Ever had a winter broody?

[chicken farmer]

My silkies 5 eggs are due tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sooooooooo excited!!!!!!!

 

[PrairieChickens]

My silkie hen dispapeared for a week in October, and I was worried she had been taken by a predator. One morning when I woke up, I looked out my window and there she was in the yard looking for feed. I followed her and discovered her sitting on a nest of nine eggs, five silkie/Easter eggers and four pure silkies. All four silkies hatched, and two mutts did as well. She is the best mama and kept them warm through the cold November and December tempatures, the two mutts are almost as big as she is now, and yet still try to sleep underneath her wings with the silkie chicks. It's quite funny. Here are some pics of when they hatched

Oh. My. God. I just died of cutes.

 

[zippy722]

My australorp went broody in mid-October, and she ended up hatching 11 of 17 and I hatched 4 of 5. After 1 new hatchling died, I was able to put the incubator chicks under Louise, and she has raised all 14 chicks. And she has been a fabulous momma. To see her covering all of these chicks has been amazing. Just in the last few days (they are now 5 1/2 weeks old) she isn't able to cover them, but they are all huddling together with her. After she hatched them in the roost area, I moved her and the chicks to a dog crate within the run. During the day, I let the chicks and momma out of the crate 2-3 times a day. But the other 6 hens and 2 banty roosters are nasty to the chicks, and to momma. So that is making me reluctant on letting them co-mingle permamently at this point. But I can't leave them in the crate too much longer, just because of their size. They're running out of room. I'm wondering at what age the chicks need to be that they can keep themselves warm. I had a 1 degree F the other morning. As for the next week, it will be a bit warmer so I'm hoping to integrate them while I have warm weather and get them to start roosting together at that point as well. We'll see!!! Here are a few pics of how these have grown. And BTW, of the 14, I think I have ONLY 4 pullets.

If anyone has advice on the timing of the integration, I'd sure appreciate the help.

 

[zippy722]

My australorp went broody in mid-October, and she ended up hatching 11 of 17 and I hatched 4 of 5. After 1 new hatchling died, I was able to put the incubator chicks under Louise, and she has raised all 14 chicks. And she has been a fabulous momma. To see her covering all of these chicks has been amazing. Just in the last few days (they are now 5 1/2 weeks old) she isn't able to cover them, but they are all huddling together with her. After she hatched them in the roost area, I moved her and the chicks to a dog crate within the run. During the day, I let the chicks and momma out of the crate 2-3 times a day. But the other hens and 2 banty roosters are sort of nasty to the chicks, and to momma. So that is making me reluctant on letting them co-mingle at this point. But I can't leave them in the crate too much longer, just because of their size. They're running out of room. I'm wondering at what age the chicks need to be that they can keep themselves warm. I had 1 degree F the other morning. As for the next week, I'll have a bit of a warm up. Hoping to integrate them while I have warm weather and get them to start roosting together at that point as well. We'll see!!! Here are a few pics of how these have grown. And BTW, of the 14, I think I have ONLY 4 pullets.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

If anyone has advice on the timing of the integration, I'd sure appreciate the help.

Congratulations on your hatch!

Your really cold weather gives me pause, only because where I live we don't go that low for long periods (we do get an occasional cold snap...but then that temp makes the news)...so I don't have personal experience there. You may need to provide more protection for them other than your regular coop until they are a bit bigger as small bodies, even well feathered, do lose heat faster than bigger bodies. But remember, the small backyard birds fly around in it, so God has made the sparrow warm enough for the winter and likewise the chicken.

My experience is Mom will tell you when they are ready....she will be teaching them to roost when they are...so you need to provide an area for her to do that. When you see her no longer huddling with them in the nest but find them lined up on a roost bar...then they are ready for the coop IF the other hens are tolerant of smaller chicks.

IF NOT...then I wait until they are about 12 weeks of age...about 3/4 size of the other hens...that protects them from getting picked on too much...and then I move them as a group. They will huddle together for warmth and protection. Be sure they have cubbyholes and hiding places to run under that the bigger hens/roosters can't get into. It gives the places of sanctuary while the pecking order gets established. Remove any bird that is so nasty as to draw blood or cause real harm...in my book, that just isn't necessary and sentence to the soup pot. You may wish to clip their wings if there is risk that they can fly over a fence into harm while being chased by a bigger bird.

Lady of McCamley

EDITED TO ADD: and I time the integration by first letting fence to fence contact, then general integration in a yard, then at night put them into the coop roost. You can also give them a few days of general integration in the yard with lots of space and room to hide, but put them up separately at night until you seen them getting used to each other...then integrate them into the roosting coop. I find it takes about 12 weeks for my new chicks to fully integrate, ie...they begin to mingle with the birds at will instead of huddling as a sub-flock. Just make sure everyone has enough elbow room and the squabbles will be quick and painless.

 

[sigmachigirl]

Post your winter broodies here and tell how it went and post pictures I have a white silkie hen that went broody 3 days ago and it's cold and snowy out can't wait it see how it goes.

Our white silkie went broody 2 months ago and was really not taking care of herself at all... So after a week we snuck two day old black orpingtons under her butt. Boy was she excited! She and our other silkie have played mama and auntie to the babies, and have done great, even through temps below 20 degrees! The babies still try to go under her, though they are nearing her in size. We also did not separate her from the other girls. It was fun to watch our EE teach the babies to eat and drink. Though, I do think one of the babies gets bitten by my brahma on occasion...

 

[Indigosands]

Here's the crew, mama had 10 eggs, 1 infertile I removed early on and then the last egg was a EQ from what I could tell when I checked it. 8 healthy babies, the chipmunky ones are EE/wheaten AM, the two black/brown are EE/Ancona/wheaten AM and the one white chick is a wheaten AM. She's a good mama too, she rolled that egg clear out of the nest and over to the feed dish two feet away so that she could sit on it while teaching the littles to eat and drink. Bless her heart, I felt bad taking it away from her. Such determination!

 

[BelleFarm]

Here's the crew, mama had 10 eggs, 1 infertile I removed early on and then the last egg was a EQ from what I could tell when I checked it. 8 healthy babies, the chipmunky ones are EE/wheaten AM, the two black/brown are EE/Ancona/wheaten AM and the one white chick is a wheaten AM. She's a good mama too, she rolled that egg clear out of the nest and over to the feed dish two feet away so that she could sit on it while teaching the littles to eat and drink. Bless her heart, I felt bad taking it away from her. Such determination!

adorable babies

 

[sigmachigirl]

 

[tarutgers]

These are some of the new arrivals. Both hens are sharing the chicks. Have alot more pictures but it will only let me load one per post. May have to post a couple more times! Giggle