Ever had a winter broody?

[Lady of McCamley]

Thought I would update with my latest winter brood.

Momma Silkie hatched 3 out of 6 eggs on January 10th (1 hatched but died from failure of the abdomen to close, 1 pipped but didn't hatch, 1 never attempted to hatch...not sure what happened on all that other than the humidity was varying a lot those last few days with the wild weather we've been having).

All 3 babies are doing fabulously well...even after this last week of very cold temperatures (wind chill factor 7 degrees F)...blowing snow and freezing rain all last week (very unusual for my usually mild wet Oregon).

Babies did just fine with mom as their only heat source. I did add extra pine shavings and put a tarp over the front wire door so that the terrible east wind couldn't blow into their hutch.

Here they are at a few days old.

I'll try to post more photos when the weather clears enough for photographs.
Lady of McCamley

 

[luvmypets]

My young roo gold died and one of our silkies chicks look like him, and his best friend sunny. We have a broody who has been waiting six weeks no babies yet but I candled and I saw a bunch of em.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Here's my Silkie mom and the 3 BCM babies (almost 5 weeks now) on their first outing today in the run...would have had them out much earlier, but a nasty winter storm kept them inside the hutch.

Today...all the snow is gone (YIPEEE!!!!). Coops are cleaned and some new shavings laid to soak up the wet in the runs.

Had a balmy 50 degrees high today...but heavy winds and rain tonight and tomorrow...so back into the hutch they go...spring MAY come yet.


Lady of McCamley

 

[flocknfoal]

My pretty mama hen, Gummy, and her three chicks. She is a first time mom and the chicks were two weeks old on Tuesday. She seems to be restless and wants to leave the coop, but she's nervous to let her chicks go with her, so she keeps pacing back and forth looking out the hardware cloth window that is on the coop door. She'll walk with them down to the pop door at the end, stick her head out, then she squawks at them to go back, and hustles them back down to where she feels they are safe. Is that normal? it b/c of the other two hens and the roo in the run? Will the other hens or the roo attack the chicks if they go out into the run?

 

[Jharper]

My Cochin bantam is trying. I've got to show her Saturday, so maybe she won't get thrown off.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

My pretty mama hen, Gummy, and her three chicks. She is a first time mom and the chicks were two weeks old on Tuesday. She seems to be restless and wants to leave the coop, but she's nervous to let her chicks go with her, so she keeps pacing back and forth looking out the hardware cloth window that is on the coop door. She'll walk with them down to the pop door at the end, stick her head out, then she squawks at them to go back, and hustles them back down to where she feels they are safe. Is that normal? it b/c of the other two hens and the roo in the run? Will the other hens or the roo attack the chicks if they go out into the run?

First congratulations on your broody hatch!

Is mom at the bottom of the pecking order? It sounds like it from your description. That can make it harder for mom to integrate the babies into the flock, and make it more dangerous to the babies if the others are overly curious or hostile as mom may not feel up to the challenge of fending off the others.

Watch and wait to see if it works out, but be ready to intervene if things don't seem to be going well for mom and babes. Hopefully the older birds will just give a curious eye and mom will keep any overly curious at bay with an evil eye.

My banty Silkie definitely gets no respect from my large fowl flock...however she is a diligent momma and will usually fend off any overly curious or aggressive from her babies; however, it really stresses her, and if it is a top pecking order bird, she doesn't always stand up, so I like to keep her in a separate hutch and run until the babies are older and can fend better for themselves.

My experience
Lady of McCamley

 

[flocknfoal]

First congratulations on your broody hatch!

Is mom at the bottom of the pecking order? It sounds like it from your description. That can make it harder for mom to integrate the babies into the flock, and make it more dangerous to the babies if the others are overly curious or hostile as mom may not feel up to the challenge of fending off the others.

Watch and wait to see if it works out, but be ready to intervene if things don't seem to be going well for mom and babes. Hopefully the older birds will just give a curious eye and mom will keep any overly curious at bay with an evil eye.

My banty Silkie definitely gets no respect from my large fowl flock...however she is a diligent momma and will usually fend off any overly curious or aggressive from her babies; however, it really stresses her, and if it is a top pecking order bird, she doesn't always stand up, so I like to keep her in a separate hutch and run until the babies are older and can fend better for themselves.

My experience
Lady of McCamley

With only the 3 hens and one roo, and being mellow little silkies, I've honestly not paid much attention to pecking order (with my LF it was obvious). That's an interesting idea - I don't have a separate hutch or run, but there is second pop door near the end where she keeps her chicks. I wonder if I could put some kind of screened in area outside that door like a playpen. I'll have to look it over tomorrow and see if there's a way to do that.

 

[flocknfoal]

First congratulations on your broody hatch!

Is mom at the bottom of the pecking order? It sounds like it from your description. That can make it harder for mom to integrate the babies into the flock, and make it more dangerous to the babies if the others are overly curious or hostile as mom may not feel up to the challenge of fending off the others.

Watch and wait to see if it works out, but be ready to intervene if things don't seem to be going well for mom and babes. Hopefully the older birds will just give a curious eye and mom will keep any overly curious at bay with an evil eye.

My banty Silkie definitely gets no respect from my large fowl flock...however she is a diligent momma and will usually fend off any overly curious or aggressive from her babies; however, it really stresses her, and if it is a top pecking order bird, she doesn't always stand up, so I like to keep her in a separate hutch and run until the babies are older and can fend better for themselves.

My experience
Lady of McCamley

With only the 3 hens and one roo, and being mellow little silkies, I've honestly not paid much attention to pecking order (with my LF it was obvious). That's an interesting idea - I don't have a separate hutch or run, but there is second pop door near the end where she keeps her chicks. I wonder if I could put some kind of screened in area outside that door like a playpen. I'll have to look it over tomorrow and see if there's a way to do that.

Yesterday and today I put up a small barrier in the coop - the adults could easily jump over it, but it will keep the babies from wandering out, then I used some 1/4 inch hardware cloth to create a little playpen for the chicks (and mama) in hopes that she will be able to relax a little. So far she still won't let them go outside. If they start to she grabs them by the feathers on their necks and pulls gives them a tug. Not too hard, but they know they are not supposed to do that. LOL! I guess she'll take them out when she is ready. I did the same in the other coop - created a separate 'brooder' area with an indoor and outdoor area that's safe from the bigger chickens except the chicks I put in there don't have a mama hen just a broody light, but they seem happy enough and they occasionally are brave enough to venture out into the pen. So cute!!

 

[LunarBug]

Here is my broody Salmon Faverolles. She is sitting upon 8 RIR eggs (which we hope are fertile). Wednesday will be one week that she's been sitting on them and I plan to candle them that night to be sure things are going in the right direction.

 

[Chase Family]

My silkie went broody a couple of days ago. First time we have had a broody. I have been collecting her eggs because they are not fertile. However we have some eggs in the incubator, I gave her 2 of those today. Now I'm worried the chicks will freeze when they hatch. And The coop that she is in, is maxed out for space. With the never ending snow, I was thinking of moving her to the garage. Then she could raise the other 6 chicks that will be hatching ( the ones still in the incubator). But I'm concerned about reintegrating her.The eggs are LG and she is Banty. Any thought what I should do?