Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Mine do the same things. All of the birds do it. I guess they must need the vitamin D from the sun. I've been out putting up a pen and trying to decide if I can move this big house with the tractor or if I would ruin it and then have DH mad at me.
Trish these are from the India blue pen. They did the same last year. Laid about 3-4 eggs then quit and laid in late summer. So I collected a few and then let them sit on the rest. Of course as you know I got a white chick from them earlier. So they could be other colors even though the adults all are supposed to be India blues. One of them is much lighter than the others that she had already hatched.
But of course now that school has started there will be people getting sick for sure.
I came in to get the tape measure so I can plan some more on my new turkey house.Better get back out there.

 

[cleansquared]

Closing has been pushed back again ive just been informed omg i cant believe this on or before the 18th...... (frustrated-frustrated-frustrated)

 

[chicken danz]

I guess that gives you more time to get the roof finished, Cleansquared.
I'm in disgust mode. I can't get much of anything done. I was going to start building the new turkey coop and I can't figure out where DH put the air nailer. I'm not driving screws...not to mention I don't have many long enough and I can work the nailer a lot faster. I guess I could go ahead and cut wood but I don't like doing that until I need it cause measurements seem to change... or maybe it is my thought process gets clearer.
I did manage to get a big slab of concrete moved with the tractor and a big pry bar. Not sure what to do with it but at least it is out of the way. Maybe I'll just try to figure out something for dinner instead of trying to get projects done. It's just one of those days when things aren't happening the way I want.
My turkey hen that has been sitting has at least one baby chicken chick. She isn't acting friendly at all right now so I couldn't see if there was more than one. I'm not sure she can raise a chicken but I guess we'll see.

 

[Frizzled Pink]

I just went out to gather peacock feathers and found the hens had hatched 6 baby peafowl. There were 6 more eggs in there but one of the Mom's was keeping the other one from the nest. So I fixed a waterer and some food for the babies and took the other 6 eggs. One of them was no good. Three of them were definitely alive and two others aren't as developed so I'm not totally sure. I am thrilled. One of the babies isn't standing and I don't know if it is just newly hatched or if there is something wrong with it's legs. They take a few hours before they walk well.
Happy Happy Happy! That's more money later on God willing she raises them all! I put the other eggs in the incubator. I have one other egg in there I took that they laid on the ground.

Thats an awesome surprise!

 

[22qZoo]

Ragweed makes my son and I act and feel like we have strep . We've even had the white spots on our tonsils , but had negative strep tests. Claritin and the netty pot are very helpful.

I was wondering, how long will a hen try to be broody? And what can I do to discourage her. We aren't letting her keep any eggs and we keep putting her back outside . None of her eggs could even be fertile since she won't let any of the young Roos near her. She's a barred rock and is about a year and a half old . I'm not in the mood for rotten eggs or mut broodies .

 

[ashncarson]

cock a doodle doo!!

I had 3 little guys crowing away at each other each morning......oh man! Plus a screaming 6 year old...maybe they thought he was crowing as well!

 

[chicken danz]

22Qzoo if you try moving her and the eggs and that doesn't work the only thing I know of is to slip her a newly hatched chick from elsewhere. Taking care of a baby will definitely break the broody cycle but I know nothing else that will on those stubborn girls. I have one hen that gets really nasty when she is broody. But she has never hatched anything. She stays broody for months on end. When I lost my sussex hen she took over her chicks. It was a great solution for the chicks and the hen. She is still a grouch about the chicks but is much better than she was.
The worst part will be catching and corralling those chicks to rehome them some day.

 

[HEChicken]

I was wondering, how long will a hen try to be broody? And what can I do to discourage her. We aren't letting her keep any eggs and we keep putting her back outside . None of her eggs could even be fertile since she won't let any of the young Roos near her. She's a barred rock and is about a year and a half old . I'm not in the mood for rotten eggs or mut broodies .

22Qzoo if you try moving her and the eggs and that doesn't work the only thing I know of is to slip her a newly hatched chick from elsewhere. Taking care of a baby will definitely break the broody cycle but I know nothing else that will on those stubborn girls.

I agree with Danz - broodies are very determined. The only thing that has broken broodies for me to date were predators. The night the snake was in my coop I had 8-10 broodies and by next morning all but two had given it up. Then when the hawk visited, a couple more broodies gave up. However in most cases they go back to being broody within a few weeks anyway. Several of the broodies who gave up after the snake have since gone broody again. One is now raising chicks and another will become a mama this weekend.

What I do is incubate the eggs that contain the chicks I want, in order to avoid them raising a bunch of mutts. I collect eggs daily, and when the chicks hatch, I take the hen and move her to the nursery, put the chicks under her (I do all of this after dark) and next morning when she wakes up, she is ready to be a mama instead of a broody hen. This last time I gave the hen the pipped eggs so they actually hatched under her, and that worked out fine too. In the end, raising chicks is the only permanent "broody breaker" I've found and even then its not always permanent because my experience this year has been that the hen raises the chicks for a few weeks, starts laying again for a short time, and then goes broody again. I have one hen who is raising her third batch of chicks just this year! But the way I look at it is: I enjoy hatching and its fun having chicks in a brooder but it gets old having to clean out a brooder and constantly refill food and water containers, and then I have to transition them to the coop and integrate them with the flock. By letting hens raise my chicks, I'm avoiding all of that brooder work.

 

[chicken danz]

I've tried to let some of the purebreds in pens sit but they end up breaking eggs.... or the other hens do so, trying to get in and lay in the same spot. I hadn't thought about switching them out when they start to pip. Good idea. I may try some of that this fall just for fun. I really do get tired of raising and managing chicks and I love to watch the broody mamas with the babies.
I forgot that DH was going on days off again starting today for several days so I sure hope I can get my projects done. I just hate trying to work with him around. He gets his own ideas about how things should be done and then nothing gets done. I like working alone and getting help only when I ask for it. I could give him plenty of projects to work on I need done, but he doesn't like being directed. We are both pretty much people who like working alone and at our own speeds which is two complete opposites. I'm a work fast, work out problems as I go kind of person, and he is a plan for days and days kind of person that somehow rarely gets started. We do bounce ideas off one another but we sure don't work on projects together with much success. I can't complain over all though. He is a great guy!
I've got to get that building moved today and get those birds moved to it from the brooder. I am desperate for room. My bin brooder in the house is wall to wall chicks. I need to get another tray of eggs set today as well.

 

[chicken danz]

Just a quick note. I went out and the turkey that was sitting on eggs has 5 baby chicken chicks with her. I found one dead baby, one smashed baby in the shell and the rest of the eggs. I got 3 more live eggs and two live turkeys still developing even though the eggs were cool. They went into the incubator. If they hatch that probably means more mutt chicks but I'm pretty amazed she was able to hatch those chickens. I'm not sure how they are going to respond to being cared for by a turkey though. They didn't seem to be listening to her call very well.