How Long Have You Been Raising Chickens? - OLD

[Fierlin1182]

Seems we have a LOT of chicken newbies around here!

 

[kbreak]

We started out with a rooster a friend put out in our yard. After a few weeks he made friends with the lab and he roosts on his dog pen every night. My husband felt sorry for him and purchased 2 buff hens to rome with him. They are completely free ranged. One hen was gotten while sitting on eggs. The other hen had sat on 12 eggs. She had them down in the woods but after a bad rain storm she moved them close to the house. My first question is have you ever seen a hen move eggs over 100 ft to a new nest. SHE DID! We were so amazed we made a little nest in a pet taxi and kept them where she moved them to but she never would sit on them again after we touched them. She had worked so hard and then we touched them. I didnt know you couldn't touch them. So know she has 11 eggs she has been sitting on. This time she has them at the base of an oak tree between the roots. It is right by the dog pen. I think if something was to try to get her the dog barking would scare it away. As of today we have seen 2 chicks have hatched.
My question is : Is there anyway after she hatches them to put them in a pen. Do they have to have the mother because I don't know if we can catch her. I feel sure something will get the baby chicks if we don't do something.
My goal is to have a place to shut them up at night and let them out during the day .
Any ideas would sure be a great help. Thank You, Kbreak

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I have heard stories of hens tucking eggs up in their armpits and carrying them that way....

No touching the eggs should not have made any difference. There probably was something wrong with the eggs or something broke her broodiness.

You can build an enclosure around the hen and her nest while she is sitting Probably the easiest is to set some posts around the tree and then surround with hardware cloth That goes for the top too. Go to the Broody Hen hatch along and ask away there are soo many people that will help you there:

www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=7758123#p7758123

good luck

 

[henry hawke]

6months and loving it. They are sooooooo cute. Isa Browns 3 eggs a day. The cat and dog love them too

 

[RoosterRidge]

7 months and cannot understand for the life of me why we had not done it before... We love them and they bring so much joy to our lifes...

 

[tda]

Since the summer of 1957.. I was 14 yrs old with 12 New Hampshire Reds..In those days in our town Sykesville, Md., the U.S. Post Office sounded like a hatchery for about 2 weeks of the year , in the spring when all the peeps arrived for delivery.. thanks tda...

 

[NEK38583]

I am 26, and I have been raising them every since I was 13 so half my life. I got my first cochins from my grandmother as a birthday present. The best gift I ever got it was a flock of blue standard cochins. I have been addicted ever since.

 

[jim and carol and laura]

We are into it about a year. Its been fun and the eggs are really tasty. My girls names are Goldie, Angelina, Jennifer and Little Jerri. I hope you can guess who they are named after. They are production reds and are good layers altho Lately the numbers have been down. I didnt know why til I got the BYC letter about the molting. Its warm here in South Texas so I'm wondering how much molting they will do. I have noticed more feathers in the coop and Goldie has some patchy looking places but not much else. Hookem Horns!

 

[froggiesheins]

Deb took the words right out of my mouth......Great idea..Don't forget to place food and water in that pen for momma. When the chickies are born they can go 3 days without water and food. Make sure there is a shallow water dish for the babies and some chick starter food for them. Mama will do the rest. They are the best mamas in the world. Have fun...

perchie.girl :

Quote:
I have heard stories of hens tucking eggs up in their armpits and carrying them that way....

No touching the eggs should not have made any difference. There probably was something wrong with the eggs or something broke her broodiness.

You can build an enclosure around the hen and her nest while she is sitting Probably the easiest is to set some posts around the tree and then surround with hardware cloth That goes for the top too. Go to the Broody Hen hatch along and ask away there are soo many people that will help you there:

www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=7758123#p7758123

good luck​

 

[Vcomb]

I've had my own birds almost 20 years, breeding my own for about 15 years and have been around birds my whole life.