Grafting 5 BO chicks to the original Silkie cross hatch of 9, all at about 2 weeks age, wish us luck

[Dumb Kluck]

A nod to chicken math, I wanted 5-7 laying hens, bought five 8 &10 month old girls and started receiving eggs day one. FF a couple months, I picked up a couple of pullets who started laying within a few weeks of purchase, one went broody & hatched 9 silkie mix bantam chicks, all of which are doing well at 2-3 weeks old, and I just couldn't resist picking up 5 Buff Orphington chicks of same age to foster in/swap out with some of the silkies. Trying to get the family I got my fertile silkie X sussex eggs from to take a few of the fluff balls back so I can stay at about 9 chicks and still look forward to a few substantial dual purpose birds, but I suspect (hope?) the second pullet is thinking about brooding & I want Americauna/EE blue/green eggers in my flock, and so does my friend down the road... I figure we will need to pick up at least a dozen blue eggs, if not 18 to share. I've already divided my henhouse & runs into two separate areas, but I think I might have to build another coop! *sigh* does it ever end? Is there a tipping point at which I can stop needing/wanting/accumulating chicks & chickens? I'm zoned for 280 birds and at this rate I'll max out in about 6 months LOL....

Anyone have an incubator for sale? If so don't EVER tell me about it

 

[Dumb Kluck]

And... it's not going to work. I slipped the 5 new additions under her after dark, she kept them warm all night & in the morning

she noticed there were new chicks & decided that they are a threat to HER brood (all fostered eggs mind you) :/ the 5 buffs end up huddled together hiding from her in fear for their lives :/ So far no ones been hurt, just a couple missing wing feathers...
I even tried to spot the head feathers a little with a magic marker, so they wouldn't stand out so easily from her other yellow chicks,

no bueno. The 9 original chicks don't mind the newbies at all, are curious & friendly with them, but mom is viciously determined to keep them away. She's going to teach her chicks to pick on them if I leave them together... So they are in my bathtub at the moment and now I'm trying to find them a home... apparently my tipping point is right around where the chickens start to creep into the house.

 

[donrae]

Sorry you got stuck with chicks, but yeah, 2+ weeks is to far out for a hen to adopt chicks. By then her mind is firmly set on who is hers and who is a threat to her clutch.

 

[happyhens1972]

Not only are the chicks too old for her to adopt but they are too old to accept her too. The adoption process works both ways and chicks of that age will not necessarily be able to accept her as an influence as they are already independently self sufficient, having got to their current age without a momma hen.

 

[Dumb Kluck]

The BO chicks are out of the bathtub and in a screen top wood box in the shop (shop has a swap cooler for hot afternoons). My husband really doesn't want to share the workshop with chickens but it's preferable to having them in the house, and I know he's right LOL. So far no interest locally in taking them for what I gave for them ($4ea), and I woke up fairly convinced that I picked all roos. Should I raise them for meat (probably have to sell them live because I can't even pluck a chicken for my own table) or try to give them away as chicks just to be done with it? I hate give away animals because of the risk to the animals...

 

[donrae]

I'd continue to advertise them. I've sold hens up to two weeks after putting them on CL. Course, you'll have to resign yourself to brooding them in the meantime. Nice thing about this time of year is they can get outside sooner

 

[Dumb Kluck]

I'd continue to advertise them. I've sold hens up to two weeks after putting them on CL. Course, you'll have to resign yourself to brooding them in the meantime. Nice thing about this time of year is they can get outside sooner

hopefully the marks-a-lot wears off by the time someone wants them... so I don't have to explain why these Buffs have dark spots on their heads

 

[blucoondawg]

The up side to raising them is possibly you are wrong on the sex and there are some hens, if you still don't want to keep them at that time you could sell them for more money (usually, this depends on your local market), a point of lay hen can get a good price I'd say 15-25 dollars and I have sold adult roosters for 10 dollars just to someone I knew, never advertised one, they just wanted a rooster for their flock so I sold them my extra barred roc

 

[Dumb Kluck]

The up side to raising them is possibly you are wrong on the sex and there are some hens, if you still don't want to keep them at that time you could sell them for more money (usually, this depends on your local market), a point of lay hen can get a good price I'd say 15-25 dollars and I have sold adult roosters for 10 dollars just to someone I knew, never advertised one, they just wanted a rooster for their flock so I sold them my extra barred roc

I awoke with a strong "knowing", a persistent conclusion based on the 20 +/- hours of time to reflect upon the previous days events . I chose 5 that all looked alike and I chose the smallish, less feathered chicks... opposite of what I should have done with Buff Oprh chicks of this age... I may have misunderstood when told that they were 2-3 weeks old, and chose the smaller (younger?) except that the seller probably meant between 2 & 3 weeks (as in 2.5 +/- weeks old)... I'd keep any hens LOL, that's why I wanted to graft some real chickens into the hatch, my broodys' chicks are 1/2 silkie mixes from another backyard. Young male BOs would make great meat birds, but it might cost as much or more to feed them than I'd get back. Meanwhile; my self inflicted chick crisis is averted for at least a month, by which point I must devise another poultry pen. Their brooder box would make a fine sleeping coop if I could provide a safe run... perhaps the garden will do if I still have them in a month. *sigh*

 

[Dumb Kluck]

Put the Buffs broody cage in the middle of the broody hens secure run so all chicks could freely mingle in and out of the broody cage but miss meany mother cant. She squawked and tried to get the poor Orphs but couldn't peck them through the cage... 10 minutes later... all the buffs are out of the broody cage (except to cuddle in their box at night) and 75% of the mother hens silkie x's are in the broody cage LOL. Mother gave up trying to attack them, as long as they stay 18 inches or more from "her" and shes indifferent about the chicks mingling nearby LOL.

And so, all the chicks mingle and play very well, there are chicken clicks forming, but when mom weans her chicks, all 14 of the chicks are already a gang LOL too numerous for the other 5 hens to haggle much. If no one buys my buffs as chicks, and if they are all roos, then I will have to eat a few organic chickens... maybe I should just take the ad down since everyone is living together and ...

I like chicken.

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