Hatching with 2 broodies

[16 paws]

tommysgirl,
Love your pix of everyone. I never tire of seeing mama with her babies

I really like the one with Mama on the hill with Astrid and the Del Chick, they look like they are having fun scouting around for bugs.
The new little fluffies are precious and mama looks very intent on keeping a good watchful eye on them. Sorry about the 4th egg.
Have a great Sunday up there in northern Ca. We have had a great week of very mild weather here in the 70,s. Love it after that heat wave and the fires.
Pancake is on day 21 today buy I will be surprised if anything hatches. I peeked at the eggs day before and of course there was a broken egg in there,(seems like I cant get away from that) and they all look pretty soiled. The fertility thing is still an issue also with the roo being a bit too small for the hens.
Oh well, we shall see what happens.
She sure sits tight on them that is for sure.
There has been a lot of squirrels going into her coop thru the run and I wonder if they are trying to mess with her eggs?
I am getting real sick of those guys getting in and eating all the food. Anyone have any great ideas on how to keep them out feel free to share.
Marie

 

[Farmer Viola]

Chickens rarely kill their chick's when they hatch. Some just sort of wander away and ignore the chicks...which kills them just the same.

thanks, that is so reassuring to know that it happens so rarely. I guess the good mother part comes in when they have to actually care for their chicks after hatch!

@Farmer Viola hi, welcome to the team! I think that you should be able to see whether your hen can cover 12 eggs comfortably - I.e. If none are sticking out and she isn't adjusting things constantly, you are good to go. 12 sounds reasonable to me, but it always depends on the hen. Great idea to test with fake ones first!

I very much doubt she would kill the chicks... I know there are things you can read about that sort of thing, but I honestly think that's 0.01% of all broodies that might do that. The broody instinct is usually to protect them, even if they had never done it before. Did you see my Bonnie a few posts back with 13 chicks? She is a first time broody too, and those didn't even hatch under her, but in the bator, yet she took them all under her wing.

If you are really worried, try to time it so you can be around on the day they hatch and watch/listen for anything unusual... But I really doubt you have anything to worry about, those that go broody so early are generally great moms! In any case, best of luck and keep us posted!

thank you so much! I did see your photos haha, I was actually counting the chicks to see how many she had! I counted 12 once and 13 once lol. what an awesome broody mother to have accepted them out of the incubator as well. in my mind feeling them hatch out under herself would be a huge part of realizing that Eggs now = Chicks, but what do I know. broodies are just amazing creatures!

okay, 12 it is. none were sticking out, and she has rounded out her nest and plucked her breast, so I think we're going for it. I went ahead and snuck the eggs in today, so I marked the calendar for June 29th. she was up off the nest taking a dirt bath so I just replaced them while she was away.

it's very reassuring to know that hens killing chicks is more rare than regular. sometimes those worst-case-scenarios get me all wound up/worried. but really, I should just let her do her thing. she knows way more about it than I do!

how long do hens usually keep chicks in their nest? I imagine just long enough to fully feather, then they can go back to the roost?

I have separated Bertha (my broody BCM) in her own nest which is a cat carrier pet taxi on the floor of the coop. It's larger than our nest boxes (which are milk crate cubes), and it's rectangle shaped so I have room to put food or water dishes in there if I need to, when the chicks are out. originally, she set in a nest that was up off the ground (stacked 2 milk crates high) and I didn't think that would be good for the chicks! so she was relocated.

each day so far (3 days) she has gotten up just once, taken a long extensive dirt bath (or multiple), ate a little, drank a little, bathed again, then went back to sit. she is up for a little while, maybe 20 or 30 minutes. I spot check the flock for mites and we haven't had any yet this year. I think since she's dirt bathing hopefully it won't be an issue...


Teila thank you, I am honestly SO EXCITED to have the opportunity to witness a hen raising chicks within my flock! it has been a long time coming. my first year, I had non broody production breeds, then no rooster so no fertiles. but this time everything is right and the weather is warm . it could not be more perfect!

lovely photos also, I love that mother and daughter shot!

tommysgirl wow you have so many broodies, who the heck needs an incubator?! that is truly awesome. the eggs from my friend are Mottled Javas. I set 6 of those, and 6 Blue Laced red Wyandottes. the wyandottes are from my hen, she's also 7 mos old like Bertha. her eggs are medium sized, not jumbo, so I hope the size will also help with the number. I have no doubt she can cover 12, since the ceramic eggs were bigger!
love the photos, especially the mama with her wings spread and the chicks with her. soon !!!

 

[missnu01]

Well its a toss up between them staying tight on the eggs and them caring for the chick's after hatch. Usually a hen that sits well will take good care of her chicks. It's rare that chickens are poor mothers

 

[Teila]

Good morning Team

TG, good to read that things are stable again; that is a lot of broodies and once again, I am in awe of your commitment and plan … no plan whatsoever here; except to hopefully celebrate a break in the egg drought some time between now and the end of the year

Adorable pics and bubbies TG .. I love Stella’s colouring

MN01, I am pleased the woods broody was spotted again today. If you cannot find her there is hopefully a good chance that predators cannot find her either. I would guess that she is keeping a very low profile and nice and quiet out there. I kind of feel sorry for her, thinking about her out in the woods, all alone for the majority of the time. Broodies at home would at least have other chickens to watch and listen to. Hoping that she comes out soon with bubbies in tow and you can keep them all at home and safe.

16 paws, sorry, no squirrel experience here. The only squirrels I have seen in Aus were in a zoo; free ranging on the zoo grounds.

Wooo hoo at Day 21; I so have everything crossed that you have a wonderful surprise

FV, I am excited for you also; the next 21 days is going to seem like an eternity I have made a decision to not hatch anymore as I can only have 6 chickens and already have 5. I also can not have roosters and find it very difficult to find someone to take them. Having said that, what is the bet that I cave the next time I have a broody? Lol. If I do, I would definitely get some more eggs from Blondie’s breeder, although 4 of the 5 turned out to be roosters, they were beautiful birds. I do not know if I can pass on the opportunity to experience a broody hen with her bubbies, I really do think I would miss it.

Cilla has had two hatches so if I do cave, I think I will do so when one of the others become broody to give them a chance at motherhood also; Cilla has had two turns at it

Cilla’s first hatch we sadly had some mites in the nest as she was not dust bathing but a dusting with Pestene fixed that up pretty smartly and did not affect the hatch. Sometimes the mites are inevitable and we just have to deal with them at the time.

In my experience mumma will start taking the chicks from the nest for lessons once all the eggs have hatched out or she makes the decision to leave any unhatched eggs. Cilla cut the cord with her Silkie bubbies when they were 5 weeks old because she wanted to go back to the roost at night and they wanted to sleep in a pile. It has been different this time around because Blondie went to the roost with mumma and they still have a mother/daughter bond at 4 months.

Ah well, time to get my day started … I love 3 day weekends! Looking forward to all of your news and pictures.

 

[ShelbyCoral]

Somehow missed your post while reading through before, Shelby - sorry! Not sure what you mean by "straight" and why you think Marek's? what's wrong with the chick? The ones you posted pics of are adorable! I'm no expert, but your yellow baby definitely has silkie in it (furry legs!) - which isn't very helpful since that could be either on mom's or dad's side. Not pure silkie though, since it has yellow legs... so polish x silkie I guess if you had no other breeds at the time, which means some funky hairdo! I can see both black and red in the spots, so hard to guess on which color. Can't wait to see that one feathered out.

I'm not sure on this but I believe mareks doesn't show in really young chicks. Mareks isn't quite as prevalent as the Internet would make it seem, or rather it is as prevalent as most birds have it. But it is just like how most people have been exposed to toxoplasmosis. Does it make some people sick? Yes, but most people are exposed with no symptoms. Just as most chickens have been exposed to mareks but not a whole lot show symptoms. And most of the symptoms of mareks can be caused by a multitude of other things. Like did you know moldy feed can also cause one sided paralysis that seems just like mareks? Starts with usually one leg and then travels and you end sometimes with a bird that can't stop moving it's head, and the mold thing can manifest in a bunch of different ways just like mareks. The problem is when your estate an adult bird they are usually positive for mareks, although it is very possible it wasn't the mareks that may have killed them. It's weird but if you really read read and reread all the studies it is pretty interesting and I just see on here a million posts about my chicken has mareks, my chicken has mareks...and it is possible as most chickens do, but most chickens immune systems use the exposure much like human beings use exposure to strange bacterial diseases like the aforementioned toxoplasmosis. It's the big one I can think of. There's another one that they think some like 80% of Americans suffer from I can't think of the name of it. Anyway... There are lots of things out there that present the same but are not deadly except in rare cases. I experience the mold mareks when I first got chickens. 2 chicks just went wonky on me out of 8 and a broody I bought. I figured mareks because one started limping well keeping one foot balled and walking on top of it, then limping so it could hardly walk, then another started the balled foot thing, and by now I was convinced it was mareks and was ready to watch all my chickens die.. those 2 kept declining, went scissor legged and then lost control of their necks.. like they wanted to look at everything upside down so we culled those 2 and waited. But then I allowed the feeder to run empty and at the very bottom apparently water had gotten in there somehow and there was just caked on mold in the feeder. Black and green angry looking stuff. Never had another chicken fall I'll the way those 2 did. And I've had hundreds since then. So if it was mareks it only affected 2 out of the ton of chickens I've had...but the mold is much more likely. Especially when compared with my reading into mareks.

Hello again Tee hee 16 paws, I thought it was an appropriate cartoon. Hello and welcome Farmer Viola I agree with everyone else and would probably not go with more than 12. Good luck with your hatch; it is a wonderful thing to experience (if not sometimes a little stressful ) Sorry IC, I may have read that wrong; I thought you were wondering because he was getting prettier but then I reread and realized you meant the white one :/ My turn to apologize for lots of pictures but we had a wonderful day in the garden and I so wanted to share it with you guys. First up, I thought I would start with the garden: All my little garden helpers: Now they are helping me eat lunch; all that work in the garden built up their appetite: For the Bondie fans (non blurry ): Mother & Daughter: A kiss for Mum: Best buds: Poor ole Dusty; I struggle to get a good picture of her: Tina: LuLu: The whole family in their favourite spot in the garden:

My chick is breathing heavy, I put an SO on my post got my sebright... sorry I haven't replI'd in a while. Blondie is amazing looking!

 

[16 paws]

Another question for anyone who knows.....I know I am annoying with so many questions huh? Sorry....
I am on day 3 of ff. After I stirred it up a bit I noticed it was bubbling a little. Is that normal and or ok? I put it in a large igloo cooler in my garage with the lid cracked so no explosions.
Marie

 

[ShelbyCoral]

Stupid auto correct!

 

[Teila]

Thank you SC, yes Blondie is definitely turning into a very pretty little girl

16 paws I am doing my FF slightly different to you in that I am using the 3 day x 3 jar method. Each day they get a jar of FF that has been set for 3 days. It sounds like you are using the one batch, take out, top up method. To answer your question, which is definitely not annoying, the bubbling is part of the process and is just the gasses escaping. My jars start to bubble on day 2.

 

[tommysgirl]

If it makes anyone feel better I got 3 eggs today from 13.5 hens...the heat gets to them...the winners in the neither sleet nor snow nor dead of night contest are Blanche...CA Grey Buckbeak.....Australorp and a tiny first post broody egg from Julie ... sizzle.

 

[Teila]

Gees, TG, thanks for trying but nope, it does not make me feel better. 0 eggs from 5 chickens for 3.5 months ... I win! lolz

lolz at "neither sleet nor snow nor dead of night contest". What good little girls for going above and beyond to keep the sizzle alive