Hatching with 2 broodies

[missnu01]

Hi everyone! MM darling babies and doting mama! I love the color variety! IC Sorry about Genere's infertile eggs....what you need is a full sized hensemenator! Exciting news about your pending egg deliveries! Re Cosmo and Stella...uhmmm yeah I tried looking at skin color when they first hatched...I hear it is not the same as leg color...and their fuzz was too dense. It sounds totally lame like I don't even know my kids' eye colors but I don't know what to tell you. I pretty much let them come to me and I don't handle them much so yeah...I dunno Gracie Belle's eggs are due to hatch on Saturday. She has pooed her nest multiple times and a couple of the eggs are really gross!. I take her off and she goes right back on. Can'f fault her dedication but am concerned about the health of the embryo pooed upon eggs..One is pretty yucky. What would you do? Godiva has been on the nest for a week! She is getting chicks from my 4th of July hatch and today Norma...who always has an attitude so it is hard to tell...seemed to be going broody again as well. I think I will give Norma eggs early next week but I might give her chicks too. We are going on vacation July 17-21 and I don't want broody chick swapping going on. The chicks I would give Norma are Marans that I am going to be chick sitting. They are hatching today. I am picking them up on Friday morning. In exchange for watching them for 10 days I get to keep however many I want. I think I will keep 5 but don't know if I will be able to tell who is what at that point. If I pick 5 cockerels I will be a) unsurprised, b) gravely disappointed c) receiving the chicken keeping award for worst luck of the season d) all of the above I am trying to figure out the best/safest way to house all these broodies and babies. I do love my broodies but I am perfectly fine with not getting any more for awhile!

I hope you don't pick all boys!! I am in the same situation on finding safe housing for my broody. I have convinced myself that I am going to list the crazy leghorn cockerels and my 7 laying leghorns for sale. Call it my learning curve. They just are not my breed. I will lose more than I have in them, but it will save me in the long run.

Guess what?! Woods broody has returned with 15 peepers following right along

Yay!!! Love this!! Got a question for you all with mommas and chicks. MJ has them all off the nest in their little cage. They are eating, drinking and sunning. My problem is MJ keeps scratching and dumping out the food in the little bowl!! How do you put food out for yours? Question 2-- One Chica egg left and MJ stays off the nest with the babies a lot. I candled it and it looks to me like it is to "term" but there is no movement. I also did the float test. It floats as it should, but again, no movement. Should I just remove it and call it quits? Do you think it could still be alive though there is no movement?

well if they dump it then they eat it off the ground..no big deal

 

[16 paws]

I ferment mine as well, but I am fazing out of it for while we are on vacation. Gotta make things as easy as possible. My biggest culprit is Momma. One swipe and she sends bowl across the coop (and any chicks, for that matter!!)

Well you just tell mama that Marie said to knock it off!!!! What is she teaching the littles with that behavior???

 

[Lesa Mae]

well if they dump it then they eat it off the ground..no big deal

I don't worry about it too much I even throw some around on the floor for them to peck around for along with some meal worms every now and then as a treat! They get really excited when I throw it on the floor they know there are treats in there !

 

[missnu01]

missnu01
That is so awesome, what a great broody woods mama she is.  Good that you caught them and made them safe for now. How did she get all those eggs out there I wonder?
Marie

well she quit laying in the coop...because she was laying in the woods. My other hens laid in the woods for a couple of days, but I started locking them all in the coop. So my other hens would lay where they should but woods mama would hold it til I did let them out and then she would take off. What prompted her to go ahead and live in the woods was me penning her In the partition for younger chickens that is in the coop... but she kept squawking and squawking and I knew what she was doing so I felt bad and let her go, and that was when she stopped coming back to the coop. Lol. The babies she brought back are all hers. I know because her eggs are half the size of everyone elses... so her chick's are half sized as well. So I'm guessing my other larger hen's eggs she left sitting out there since they hatch earlier than her own. But I have no idea where they are so... oh well she hatched her 15 and that's good enough for us

 

[ItalyChickie]

I ferment mine as well, but I am fazing out of it for while we are on vacation. Gotta make things as easy as possible. My biggest culprit is Momma. One swipe and she sends bowl across the coop (and any chicks, for that matter!!)

That made me giggle - Cenere does that too, she is just really clumsy with those feathered feet, but the chicks actually seem to think it's a fun game with mom, and position themselves on the feathers to take off, watched that a few times!

My other broodies are less clumsy but they still get the food on the ground - I don't worry too much, but I do try to separate the eating and drinking area from the sleeping area, so there is less bedding to throw into the water and food. The separation is very improvised, usually with wooden blocks (think Lego construction), but it serves the purpose, and they have fun jumping on and off the blocks.

If there are late hatches they aren't going to make it. I don't know where her nest was still. But 15 chick's from a bantam is pretty good I'd say

"Pretty good"? I'd say that the understatement of the year! 15 for a bantam is amazing!!!! Your woody broody takes the most devoted mother prize.

A few more fluffy butt pics!

OH THE CUTENESS!!!!

No major news here - eggs are being shipped, broodies are sitting, all going as planned, for now anyway. Still wondering whether to keep Chiocciola sitting yet another 3 weeks, or just break her and raise the future babies myself...

The Cochin feather growth is still inconclusive - there's the definite girl with most feathers, definite boy with the least, and 4 that are right in-between. Crests actually suggest the same - still a grayish non-color on the definite girl, getting pink at the base on the definite boy, yellow on the other 4. I guess according to Mother Nature, it would be too easy to have some sort of a distinct separation - where's the fun in that? (my guess is still 4 girls 2 boys, as the comb on one of those other 4 is a bit more defined and orange-y.)

The Orps are also growing feathers as predicted, except for the penciled one who caught up in wing length and is looking rather girly now, also smaller than the others and with thinner legs... hopefully my first guess was wrong! The lavender and blue one, on the other hand, are definite boys, with already quite pink combs and not even 4 weeks old yet!


I have a couple of stories to tell today, too.

First, we had a bit of a drama this morning: for some unknown reason, Dora was playing the "let's see if I can reach the highest branch on this tree" game by the fence... she was pretty high, too, or so I gather because when one of the dogs ran to the entrance to bark at a passer-by, she got spooked and flew/fell into the neighbors backyard! It was rather early, around 6.30 am, so I wasn't sure what to do, as they were still sleeping... thankfully, their dogs were still sleeping too and not in the backyard, which was closed off from the rest and which allowed Dora to find a decent hiding place in the bushes when she realized that getting back over was not that easy... I did go calling them shortly after 7 (the time they usually wake up) and recovered Dora who luckily made no effort to escape. She stuck by Clyde for the rest of the day and came nowhere near any of the fences - hopefully lesson learned!

The second one is more of a mystery... I found a teeny tiny white egg in the coop today - right next to one of my regular big Red Star brown eggs! And by tiny, I don't mean pullet tiny or silkie tiny - I mean more like sparrow egg tiny. Have seen those around once in a while when they fall from tree nests etc, but in the coop??? Really really strange! Wonder if a wild bird decided my coop was the perfect spot for raising chicks, but then changed her mind when one of the hens got into that same nest?

Here's a comparison pic - side by side just as I found them:

 

[ShelbyCoral]

Ah there could still be babies out there, scared... Dx

 

[ShelbyCoral]

That made me giggle - Cenere does that too, she is just really clumsy with those feathered feet, but the chicks actually seem to think it's a fun game with mom, and position themselves on the feathers to take off, watched that a few times! My other broodies are less clumsy but they still get the food on the ground - I don't worry too much, but I do try to separate the eating and drinking area from the sleeping area, so there is less bedding to throw into the water and food. The separation is very improvised, usually with wooden blocks (think Lego construction), but it serves the purpose, and they have fun jumping on and off the blocks. "Pretty good"? I'd say that the understatement of the year! 15 for a bantam is amazing!!!! Your woody broody takes the most devoted mother prize. OH THE CUTENESS!!!! No major news here - eggs are being shipped, broodies are sitting, all going as planned, for now anyway. Still wondering whether to keep Chiocciola sitting yet another 3 weeks, or just break her and raise the future babies myself... The Cochin feather growth is still inconclusive - there's the definite girl with most feathers, definite boy with the least, and 4 that are right in-between. Crests actually suggest the same - still a grayish non-color on the definite girl, getting pink at the base on the definite boy, yellow on the other 4. I guess according to Mother Nature, it would be too easy to have some sort of a distinct separation - where's the fun in that? (my guess is still 4 girls 2 boys, as the comb on one of those other 4 is a bit more defined and orange-y.) The Orps are also growing feathers as predicted, except for the penciled one who caught up in wing length and is looking rather girly now, also smaller than the others and with thinner legs... hopefully my first guess was wrong! The lavender and blue one, on the other hand, are definite boys, with already quite pink combs and not even 4 weeks old yet! I have a couple of stories to tell today, too. First, we had a bit of a drama this morning: for some unknown reason, Dora was playing the "let's see if I can reach the highest branch on this tree" game by the fence... she was pretty high, too, or so I gather because when one of the dogs ran to the entrance to bark at a passer-by, she got spooked and flew/fell into the neighbors backyard! It was rather early, around 6.30 am, so I wasn't sure what to do, as they were still sleeping... thankfully, their dogs were still sleeping too and not in the backyard, which was closed off from the rest and which allowed Dora to find a decent hiding place in the bushes when she realized that getting back over was not that easy... I did go calling them shortly after 7 (the time they usually wake up) and recovered Dora who luckily made no effort to escape. She stuck by Clyde for the rest of the day and came nowhere near any of the fences - hopefully lesson learned! The second one is more of a mystery... I found a teeny tiny white egg in the coop today - right next to one of my regular big Red Star brown eggs! And by tiny, I don't mean pullet tiny or silkie tiny - I mean more like sparrow egg tiny. Have seen those around once in a while when they fall from tree nests etc, but in the coop??? Really really strange! Wonder if a wild bird decided my coop was the perfect spot for raising chicks, but then changed her mind when one of the hens got into that same nest? Here's a comparison pic - side by side just as I found them:

Omg I have found one to in my coop! Here is a picture!

But my black silkie laid it. She has been wanting to lay for the longest time. She is not growing. She stopped at about 7 weeks. Still the same even now. And she is almost a year old!

 

[ItalyChickie]

Wow that does look exactly the same size! Only I have no silkies, small or otherwise, so I was guessing a wild bird, unless my 8-week old pullet is already laying... (which would be a record of some sort, wouldn't it?)

 

[ShelbyCoral]

So because of all this rain and moisture, one of my chicks died. And another fell ill. They live in an old bank barn and it has holes in the roof that we are repairing. How do I help them for right now? I don't want anyone to die!

 

[ShelbyCoral]

It's really bad outside to!