Cold temp broody's?

[wrathsfarm]

NW LP. About 30 minutes from lake michigan lol It doesn't usually stick officially till november/december atleast these past few years lol but I've been hearing this winter is going to be bad.

Beautiful country... I did over 20 years in the Gaylord area (snowbelt) before moving south. I miss the quietness and beauty but not the winters.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Beautiful country... I did over 20 years in the Gaylord area (snowbelt) before moving south. I miss the quietness and beauty but not the winters.

Lol right. I want to be optimistic and say "i can keep water fresh in the coop" but when i think about how crazy it can be I mean I remember having over a foot of snow on thanksgiving before lol. Kinda too close for comfort. Seems like the deciding factor is do I want to play the fresh water battle if we get any early snow/ice storms.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Lol right. I want to be optimistic and say "i can keep water fresh in the coop" but when i think about how crazy it can be I mean I remember having over a foot of snow on thanksgiving before lol. Kinda too close for comfort. Seems like the deciding factor is do I want to play the fresh water battle if we get any early snow/ice storms.

Do you have power to your coop? I made a heated water base from a cookie tin with a light bulb inside for our ducks.
Just a thought.

Yes, chicks are a handful to care for even before the snow flies with constant spillage, so I understand the dilemma.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Do you have power to your coop? I made a heated water base from a cookie tin with a light bulb inside for our ducks.
Just a thought.

Yes, chicks are a handful to care for even before the snow flies with constant spillage, so I understand the dilemma.

Sadly no power lol. Our longest extension cord died this summer while I was trying to clean our goose pond. So I'd have to go out frequently to refresh it. Not to worried about food spillage. Water was our issue in the brooder stage. Which we still have a in house brooder if absolutely nessesary but I would love to avoid that if at all possible. lol

 

[Mrs. K]

I hatched in October, and 2 weeks later it was 20 below for the high. I almost pulled them. But I watched carefully, and they were doing fine.

The mama bird would change her cluck, and they all ran under her, and seemed to get a good warm up, and a few minutes later were running all over the outside run.

I only let her hatch 4, because I wanted there to be plenty of space under the broody. Another long term poster here, strongly suggested soaking grain in water, and adding that to the dry chick starter. The grains do not freeze together in a solid clump, even chicks, and definitely mama can break them apart. It worked for them. At 20 below, water freezes solid pretty darn quickly. I work so took it out twice a day.

Mrs K

 

[PhantomSlayer]

So another question... Anyone have black australorps? How many eggs would you consider enough for them to cover? Our resident broody girl decided to commit today. Their both BA's. My thought would be a dozen but theres about 16-18 in one nest and it seems like shes covering them pretty well. I have some work to do in the coop before I can isolate them from the others. Probably tomorrow or the day after. Weather depending cause I'll need to lock the rooster out he started being aggressive last time because our resident broody girl was yelling at me for swapping eggs under her. It was just warning shots but I'd like to avoid that cause no doubt ill be getting screamed at by both of the girls as I need to remove them because their in the only good nesting boxes we have.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Mine don't do well hatching in the cold generally. I have a few that do okay, but most lose their chicks to the cold or getting tangled in Mom's down feathers and being strangled

 

[Mrs. K]

I think less is better. There is the temptation to set more, but in the end I get better results with smaller clutches. I would suggest 10-12.

Too many eggs, you wind up with a lot of broken eggs. If you want to hatch more, put some in an incubator Ang give those chicks to her either right before they hatch or right after.

Maybe it is the climate or set up, but once they hatch I seldom lose one then and I have never had them get tangled or strangled.

Mrs K

 

[PhantomSlayer]

I think less is better. There is the temptation to set more, but in the end I get better results with smaller clutches. I would suggest 10-12.

Too many eggs, you wind up with a lot of broken eggs. If you want to hatch more, put some in an incubator Ang give those chicks to her either right before they hatch or right after.

Maybe it is the climate or set up, but once they hatch I seldom lose one then and I have never had them get tangled or strangled.

Mrs K

Thats what I figured but I see alot of people say "It's fine as long as they can cover them" So I figured I'd ask lol. 12 seems perfect. Tomorrow as long as weather is good I'll be working in the coop and getting them moved over and setting them with the same amount of eggs. I want our resident broody to get all out of our EE hen's eggs. Our EE hen is a nutcase so hoping our resident broody who is our 3rd friendliest girl may counter and any EE chicks might not scream and run like they'll be killed? Thats the hope anyways lol.

I decided after discussing with a friend who also has a flock and I'll put the nesting boxes into the isolation box until they are done hatching eggs and remove them then and just do a thicker bedding to cover the ground so they can bed down.

For now I'll just make temp nesting boxes for the other girls.

 

[Mrs. K]

Personally, I have never had luck moving a broody hen. But I don't lock mine in. It think it would be easier in my set up to create a new place for the layers to lay. But I have rather small nests - one bird per nest, and I just mark my eggs - check them twice a week, and other than that - let her do it her way.

Others are much more hands on. However, I tried moving a broody twice, she escaped and went back to where she thought the best nest was.

Mrs K