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

[stonykill]

Chicken question: my chicks are 5 & 6 weeks old now. Mom is still sleeping its them in a nest box, although the little guys can perch just fine up there on the roost, I've seen them playing during the day. Is it normal for her to mother for so long? Or could it be because the weather is so much colder than if these had been spring chicks - maybe she would have already returned to being a real chicken by now? Lol... I'm just curious whether she's over-doing this whole mama hen thing at this point? I'd love for her to start laying eggs again... How long for that?
I know I'm being impatient, but....

... She's one of my best layers! Chickens are not vending machines, I know, I know.

Thanks!

I had mama hens let the little ones go at 3.5 weeks or 16 weeks. Quite a few of mine this year reached the 12 week mark caring for lil ones. It is normal and probably has nothing to do with the weather. More to do with the broody hen

 

[NikkiMiChickie]

  I had mama hens let the little ones go at 3.5 weeks or 16 weeks. Quite a few of mine this year reached the 12 week mark caring for lil ones. It is normal and probably has nothing to do with the weather. More to do with the broody hen

Thanks, Stony! That's what I thought I'd hear. Out of curiosity, is there any relationship you've noticed between mothering time (ie approximate number of weeks before letting chicks go) and frequency of going broody? This girl was broody at 7 months, and seems to be an awfully good mother... I'm wondering if she'll go from mothering back to brooding more quickly than a hen that weans at a couple of weeks, or if that simply depends on the individual. Like I said, she's a excellent layer, so I hate to "lose" that ability, but I'm thrilled to have a broody who follows through. Can't have everything we want

 

[stonykill]

Thanks, Stony! That's what I thought I'd hear. Out of curiosity, is there any relationship you've noticed between mothering time (ie approximate number of weeks before letting chicks go) and frequency of going broody? This girl was broody at 7 months, and seems to be an awfully good mother... I'm wondering if she'll go from mothering back to brooding more quickly than a hen that weans at a couple of weeks, or if that simply depends on the individual. Like I said, she's a excellent layer, so I hate to "lose" that ability, but I'm thrilled to have a broody who follows through. Can't have everything we want

no I haven't. My best broody sometimes goes 4 weeks other times 10 weeks. The other girls the same way. They do what they want

 

[Gypsi]

600 new replies since I was on here. I'm pretty sure I'll just use the search function to look things up! Good information and a wonderful thread, but I don't have time for the whole thread tonight.

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.

 

[NikkiMiChickie]

  no I haven't. My best broody sometimes goes 4 weeks other times 10 weeks. The other girls the same way. They do what they want 

Thanks again!

 

[KnobbyOaks]

This for the OT's: I'm looking at my own chicks, now 9 weeks old, thinking about other chicks 5-6 weeks old or 10 weeks old still with their mother, and I'm sad. Mine have never had a day with a mother. What are the differences between a hen who was raised by a mother and one who was a hatchery bird? Is one going to be a better mother than the other because she was mothered?

 

[NikkiMiChickie]

This for the OT's:  I'm looking at my own chicks, now 9 weeks old, thinking about other chicks 5-6 weeks old or 10 weeks old still with their mother, and I'm sad.  Mine have never had a day with a mother.  What are the differences between a hen who was raised by a mother and one who was a hatchery bird?  Is one going to be a better mother than the other because she was mothered?   

Not an OT, but my current mama hen is a hatchery bird, and she's doing a great job. I've had her since she was 2-3 days old, she was among my first batch of chickens ever, so there wasn't an older hen to foster her either. I think mothering, from what I've gathered, is purely instinctual.

I had experience this spring with introducing a new chick to my near-POL pullets and young cockerels. That one chick (a friend's kids thought it would be funny to bring home a chick for Easter -- lasted 4 days in suburbia before ending up at my house) had an AWFUL time of it. The young pullets weren't too bad, but my biggest cockerel picked her up by the back of the neck and shook her, ripping out tufts of fuzz. I ended up separating her, raising her all by herself and only free ranging with the others until she was fully feathered, bigger, and able to fend for herself a bit more. Once she started laying too, the others accepted her into the flock, but not until.

The difference between that lonely motherless chick and my current chicks was that she didn't have a mother to defend her and to teach her some manners. She learned, but she learned the hard way and probably would have been killed had I not removed her for a few weeks. Nowadays, my 3 lb broody will take on my 8 lb RIR (nasty thing she is), show her some ninja moves, and keep her chicks safe. The chicks have learned from mom that they move away from the feeder when the big girls move in, and they've been protected from sneak attacks.

Your chicks will be just fine without a mother - and only slightly disadvantaged if you have older birds to pick on them. In my brief experience anyways

 

[KnobbyOaks]

Interesting experiences. I've been proud of my little girls so far but what do I know, I'm in a learn-as-I-go mode now as this is my first flock of chickens.

 

[Mountain Momma]

Did you treat the wood around the broody? when my hen was broody and had mites the mites were also in the crevices in the coop I had to spray down into the cracks and crevices also the roosts. Reason is if you do all the above and not treat the coop/brooder all over they are just waiting to crawl back out and climb back on her.

I was a little relieved when the mite talk ended but I had one possible pertinant question. ( I was a little worried that so much talk of mites might cause an infestation if it lasted more than 50 posts). lol.
The Bug spray guy that used to spray my house before the kiddos (I hate spiders more than anything) said that the most toxic insecticide he uses, and only for the tough cases, is tobacco. He said buy a package of chew tobacco and soak it in a 5 gal bucket and spray that around your house and no insect will cross it. I was wondering if anyone thought anything about using that and seems like the chickens would not really get any harm.....

 

[flower]

I was a little relieved when the mite talk ended but I had one possible pertinant question. ( I was a little worried that so much talk of mites might cause an infestation if it lasted more than 50 posts). lol.
The Bug spray guy that used to spray my house before the kiddos (I hate spiders more than anything) said that the most toxic insecticide he uses, and only for the tough cases, is tobacco. He said buy a package of chew tobacco and soak it in a 5 gal bucket and spray that around your house and no insect will cross it. I was wondering if anyone thought anything about using that and seems like the chickens would not really get any harm.....

I like the sounds of this as an effective insecticide and plan on using it on the springtime.