How many just let your broodies do the work? Update post #32 Pictures!

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
Depends on what your goals are.
Chicks that are raised naturally by their mother, are much better to have in the long run.
I am sad that ours will not be outside for a long time, as we still have so much snow, but I will be replicating as much as I can.
I will provide them non medicated chick starter and water of course.
We have several tubs of dirt saved from summer for the purpose of teaching them to free range more effectivly.
We will give them successively larger trays of dirt to learn to scratch around in, with all kinds of goodies hidden in the dirt.
I will also give them small trays of what grass as I am able to.
Chicks that start as they would in the wild do the very best of course, but I live in Alaska, so I have to compromise somewhere.
Check out this video, part of a long series.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTg54gcnxQw&feature=related
The chicks are 4 days old at this point, and they were free ranging fully.

 

[hunt4meat]

Quote:
I let my hen(s) take the chicks, they know how to take care of them better than I do. I just put up a couple 2x4's so the chicks couldn't get out of the coop until they were bigger and then the hen followed them outside and herded them back in at night. When they went outside, I removed the 2x4, also.

 

[MrRoy]

So, I should still give then chick starter food right? How do I keep mama hen from eating it up?

 

[hunt4meat]

Quote:
1st off, I must say my chickens are not my "pets". I have them for eggs and fried chicken.

I had starter in the coop with the chicks/momma, and I also had a feeder int he coop with laying pellets. There was also a waterer in there, but I had to keep it cleaned out almost daily. I am not saying this is the best/only way to do it. I just got this advise from a buddy that has his running around the barn everywhere, and thats how he does it in the Ozark mnts.

 

[IggiMom]

Quote:
It will not hurt Mama to eat the starter.

However, it WILL hurt babies to eat layer ration, as it has too much calcium for them. So you should avoid letting them eat the layer ration.

That is one reason that if I have a Mama hen with chicks I like to keep them away from the general population, so that the chickies cannot eat the layer ration.

Catherine

 

[chickeypeep101]

Quote:
Oh give it to me

 

[snowydiamonds]

Two of my BO hens are excellent broody mama's and I can't say enough about what a great daddy my BO roo is, too! They raised 20 (ten each) chicks this summer and I only recently moved the kids to a heated coop away from their parents because we've had -21 to -51 farenheit weather so three were freezing their feet. Had to put down the prettiest pullet as overnight while I was at work she froze her one leg to the joint- for some reason sleeping near the door where there was no straw bedding. The other two are recouperating well, much better than I thought their chances were to begin with. This family raising by the birds included my RIR hen who was also very good with the chicks which surprised me. the RIR hen has been in w/the BO's since hatched so she's got the BO personality so far

Unfortunately my pics are on my SIL's laptop but I'm going over for dinner tonight so will try to get my pics on disk...

 

[LAMchop]

I love letting broodies do their thing. The chicks always seem so happy and well-adjusted!
One word of caution if you let the hen raise the chicks: steer clear of chick feeders where the babies have to put their heads inside something to reach the food (those red plastic troughs with the holes, or the galvanized ones with a reel on top). Sometimes mom gets overexcited about teaching the chicks how to scratch... you get the picture. I never thought about it until I found a chick with a broken neck.

 

[BarkerChickens]

I am letting my broody do it all. We don't own an electric incubator...just feathered ones.

I have a mottled Java sitting on 9 eggs right now. This will be her first hatch, so we'll see out it goes.

We'll out chick starter out for the chicks and the layer pellets will remain in the feeder (which is too high for chicks (and we'll put oyster shells out since the hens will eat the starter). If she isn't a tough enough mama then we will put her and her chicks in the brooder coop and run.

 

[Eagle2026]

I jump at the chance to put eggs under a hen.
Call me selfish, but I just assume let her do all the work!
Mike