does not happen. And usually when that happens the chick runs away and all is well.

It is possible that if a chick gets separated from the broody to where the broody cannot protect it, the others might kill it. But if the broody can get to it to protect it, that does not happen.

Let me tell about something I’ve seen several times. A two week old chick leaves the broody’s protection and stands beside the adult hens at the feeder, eating away with them. Sometimes those hens totally ignore that chick, but usually it doesn’t take too long for one to peck it to remind it that it does not rank high enough in the pecking order to eat with its betters. That chick runs as fast as its little legs can carry it with wings flapping and furious peeping to the broody. The broody ignores all this. That chick should not have left her protection and just learned a lesson. But if the hen that pecked the chick starts to follow, the broody gets all kinds of upset with that hen.

Can a broody raise chicks with the flock? It’s been done that way for thousands of years.

 

[delisha]

That is one of my favorite times with the flock. Watching chicks with the flock, mom close by.

 

[Ridgerunner]

For those that cull chickens throughout the year, how do you keep your flock size up? Do you add new hens once a year? A new hen every time you cull? Do you start a new flock? Guess you have to have plenty of room for that last one. I'm limited to two coops - one holds up to 16 and the other 9 and no room for anything else.

I raise them mainly for meat but I do replace some layers every year. Any hen that goes broody gets eggs to hatch and raises the chicks with the flock. She takes care of any integration issues though they have to work out their own pecking order issues when they get old enough to handle that.

In addition I have two or three incubator hatches a year. These incubator hatches are usually a couple of months apart. My brooder is in the coop. Depending on the weather, I move them to the grow-out coop at maybe 4 to 5 weeks. Around 8 weeks age, I let them roam with the flock but go back to their grow-out coop to sleep.

Depending on circumstances, usually around 12 weeks, I move them into the main coop to sleep. This year I waited until 18 weeks to move them to the main coop. I had to put some in the freezer to get the numbers down so I could move them. You need to be flexible.

I’ve never lost a chick to integration doing it this way.

I simply process the ones I don’t want in my permanent flock as I have freezer space and they get big enough. The ones that are left at the end of the season are now part of my “permanent” flock.

I guess today’s my day to rant. Don’t take it personal. I’m not picking on you. There is just so much misinformation on this forum it sometimes gets frustrating.

To me, coop space is not that important. Don’t get me wrong. I strongly believe you should give them as much coop space as you can. It makes your life so much easier. Somebody once smarted off on this forum and said I pamper my chickens by giving them so much space. They didn’t even come close to getting it. I’m not pampering chickens by giving them space. I’m pampering me. The chickens having enough space makes my life easier. I don’t mind working but I see no reason to purposely make my life harder or more complicated when it is easy to avoid doing that.

Back to the space issue. What is important is total space and when that space is available. How you manage them is very important. If you leave them locked in the coop for a lot of their waking hours, you need a large coop. If you have a decent sized run and they have access to it most of the time they are awake, the coop can be a lot smaller. If they pretty much free range when they want to, the coop can be pretty darn small, though for integration I really like a lot of extra roost space. And I like the extra flexibility of being able to leave them in the coop for a while if that suits me. Again, making my life easier.

 

[Beekissed]

Same here on all counts. Never lost a chick and like the convenience that space provides in managing a flock of various ages. Space solves so many flock problems!

 

[al6517]

Watching broody's raise their young ones to survive is just so cool, it's just plain neat to witness, I can watch them for hours on end if I had the time. Mother nature figured it out a long time before the BYC and misinformation ruled the world interweb thingy LOL.

 

[al6517]

Same here on all counts. Never lost a chick and like the convenience that space provides in managing a flock of various ages. Space solves so many flock problems!

The most frequent post concerning care and raising of broodies come from those backyarders who have been widely misled on the use of adequet space. Yes it's very hard to raise broody's in those 4 hen internet mail order set-ups that are told will hold 8 hen's and folks put in 10, then ask why there is such turmoil.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep! When a hen can't even sit in peace without someone else stepping on her or jumping in her nest if she gets off to stretch, it causes problems. Then along comes her little brats and the other hens all wanna tell them what to do. It's the same in a big family living in a small home together. Always having fights.

 

[delisha]

You can never have too much space, sheesh. I guess I missed that one. I have three old houses converted into coops. One is even two stories and I sometimes feel I don't have enough space. I keep under 10 laying hens at all times. My set up is to support the feed/electric bill. I hatch out what I know I need to pay the bills. I do not hatch out more than I can handle. I butcher out three times a year for food. My ducks once a year. I cull when needed no matter what time of year. If someone is being aggressive or if someone does not *look* right or act right. I do not wait and see. I have a chicken hospital and it is so dusty I do not remember the last time it was used. I have not been up there in probably a year. Last time I was up there was to show someone my set up and was embarrassed it was so full of dust and webs.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Everybody culls at different times, for different reasons. Our medicine chest is squash, poultry dust and a hatchet. That's about it.

We watch the layers. If they slow down quick, in September, as the light is beginning to fade and they are 2 to 2 1/2 years old? Unless they've gotten a written excuse from the president of the APA, they're culled. In late winter, when everyone else is back up to speed and laying well, but this or that hen is too slow on the uptick? She's usually sold off. Good market for them at that time of the year.

These are production birds, and that is their purpose in life. Cannot, will not feed them as pets or some such thing. Cockerels (production type) get processed at 17-19 weeks for the freezer.

However, You cannot be in a hurry to ever cull a valuable, young heritage/heirloom bird. Their growth curve is so much slower that you must exercise a whole bunch of patience. You will make a horrid mistake if you move too quickly on those.

 

[al6517]

Well said Fred............. it would be very beneficial for folks to look at alternative methods to purge their flocks of unthrifty stock. I often sell not up to snuff birds to folks who are more than happy to have them regardless if their not stellar performers or lookers, just because they look like tanks. I guess I am sort of lucky in that respect to have so many different outlets to sell localy, auctions mainly for me are quick and easy and their checks never bounce LOL.