SamLockwood
Songster
- Sep 29, 2022
- 494
- 1,005
- 186
Not really a problem or a question, just noting some interesting behavior in my mixed flock.
The second year in a row I let some of my broodies hatch chicks & keets, as well as some "back-ups" I hatched indoors.
Last year only a pair of chicks made it and the mothers raised them separately. I also figured out the guinea hens don't care to raise or hatch their own eggs, but are content to let the broody chickens hatch them for them. Which would be ideal except the guineas don't have any regard for the hatchlings in the nesting box and will attack and / or trample them depending on her temperament.
This year things got a bit weird.
First, their was this odd custody battle between four of the broodies over the five that they hatched. No direct violence, just bristling and this odd sort of wrestling match where one would lean into the other and then if she managed to dislodge a chick try to herd it under her, and then the other would return the favor.
I ended up buidling a "screen door" setup in their coop and progressively separated hens from the young until I found the one that seemed willing to raise all five, which was the olive egger I nickenamed "yellowbeard."
The youngest of the broodies gave up on the first day and walked away, but the other two ("blackbeard" another olive egger and "pet", a cream legbar) would hang out by the screen all day and make excited noises every time they saw the babies emerge.
After a week if separation, I tentatively let yellowbeard and the youngsters out for her to train them and introduce them to the flock. She swatted the other to hens when she first went out to let them know who was boss, but otherwise the three pretty peacefully shared parenting duties of the four keets and one chick they'd hatched.
A week later I moved the keets and chicks I'd hatched indoors to the outdoor brooder, and the two lesser moms started showing interst in the new arrivals to the point that about a week later I let those youngsers interact and while yellowbeard wasn't fond of the "strange kids" (except for the two guinea keets, because I don't think she could tell them apart from the others) the other two moms made friendly gestures to the youngsters: showing them treats and trying to get them to follow.
The weird moment was when the two "indoor" guinea keets decided to follow the other four keets into the coop that evening.
As the weeks went by (they're all 8 weeks old at this point), the youngsters seem to have pretty much merged, and while the "beards" have more or less cut them loose apart from roosting with them at night, "pet" still hangs out with them all day.
To date this has been the smoothest merging of new birds into the flock: once the "indoor" youngsters started merging with the "outdoor" ones the non-mothering adults pretty much ignored them apart from minor "you're lower in the pecking order than me" antics.
Also for second year in a row, the roosters start taking on training duties with the older chicks and keets: mainly teaching them the danger signs and where to hide.
The second year in a row I let some of my broodies hatch chicks & keets, as well as some "back-ups" I hatched indoors.
Last year only a pair of chicks made it and the mothers raised them separately. I also figured out the guinea hens don't care to raise or hatch their own eggs, but are content to let the broody chickens hatch them for them. Which would be ideal except the guineas don't have any regard for the hatchlings in the nesting box and will attack and / or trample them depending on her temperament.
This year things got a bit weird.
First, their was this odd custody battle between four of the broodies over the five that they hatched. No direct violence, just bristling and this odd sort of wrestling match where one would lean into the other and then if she managed to dislodge a chick try to herd it under her, and then the other would return the favor.
I ended up buidling a "screen door" setup in their coop and progressively separated hens from the young until I found the one that seemed willing to raise all five, which was the olive egger I nickenamed "yellowbeard."
The youngest of the broodies gave up on the first day and walked away, but the other two ("blackbeard" another olive egger and "pet", a cream legbar) would hang out by the screen all day and make excited noises every time they saw the babies emerge.
After a week if separation, I tentatively let yellowbeard and the youngsters out for her to train them and introduce them to the flock. She swatted the other to hens when she first went out to let them know who was boss, but otherwise the three pretty peacefully shared parenting duties of the four keets and one chick they'd hatched.
A week later I moved the keets and chicks I'd hatched indoors to the outdoor brooder, and the two lesser moms started showing interst in the new arrivals to the point that about a week later I let those youngsers interact and while yellowbeard wasn't fond of the "strange kids" (except for the two guinea keets, because I don't think she could tell them apart from the others) the other two moms made friendly gestures to the youngsters: showing them treats and trying to get them to follow.
The weird moment was when the two "indoor" guinea keets decided to follow the other four keets into the coop that evening.
As the weeks went by (they're all 8 weeks old at this point), the youngsters seem to have pretty much merged, and while the "beards" have more or less cut them loose apart from roosting with them at night, "pet" still hangs out with them all day.
To date this has been the smoothest merging of new birds into the flock: once the "indoor" youngsters started merging with the "outdoor" ones the non-mothering adults pretty much ignored them apart from minor "you're lower in the pecking order than me" antics.
Also for second year in a row, the roosters start taking on training duties with the older chicks and keets: mainly teaching them the danger signs and where to hide.
