I’m not Mother Nature, but..... My journey hatching broody and bator chicks

[Mimi13]

I wanted to note just a couple more things. (For those of you who are young, your memory is a wonderful thing, but it tends to slip away when you least expect it. Be thankful for it each and every day.)

Somewhere around the Broody chicks’ six week mark, the broody purposefully began being mean to the other little chicks. Not her own yet, but the other 8.

I also noticed her going through the motions of mating rituals with some of the other girls: the wing drop, the dance, and even mounting them. Such strange behavior!

Not knowing anything about broody birds, I took a chance on this little girl, an 8 month old Black Copper Marans (when she started going broody). Provided she doesn’t stay in a constant broody state, she’ll be one that I’d like to keep around. Broodies definitely make the chick rearing process very easy, BUT...

• I like a hands on experience
• I like to bond with my chicks
• I don’t like my chicks to be terrified of me
• I want them to run to me, not away from me

I am glad to know how easy a broody can make the process of raising chicks, but I believe I will stick to either purchasing day old chicks or raising them in an incubator.

 

[aart]

You can 'tame' broody chicks...you just have to 'make friends' with the broody,
good to do anyway in case of problems during incubation and hatch IMO,
then spend a lot of time with them all.
Not much different than brooder chicks, just 'harder' to do out in the coop and run.

 

[Mimi13]

Not much different than brooder chicks, just 'harder' to do out in the coop and run.

That’s a big “Amen,” especially since I let her sit during the cold months. Not my smartest move, but it all worked out.

The broody was very friendly during her brood time, but I believe I held back once the chicks hatched because I didn’t want to run the risk of interfering with nature and causing her added stress, possibly making her abandon the chicks.

Everything is a learning curve.

 

[chickengr]

I wanted to note just a couple more things. (For those of you who are young, your memory is a wonderful thing, but it tends to slip away when you least expect it. Be thankful for it each and every day.)

Somewhere around the Broody chicks’ six week mark, the broody purposefully began being mean to the other little chicks. Not her own yet, but the other 8.

I also noticed her going through the motions of mating rituals with some of the other girls: the wing drop, the dance, and even mounting them. Such strange behavior!

Not knowing anything about broody birds, I took a chance on this little girl, an 8 month old Black Copper Marans (when she started going broody). Provided she doesn’t stay in a constant broody state, she’ll be one that I’d like to keep around. Broodies definitely make the chick rearing process very easy, BUT...

• I like a hands on experience
• I like to bond with my chicks
• I don’t like my chicks to be terrified of me
• I want them to run to me, not away from me

I am glad to know how easy a broody can make the process of raising chicks, but I believe I will stick to either purchasing day old chicks or raising them in an incubator.

my broody raised naked neck hen is my sweetest chicken who love hugs!

 

[Mimi13]

my broody raised naked neck hen is my sweetest chicken who love hugs!

Awe, I’m hoping my Broody Bunch will begin to change now that they’re weaned and hopefully spend more time with me.

 

[Mcljess]

I worry about my broodies, there's been enough of them now to have seen their... scope.

The perfect momma sits diligently, minds her manners, and does everything by the book.

The angry broody... screams and carries on anytime anything/one gets near, offers up death pecks, doesn't take grief from other hens when leading those chicks around. Might face down a hawk and get carried off in the effort...

The Hoarder... you'd be amazed at how far they can roll an egg, or just how many they think they can cover. Might also have angry broody tendencies.

The half-hearted... I'm sitting! 8 days in! Just kidding. Broody again! Kidding. She never really wanted to hatch eggs anyways.

The copy-cat... You're sitting? I'll sit too! (might also be part of the "just kidding" type, aka the "sympathy sitter")

The "I'm never getting off these eggs EVER"... Not even to poop. I'll starve before I get off these eggs!

The chronic sitter... "These chicks don't need to eat, do they? I could stay here forever..."

The repeat broody... "Sorry kids, at 3 weeks old you're on your own! I feel the call again!"

The great broody/bad mom... "I sat and I sat and then OMG, what IS that? Is there something crawling around under me, messing with MY eggs!?" *peckpeckpeck* ... Not even realizing those were eggs hatching... Every. Single. One.

With new broodies, you gotta give them a go to see what they can do, to learn if you'll ever let them try THAT again.

It's ok to worry a little bit, just don't stress over it. Cover your bases, give her her own space, mark the eggs, wait and see. Kick her off once a day if you can't tell if she's been off.

Nothing stinks worse than a massive, gnarly broody poop, and you DON'T want it on the eggs.

This is gold

 

[chickengr]

2 of my silkies (about 10-11 months old) abandoned eggs after a week. do they deserve second chance or it would be waste of time?

 

[Mimi13]

2 of my silkies (about 10-11 months old) abandoned eggs after a week. do they deserve second chance or it would be waste of time?

You know, that’s a great question and one I don’t know the answer to.

To me, if it is just a hobby thing and not a money making endeavor, I’d probably give them another chance. I guess it would just depend on how many other broodies you had and if you actually needed more. From what I’ve read, there are times a broody is a dime a dozen, in which case...

 

[Mimi13]

This is most likely my last update on the Broody Bunch (18 weeks old) and the Bator 8 (17 weeks old), simply because they all won’t be with me much longer.

Out of 11 total chicks, 7 were cockerels. Several weeks ago I decided that all 7 running rampant like a group of teenage thugs was wreaking havoc on my girls so I initially placed all of them in a bachelor pen. The next day I removed two that I thought I might want to keep and put them back with the flock. I will have to admit, with only two running loose, the older girls are the best teachers ever. They were able to keep just two boys in line, perfectly.

All these chicks were the direct result of my desire to produce some Olive Eggers, which I now know I did. Pics a little later.

The Broody Bunch
Three chicks, all pullets , one from the WPR and two from the EE, all “sired” (don’t know if that word is even used in chicken vocabulary or not?!?) by my Welsummer.
The EE’s chicks look exactly like my Welsummer hen, color-wise. They of course have a pea comb with muffs and beards and they act and sound just like their mother. They are very pretty girls. Since they are identical I have not given them separate names. They are very sweet and timid girls and weigh absolutely nothing so I just call them both Little Girl.

Little Girl 1

Little Girl 1 with the EE.

Little Girl 2 with my Welsummer, for comparison.

The third Broody Bunch girl is just a peaches n cream mixture in color. She has a twin that was raised in the Bator 8. Since I really can’t tell them apart either, unless they’re standing side by side, I have named them both Peaches N Cream (one is Peaches and one is Cream).
They both should begin laying soon as well.

The Bator 8
Since Peaches N Cream is the only pullet in the bunch, I mentioned her with her twin above. The other 7? Ugh! Where do I begin?

All boys! That should say it all and is just MY luck. Pretty? Yes, gorgeous as a matter of fact. All chicks were from the Welsummer cockerel. The first chick I ever hatched was from my BPR. He is gorgeous and one that I want to keep. His steely, gray feathers have a bit of red or gold from his father seeping through, which prompted me to name him Rusty. So far, so good. I shall not comment more as to jinx myself in the rooster department.

The second one I have kept (provided he stays nice) is the chick that was formerly known as Egg #9, the little one that I helped hatch. I have no idea why, but I call him Marshmallow. My mind usually gravitates to food if I don’t control it. Even though he has a single comb, I think it has been decided he came from my Columbian Wyandotte, Blanca (RIP sweet girl). For whatever reason, he has an affinity for sitting on human chairs/swings.

He is sweet, but pays me entirely too much attention, needing to know where I am at all times.

Here lately, however, he and his best bud, Rusty, have decided they aren’t best buds anymore. This all was decided a couple days ago when I happened to step outside and catch the tail end of their fight that left them both bloody and limping. Obviously this skirmish had started earlier and I just missed it all. Since Rusty seems to have claimed the top boy status, Marshmallow has more to keep his eye on these days than me. Thank goodness.

Here are the other 5 boys, which I planned on processing, uh, 3 weeks ago. I’m just a bit behind.

They are all gorgeous as well. They are all colored up like the Welsummer, with the only differences coming from the EE’s comb, muffs and beards. These two are from the EE, (his eye looks foamy in the picture, but it really is not)

two are from the Australorp, (the slightly darkish legs have me a bit confused, but most of my birds came from hatchery stock, which may explain abnormalities, I guess)

and one is from the Barnevelder, as best I could tell.

As I mentioned earlier about wanting some Olive Eggers, just this week my two Little Girls each laid a pretty little moss green egg. Yay me! I also have a couple of 8 week old Partridge Olive Eggers, so hopefully I’ll have four bonafide Olive Eggers cranking out those pretty green eggs soon.

My sweet little green pullet eggs. So tiny in comparison.

And finally, these two pictures sum up what I love about chicken keeping and how I spend the majority of my time. Seeing my birds out roaming the hill just makes me happy. I can’t seem to get enough.

My 12 youngest chicks (6 weeks here) love the yard as well.

I owe a huge amount of gratitude to all the BYC members who have helped me along the way achieve my chicken keeping goal. Thank you!

 

[HuffleClaw]

Lovely update and beautiful birds!