Hatching with 2 broodies

[Teila]

Goood morning Team

RiseUpSunshine, glad to read bubby and mumma are doing great. How old is your Silkie pullet? If she is on her own for the majority of the time her confidence and social skills would be hampered. I'm sorry I am not sure if you mentioned how many chickens you have previously and whether the following is practical. Could you maybe put one of your chickens in with your Silkie pullet for a couple of days? My thoughts being that the chicken who is with the Silkie will bond with her as it would want the company and this would be good for the Silkie's confidence and then when they are both put back with the main flock the Silkies new friend may aid in the integration? Also meeting one chicken would not be as scary for the Silkie as meeting all of them in one go.
Do you just have the one Silkie? Is she just really scared or are your other chickens picking on her also? I read somewhere that sometimes it can be hard for a single Silkie to integrate as the other breeds recognise them as 'different'

When Tina and Suzi (Silkies) were getting picked on or if they were scared they always turned to each other for comfort and support. Sounds like your little Silkie does not have that?

MM, beautiful pictures! I am jealous!

Tina and Suzi are 18 weeks old today .. still no definitive gender. I am still positive that Tina is a pullet. Jury is still out on Suzi. They were doing the little ninja-chicken routine this morning and Suzi backed down to Tina; doesn't sound like something a rooster would do.

We are on the homeward stretch .. Day 17 today. Cilla is doing a wonderful job. Fingers crossed that when I get home from work sometime around the middle of the week I will have a lovely surprise

Time to get myself moving and ready for a trip to the feed store, I need some more lay mash for the big girls, some chick start (just in case lol) and also I need a new waterer for the Chateau.

I figure I will get the mowing out of the way today also as I do not want bubbies first week in the world to include an introduction to the song of a domestic lawn mower.
My girls do not like the lawn mower and edger one bit but they don't mind the end result, grass clippings

 

[texgardengal]

Hi everyone! We had more icy weather...but nothing like yours MM!! wow, your place is beautiful...I'm jealous, well kind of....I wouldn't mind some snow every now and then, it's the ice that is driving me nuts. This is the worst winter I remember. I'm glad you are getting your rain Liz. sounds like you guys needed it. So sorry for the trouble with the presentation Teila. I know we have all been there....but that doesnt really help much. Glad you are feeling better.

Great news about Desi! I'm so glad his new "bedroom" is working out and the neighbors you've talked to have been supportive. You might find them all coming to hang out and visit your girls....and Desi. You might have started something!
Bart and George had a fight. We came home and they both had blood all over them. Bart had it all over his back and George had it all over his mouth and down his chest. Looks like Bart got beat up...Not surprising. He is no nice and never picks on anyone. George is the troublemaker....hes the top dog out there so I guess that's normal but fighting with Bart is not normal. Bart was pretty beat up and I cant have that. He is much better with the girls and Cookie. So, George had to go. He wouldnt stop jumping on Bart with me out after the fight so I was really worried. I'm really sad about it cuz I liked them both so much but having two roos in such a small space was probably too much to expect. So until I add on to the yard I have let George go live with my uncle. He has a really nice coop about 5 miles from me with a bunch of hens and no roo. He has been looking for a rooster and this may work out great until I add on and make the yard a lot bigger.



Bettina is so pretty!!!
Zorro looks like he's back to his old self. Glad he's feeling better.

 

[MistyMountain]

Teila, where has the time gone! I am so excited to see those babies!!!
TGG, i hope you still have power with all that icing!! I hear there are many without power from this storm. Here in the mountains everything shuts down for any amount of ice or snow. No school, businesses close. Roads get super bad. It could snow 10 ft when I grew up in WI and we'd still have school. We had our fun, now I am ready for spring! Oh my goodness. I feel so bad for you having to separate your roosters. Has this happened before? I plan on getting two new roosters this spring for better protection while they free range. Right now Willie can't stay with all of them at once and we have a couple hawks hanging around. I figure more eyes on the sky will be better. I hope it is just cabin fever, but Willie tried to flog me 3 times today. All his aggression was directed towards my boots, which were different than the mudders I usually wear. He doesn't have spurs yet, but if he keeps this up we are going to have a problem. I pinned him down and then carried him around a while. I'm not real happy with the way he has been treating the girls, either. My hubby likes him though, so we will see if this continues. I hope things work out for your boys and that they heal up well.

 

[riseupsunshine]

I had no idea other than trying to get it worked in to my other 2 RIR hens and one game hen that there would be any other issue. I am going to give this a couple more days or so and until then I will (for the sake of my silkie) pull it in and let it stay in the dog kennel. That helps me listen in on what we think we have already heard...it trying to crow. We live in a neighborhood so thankfully we can switch it out for another one if so. Regardless, I believe we are better off with 2 of a kind so I don't mind purchasing one more because I definitely see that our silkie feels shut out.

One of the RIR hens just started laying a couple of days ago and the first egg was found in the bottom of the coop with barely a shell. The last 2 have also been without a shell, just the thin membrane but were at least in the nesting box. I read that this may take a couple of weeks to correct itself, and I hope it does!! All the hens are on layer feed and I crumble up shells and put them out and offer oyster shell. I will start leaving a bowl of the oyster shell perhaps instead of throwing it out in the yard.

I truly enjoy my chickens and I enjoy reading on this website as it really does teach me a lot! Being a full time working mom of 2 boys and a wife I don't have a lot of time to spend here but I have been reading all the posts since I started on this thread and I am grateful for all the help! You all are great!!

My hope is for our family to find a house with some land so we can enjoy our pets and maybe have a couple more. In the county we are in land is not cheap!

Happy Valentine's to you all!

 

[Teila]

Aaaaw TGG, I am also sorry to read that Bart and George had a fight

I was happy to hear mention of Cookie though and at least George is with family and not too far away

MM, I am getting excited also! It was a bit hot today so Cilla got some extra water visits with her special little cup and I boiled her up some eggs for dinner which she ate while she was on the nest. She also took time out for a short dust bath. By the time these bubbies hatch she will have been at it for 4 weeks. She has lost a little bit of weight and I am looking forward to the hatch for her sake also; she so deserves some bubbies for all her effort.

The Chateau has a small wired, covered run and today I put up an little fence off that so they have more area to explore but definitely supervised because it is not covered. I will be able to open it up when I get home from work to give them that extra area

Oooh sounds like Willie might be getting a bit too big for his boots; but not too big for yours though lol. I do hope you are successful in teaching him who is boss; especially if you get more roosters as you plan. I love how you pinned him down then picked him up and carried him around. I can imagine what he was thinking .. "this is not cool" lol

Happy Valentine's Day to you also riseupsunshine. It is nice to have you here, albeit lurking in the background

I have not had any experience with soft shelled eggs but it sounds like you have their calcium needs covered. I have read that you should not mix the shell in with their food and keep it separate for them to peck at when they wish; so your leaving a bowl for them sounds like a good plan (that is what I do).
When I feed my girls boiled egg I mash it, shell as well, so that it looks nothing like an egg. Don't want to give them ideas

. Definitely good for them though.

I would also love to move out of the suburbs and onto some land. Hopefully one day, but definitely not for a while yet. Maybe when I retire. Before I had my garden and chickens I used to say I would get bored if I gave up work but definitely don't say that now; I have lots to keep me amused

Everyone is tucked up in bed now; Dusty is cuddled up with Tina and Suzi. Cilla has obviously decided that she is not tired and is nattering away to the bubbies in egg shell pyjamas

 

[tommysgirl]

not a good pic but those are my two bantam eggs. I took them last night.from the broody mama and put them in the bator b/c I started worrying about all the scenarios.

1) that they would hatch first and Penny would abandon her nest and leave the other 3...I really want those to hatch too
2) that they would be smooshed if they didn't hatch first either by the hatching chicks or mama
3) that there would be some kind of trouble and because of where Penny is brooding, no one would see and the little ones would...you guessed it. Be smooshed

So we looked in them and they were both more full than on Tuesday and the one at the top of screen was wiggling in there. Pretty darned exciting

Dad is a white silkie, mama is a D'Uccle. Neither of these babies will be silkie but they will both carry the gene. If there is a little girl we breed her back to a silkie and half the babies will be silkied in the next generation...how fun in that. A silkied Mille Fleur D'Uccle!


Temp is good and humidity is still a bit low...shooting for 65% and it is hovering about 55%

Stay warm all you people with snow and Ice. My 1st born is flying off to NJ to join her twin sister today

Glad the big storms of earlier in the week are taking a break.

TGG sorry about your boys. We have to keep ours separated and even so they fight through the wire. So glad he can be close by.

MM I know I would be sick of it eventually but I sure love your pics and your descriptions of your mountain...makes me want to cuddle up by a fire and read a good book

Liz how goes the bed time situation with Desi?

Teila love the image of Cilla nattering away to those babies in their egg shell PJs.

 

[texgardengal]

RU I'm glad you are going to get the silkie a friend. Cookie was, and has been alone since her hatchmate (little penguin) didn't make it through one of our coldest nights... Cookie, like your silkie, came in the house at night and made a sweet little house chicken for awhile. It was great fun for us, but it didn't do much for integrating her into the flock. She is still the lone chick out there, no one to pal around with but she is tough and is now slowly but surely closing the gap between herself and the others. Now that Sassy and Molly are both broody....that may be making things a bunch easier, although Molly is trying to steal ALL the eggs and spends most of the time on the nest. I remember my aunt had silkies a few years ago and they are a special breed..so we should defer to Teila on the Silkies....and get her a buddy. a lone little in a flock of the same or similar breed has a hard enough time! Silkies need friends. I agree. I love this site...this thread especially....I also have 2boys a job, and a hubby. DD has already left the nest lol. And I find my chickens and BYC is my relaxation, my stress relief....I don't know what I would do without having the gals here to talk to about getting my little flock started. So glad you joined in!

MM, no, to the power outages for me. Thank goodness! So many people have had their power out for days. I also saw on the news a little town about 30 miles from me is completely without gas....the whole town lost their main gas line and had no heat for a week. They had to bring in portable tanks for the hospital. I've never heard of a whole town losing heat...lol. Everyone ran out to get little electric space heaters and the nearby stores quickly ran out....they did set up several shelters so people did have a warm place to sleep. No, I have NEVER had a fight between the roosters. George was the boss. They got along great..I thought? Bart never tried to be the boss??? George would do the evil eye thing...lol. Take a couple steps toward Bart but Bart would always turn and walk away. They never came even remotely close to a battle of any kind. Neither roosters have ever been aggressive to me. BUT I am now really scared because the fight was serious. Bart is the sweetest rooster. So great with the girls and took Cookie under his wing when Molly didn't domher job as momma hen. And I will NOT put up with an aggressive roo. I could work through him jumping at my feet...lol. Like you, MM. (I love the way you handle him Hahahaha). But there is a point when someone gets hurt, and I have to protect George, I know he did nothing to provoke this.
I won a lovely coop on ebay and am waiting for delivery. I'm making a very large yard....for the chickens. And adding the second coop. So they can free range...to a point but will still be protected from the neighborhood dogs. My plan is for bringing George back when we have a way to keep them separated or have room for them both.
Am getting anxious for Cilla! That's adorable.....her chatting to the eggs....OK let's get things straight....here's how it's gonna be gang!

 

[texgardengal]

Hey TG. I'm going to draw on your experience....you have mentioned incubating and raising chicks yourself. I have 10 eggs that Molly and Sassy are sitting on. I have a neighbor who feels certain his momma hen will adopt and raise just fine but I want to know a little bit more about how you do it. After hatching, do you just set them up in the house with a heat lamp and for how long? At what point do you take them outside. I guess you would have to supply supplemental heat til they are feathered out . Will you keep them in the coops you just built after they get a little bigger.? Will they have access to the larger "yard" so they can meet the rest of the flock? 20 questions, hu. Lol. Any help you can give me, I'd really appreciate.
I Can't Wait! To see how your hatching combinations are going to turn out this next generation.

 

[texgardengal]

I'm also really frustrated at my lack of hens....possibly a problem that triggered my rooster issue....have a new coop coming and I had bought all this fencing for the new large yard in preparation for the hens I was planning on purchasing at the stock show that was earlier this month!! There was a huge poultry show and I was planning on having a lot of hens right now. It would have been perfect to have the selection and be able to get pullets....bringing them straight home. I have no experience with shipping animals. Anyone know if it is difficult to ship larger birds....other than eggs?? I am having no luck finding local poultry shows. Hubby and the boys all caught the flu and I had to miss the show.

 

[lizgarf]

Mornin' everyone! So much activity on our little thread! We might reach 1000 posts before the next broody hatch!

TGG, I am so sorry to hear about the George/Bart trouble. Here I was thinking your boys proved the majority wrong and you could have two roosters together. I'm so glad you found a good home for George, though.

The Desi situation is going great, all, thanks for asking. I heard from another neighbor who said she loved the sound of the chickens and rooster and would love to come visit the farm. So, all good news from the flier, so far! And, how nice to get to know more neighbors! Who knew a rooster would bring us together? His sleeping arrangements don't stop him from crowing altogether, but they help enough that he hasn't woken me up once since trying this. I can hear him once I'm up and about, but it's not very loud. I think it also reduces his exposure to sudden light or sound in the middle of the night which could trigger crowing. Now that he's trying to mate, though, it's causing a bit of tension. The hens do not seem to appreciate it, and I've also seen them pecking each other in a way that resembles Desi's mating attempts a bit. I hope this sorts itself out. He's still very docile with me - I'm not looking forward to spurs!

MM, I love the idea of a sled to your coop. I'm trying to picture how a sled would work out on my super-steep lot if global weirding ever brought me enough snow to try it. Probably not very well, but it'd be memorable!

Still waiting for Marsha's first egg - she's been squatting for 3 days now and is definitely interested in the nesting boxes. I'm thinking of putting a divider in my one big box, because sometimes they like being in there together and sometimes they don't. Bettina has a way of setting up shop in there all day long on the days she's laying, and there's not much room for anyone else when she takes it over. Any opinions on dividers v. communal nests?

I know I always talk about Desi, but I wanted to give Lucy a shout out today. She's really getting beautiful - almost all her black feathers have beetle green/blue/purple sheen. And, her comb/wattles are turning red. How funny would it be if she started laying before her broody mom, Frida, returned to it!
This picture is from a few days ago - her comb is redder today (photo-bombed by Jan):