As my girls have matured, they do so less and less. Sometimes my daughter will pick one up and bring them over to me and then they will stay to say hello for a minute or so before jumping down. Like you, I let them decide how much or how little they want to interact with me. Brownie is the only one now who will hop up on her own but its a rare treat. Lovely when she does though
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I laugh because I don't even know how many chicks we have and 2 co broodies setting on eggs in the naked neck house.For the record, I did not break over and leave 3 eggs in a different nest in the coop today to try to stop Perdita from fighting with Goose over her eggs. Perdita did NOT spot those eggs and immediately run to them and pancake herself onto them. She is NOT currently very happy and growly and bitey on said eggs tonight when I locked up the coop. I am also NOT planning on swapping those eggs out tomorrow with Marans eggs if she is still on them after they are laid. Who am I kidding, I did and am planning on it. Corona and Lilly did not lay their lovely spotted eggs today or she would already have them. This is now 5 broodies, 5.
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Good luck breaking Brownie if you try that route. I'm not going to lie, I was expecting to hear she or some of her sister's were broody. Marans hens tend to go broody. The good thing is, they make good mothers. You could let her choose a box, sit on eggs, fake or real and block off the entrance. Just make sure she comes off daily to eat and drink. Once she has chicks she will defend them from the other hens. She is your top hen, chicks raised by her will automatically be elevated in the pecking order. Is there another breed you want? She could easily sit on some fake eggs for a few days while you sourced some eggs for her to swap out with. I doubt if she has eggs she will give up. My girls, once they have eggs, there is no giving up, they are sitting until they hatch. You could also let her sit on fake eggs until lockdown and let her hatch them out. She will have sat long enough that her instincts will have kicked in even if they are a week early. I have also fostered chicks onto a broody first time marans who sat on nothing the entire time I had eggs in the incubator. She got the chicks when they were under 12 hours old and took them right away. The only issue with that was I had another chick hatch out 24 hours later that I wanted to grow out. She knew she had 3 and when I tried to give it to her she rejected the 4th. That was ok, I had Raven a Marans mix who also was broody and sitting on nothing for a week who took that chick immediately. I will say broody reared chicks are more stable, already integrated into the flock and tend to grow faster than hand reared ones. The one downfall to a broody reared chick is where some mothers are more hands off you do not get that bond right away with them like you do if you raise them yourself. Of course, once the momma's are done with them that is where lots of treats come into play while you work to win them over.Brownie
She is back on the nest now. I guess she reconsidered and decided yes indeed she does want to hatch some eggs.
I gently pried her broody butt out of the nest box took all the eggs moved the ceramic ones to the boxes no one ever uses. All looked well she was eating drinking then went outside and I went back in.
Fast forward to a few hrs later and I go out to close up the coop for the evening and where is Brownie???? In the other nest box where I stuck the fake eggs!! I once again took her out and put her on the roost.
She roosted when I put her there however she drooped over the bar still pancaked. Seriously, this girl is pulling out all the drama and tugging on my heart strings.
My coop is not set up for a mama and chicks!
She is completely unproven. I have 15 viable eggs @ day 7 today that I just candled. These eggs are hopefully gonna be my breeding stock and I am hoping to get a trio of each variety to keep and sell the rest. Because of this I am reticent about giving her the eggs now as she could decided to just give up after a few days.
Assuming I can work something out to have a safe spot for her and some chicks. Here are the options I came up with. I welcome feedback on the options or any other suggestions anyone might have.
-I could let her sit on a few infertile eggs till lock down and then give her three to hatch out.
-I could stuff a few under her after they hatch.
- Or I could just keep trying to dissuade her and attempt to endure her pouting.
Try creeping through the barn in the evening while doing evening chores to check chooks with the lights out….
Agreed with the consistent layers - mine are good laying hens when they aren’t broody, and they lay during the winter also! Good chickies!
If I let Perdita set she will be the 7th hen to hatch or rear chicks since January. I have already had Momma Hen hatch and rear hers. Chiquita adopted and reared the Marshmallows. Goose and Gryffyn are days away from hatching theirs. A week exactly after I set Goose and Gryffyn, Momma Hen went broody again. I give up on breaking that bat so I set her. That very same night my grandmother set Holly. On top of this I have thankfully been able to break up with some effort Raven, Bunny and Karen. Blueberry is acting suspicious, she is thinking about it and so is Chiquita again. I really need to build a few cages off the ground for broody breaking. With my flock, they would never be empty, ever.
I seem to have this strange looking beast in the nestbox, looks like one of those Puli dogs (
I admire your fortitude there @RebeccaBoyd , good for you for NOT letting a good broody go to wasteFor the record, I did not break over and leave 3 eggs in a different nest in the coop today to try to stop Perdita from fighting with Goose over her eggs. Perdita did NOT spot those eggs and immediately run to them and pancake herself onto them. She is NOT currently very happy and growly and bitey on said eggs tonight when I locked up the coop. I am also NOT planning on swapping those eggs out tomorrow with Marans eggs if she is still on them after they are laid. Who am I kidding, I did and am planning on it. Corona and Lilly did not lay their lovely spotted eggs today or she would already have them. This is now 5 broodies, 5
Good comparison with those frizzled feathers. I call mine Poms because Chiquita reminds me of a little orange pom. Branch, he is no tiny dog, he is a mighty gorilla.
