Choosing the best broody for the job

[M Claire]

Hello all, I'm a new flockster from way out in France (a transplant, you might say) hoping to get some help with a question that I have.

By way of an introduction, last summer, we began the adventure of raising chickens with a mixed flock of bantam wyandottes, pekins, marans, and a lone sussex. I was very enthusiastic about keeping chickens and so far the adventure has been really engaging and rewarding all the way through, even with the steep learning curve and the various ups and downs.

About three weeks ago, one of the two pekins went full broody on me. I tried to break her of it using the cage method for three days, but to no avail. I was going to let it run its course, but then was recently told that pekins tend to go very, very broody, as in, they will not let up until something starts peeping under their fluffy behinds, which can be detrimental to their health if it goes on and on. I was ready to try the cage again, when a few days ago I came out and found the bantam in her usual box. Our nesting boxes have holes that open into a lower tray to discourage egg-eating and keep the eggs clean. Well, this little bantam had figured out where the eggs were going and had her head stuck down that hole like an ostrich. You could just see the little cogs turning in her chicken mind, trying to come up with a way to get those eggs up and under her well-feathered derrière. The sight of it slayed me. I was so overcome with sympathy that I rapidly arranged to go pick up some fertile eggs (speckled sussex, hurray!) next Wednesday for this very desperate mother to hatch.

But then today as I came out to check on the hens and collect the eggs, I found not only the one pekin, but also the other, and one of the wyandottes, all piled up in the box, trilling and humming away.

At first I thought, well, I'll just split the eggs and let everyone hatch two chicks, but apparently that can quickly devolve into a hot mess, and I really don't have the infrastructure in place to keep things in order should the mothers declare war on one another.

So this leaves me with the predicament of selecting one broody to hatch out the six eggs. What should my criteria be? Rank in the flock? Temperament? Hardiness? I definitely won't be choosing the bantam wyandotte, because the two of them are flighty as all get-out (serves me right for picking them out on looks alone) and would probably teach the chicks to fear us. Between the two pekins, I am inclined to choose the one who went broody more recently because she is extremely docile and gentle, but I feel bad for the other who has been so determined all this while. Nevertheless, it seems like it might not be in her best interest to let her set another three weeks (her comb is already fairly pale) and she is not the most well-behaved of the flock either, as in fairly skittish and an escape artist to boot. That being said, she excels in chicken judo and has a very high place in the ranking. Truly, you can go ahead and say I'm overthinking all this... Maybe I could get the two pekins to share. They usually hang out together.

Anyway, if anyone has a recommendation, I would be most grateful.

 

[stuckinthecity]

Not over thinking at all... you are practicing good chicken keeping...coming up with the best situation for your flock. Are they in a pen all the time? If in a smaller space I'd go with rank always. That way the chicks are protected. If free range or in a large enough area for them to really get away from aggressive flock members, then that might not be the best criteria to go by. Not many people free range cochin bantams though, so I'm guessing yours are penned.
In my experience bantams have not been AS aggressive towards chicks compared to my standard chickens...you might not have any problems no matter who hatches the chicks. Just depends on how "close" your flock is, etc.. Can't wait to see pictures!

 

[M Claire]

Hello, thank you for weighing in!

Our hens have a 6ft by 6ft coop and a sizeable run, (200-300 sq. ft. eyeballing it), well, for suburban birds anyway. None of the breeds are especially violent and I don't see very much fighting, though a little bit as they settle down to roost if the smaller girls get too close to the bigger ones.

This morning I'm feeling like I ought to go with Mabel (the first one to go broody) even in spite of her character defects, because she is the most determined. Flora, her pekin flockmate, and the Wyandotte get out of the box more often than she does. But will her mothering trump the generally placid and favorable temperament that is classic for the Sussex breed?

By the way, I love you account name, stuck in the city. Yup, feeling that! But we make do and farm and garden our yard and serve as an attraction for all the neighbor kids, so that's nice.

 

[M Claire]

Hi everyone,

Just writing in with an update. We are T-1 day and I am so impatient to see how the hatch goes. Mabel, the pekin bantam who ended up getting the eggs, has been a champion setter! She doesn't get up except for the barest essentials. I really do hope that she gets some chicks to raise after all her dedication. I tried to candle at 10 days, but it's a lot trickier than I thought it would be! Two eggs had shells too thick/dark for me to see anything, three I couldn't tell, and one had veins that I could see. No very promising, but maybe it's just my rookie technique. When I put the eggs in, I forgot to cover up a 1/3 inch crack in the bottom of the nesting area. I hope the eggs didn't get chilled from below. Mabel eventually moved the nest to an area that wasn't affected by the crack.

Quick question: the brooder area inside the main coop where Mabel will raise the chicks for the first month or so is about 1 1/2 feet off the ground, closed off on all sides except one window area that is covered with a wire grid with 1 inch spacing. Is there any risk that the chicks could fall through or get pecked at through that much space? Should I close it completely?

If all goes well, I hope to be posting pictures of the hatch very soon!

As an afterthought, I should mention that the bantam Wyandotte gave up brooding after two weeks of me constantly disrupting her, sending her out the run area, and making her roost with the others at night, but Flora, the other pekin, is still monopolizing an empty laying box in spite of all of my best efforts.

 

[M Claire]

Hurray, success!!!

Three babies out so far. I was just hoping we'd get at least one. They are so sweet and tiny and curious!

One eggs is obviously not viable, but the other two, I am still waiting to see. If they don't hatch by tonight, I may slip them under broody Flora so that Mabel can get off the nest and start looking after her little ones.

 

[M Claire]

Just went out to check this morning, and I'm so glad that I did! At 7am, Mabel was still on the nest, but now at 10am, she's off the nest and moved over into the food and water area with her babies.

When I picked up the three remaining eggs, I heard a distinct pip from one, so I scooped up Flora from the laying box and put her in a plastic box with wood shavings and a blanket over the top to make it quieter and darker. Fingers crossed! Maybe they'll both get babies after all.
Of course, I'm not at all prepared to have two mothers in two separated spaces, but I guess I'll figure something out quickly!

 

[M Claire]

 

[M Claire]

Oh my goodness, I cannot concentrate today to save my life! I keep worrying about the new babies outdoors, and then I worry about the unhatched ones in the box. If I could, I'd just be sitting in the run all day, I think.

Irony of all ironies is that I work from home and my project of the day covers research into: the metabolic system of hatchling chicks!

 

[M Claire]

So as of 2pm, there's a chipped egg under the second broody - the suspense!
In the end, the intractable broodiness of Flora may prove to be a blessing. A lesson for the future: when two go broody at the same time, let them both be broody so that you've got a back-up broody.

The breeder thinks that the chick in the picture is a roo. I would have said that too just going on behavior. He's much more fool-hardy and busy than the other two. One of the smaller ones has a pink, downless pucker mark on her hip. I hope it's just a birthmark and not something more serious.