I know I’m probably going to upset some ppl, but I’m genuinely confused..

[z3lda3]

So I’ve been reading on another forum and YT, about “oops my hen hatched babies and I didn’t know”! Ok if you’ve got free rangers, a broody sneaks off and comes back with chicks-sure I totally see that. But for example there was a lady talking and showing, her hen and 18 babies! She didn’t know anything about it until she heard chirping one day. These chicken were kept in a barn. The hen hatched them in the barn. Or this other person who swears they collected eggs a few days ago, but look at these chicks! This hen had 9 in her NESTING BOX. So are these ppl seriously not checking on their chickens for 21 days?!?! I don’t understand. I check on my flocks multiple times a day. Do they have water, food. Is everyone ok? Especially in this horrible heat.
I collect eggs everyday. I know who did or didn’t lay. I’ve got 30 so it’s not a tiny flock. If I have to take a hen to the vet, his first question is when is the last time she laid. Am I going to stand there and say “gee I don’t know, I haven’t seen her in 3 weeks”. I just don’t get it. I thought chickens, yes they’re livestock, but chickens are living breathing animals that need care and attention. Am I the unreasonable one thinking chickens need to be checked on at LEAST once a day?

 

[Slothinc]

So I’ve been reading on another forum and YT, about “oops my hen hatched babies and I didn’t know”! Ok if you’ve got free rangers, a broody sneaks off and comes back with chicks-sure I totally see that. But for example there was a lady talking and showing, her hen and 18 babies! She didn’t know anything about it until she heard chirping one day. These chicken were kept in a barn. The hen hatched them in the barn. Or this other person who swears they collected eggs a few days ago, but look at these chicks! This hen had 9 in her NESTING BOX. So are these ppl seriously not checking on their chickens for 21 days?!?! I don’t understand. I check on my flocks multiple times a day. Do they have water, food. Is everyone ok? Especially in this horrible heat.
I collect eggs everyday. I know who did or didn’t lay. I’ve got 30 so it’s not a tiny flock. If I have to take a hen to the vet, his first question is when is the last time she laid. Am I going to stand there and say “gee I don’t know, I haven’t seen her in 3 weeks”. I just don’t get it. I thought chickens, yes they’re livestock, but chickens are living breathing animals that need care and attention. Am I the unreasonable one thinking chickens need to be checked on at LEAST once a day?

My guess is that those making YouTube videos are using click bait titles to get more views. That seems impossible to me as well. Especially if they are in a contained area or a nest box. My bet would be they are saying it for attention or clicks/likes/views.

 

[z3lda3]

My guess is that those making YouTube videos are using click bait titles to get more views. That seems impossible to me as well. Especially if they are in a contained area or a nest box. My bet would be they are saying it for attention or clicks/likes/views.

I really really hope so! Let’s go with that, it’ll make me feel better about humanity. (Sorta).

 

[Wyorp Rock]

So I’ve been reading on another forum and YT, about “oops my hen hatched babies and I didn’t know”! Ok if you’ve got free rangers, a broody sneaks off and comes back with chicks-sure I totally see that. But for example there was a lady talking and showing, her hen and 18 babies! She didn’t know anything about it until she heard chirping one day. These chicken were kept in a barn. The hen hatched them in the barn. Or this other person who swears they collected eggs a few days ago, but look at these chicks! This hen had 9 in her NESTING BOX. So are these ppl seriously not checking on their chickens for 21 days?!?! I don’t understand. I check on my flocks multiple times a day. Do they have water, food. Is everyone ok? Especially in this horrible heat.
I collect eggs everyday. I know who did or didn’t lay. I’ve got 30 so it’s not a tiny flock. If I have to take a hen to the vet, his first question is when is the last time she laid. Am I going to stand there and say “gee I don’t know, I haven’t seen her in 3 weeks”. I just don’t get it. I thought chickens, yes they’re livestock, but chickens are living breathing animals that need care and attention. Am I the unreasonable one thinking chickens need to be checked on at LEAST once a day?

Can you link some of the videos?

Possible in a large barn where a hen can have a hidden nest.

But I agree, unfortunately, some folks stage videos for more clicks/likes, especially if their videos are monetized. Could be the people are well aware of their hen sitting, they just have a clickbait title.

And yes, I also agree with you, chickens need to be checked on daily if at all possible.

 

[Anon112]

I honestly think that kind of content is made for people who don't actually keep chickens. I saw a video where someone was making a huge deal about one of the chicks not being the same color as the mother hen and . . . yeah. That's really normal. Hens often sit on eggs that aren't just their own. But I could see how it would be surprising to someone who isn't experienced with chickens.

If your chickens are in a more contained area, not noticing that a hen is spending a lot of time in a nesting box also means that you would totally miss if one of your chickens was really sick, for example. I always do a "head count" at least once a day, and often I check at sundown to make sure everyone is up on the roost (because not roosting is a big red flag).

 

[Susan Skylark]

Dr. pol: “my golden retriever is going to die” (dog stands there wagging tail, strangely lives)

American Pickers: Bonnie and Clyde’s motorcycle! Well, a bonnie and Clyde.

Some monster hunter show: on the trail of Bigfoot, but really we’ll spend the whole show hanging cds in trees

My favorite is one of those Alaska shows where they were complaining about having to clean the chicken coop (with a bobcat), I have a shovel, nothing like roughing it in the final frontier!

Yeah, click bait!

 

[z3lda3]

I honestly think that kind of content is made for people who don't actually keep chickens. I saw a video where someone was making a huge deal about one of the chicks not being the same color as the mother hen and . . . yeah. That's really normal. Hens often sit on eggs that aren't just their own. But I could see how it would be surprising to someone who isn't experienced with chickens.

If your chickens are in a more contained area, not noticing that a hen is spending a lot of time in a nesting box also means that you would totally miss if one of your chickens was really sick, for example. I always do a "head count" at least once a day, and often I check at sundown to make sure everyone is up on the roost (because not roosting is a big red flag).

lol yep! Non chicken ppl are amazed at..nothing but normal chicken stuff. I’m trying to think if I’ve EVER had a broody hatch any of her own eggs.
I do a rump count. Every. Single. Night. I grab and count each and every chicken booty. One night I counted an extra booty in my “primary” roosters flock. My secondary rooster was hiding behind two of my Brahma hens lol.

 

[z3lda3]

Dr. pol: “my golden retriever is going to die” (dog stands there wagging tail, strangely lives)

American Pickers: Bonnie and Clyde’s motorcycle! Well, a bonnie and Clyde.

Some monster hunter show: on the trail of Bigfoot, but really we’ll spend the whole show hanging cds in trees

My favorite is one of those Alaska shows where they were complaining about having to clean the chicken coop (with a bobcat), I have a shovel, nothing like roughing it in the final frontier!

Yeah, click bait!

It’s weird because most comments were oh how cute! Ooo those are some sweeties! I was the only one livid that this person didn’t check her chickens for 21 days!!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I've had hens show up with chicks before. Usually it's because I'm just really bad at looking for nests, or in my ranging flock, I just assume one was taken by a predator. Although I'll be honest, I had one just 3 days ago show up with a chick that I had genuinely forgotten I still had since she looks similar to several other hens I have in that flock

 

[Anon112]

lol yep! Non chicken ppl are amazed at..nothing but normal chicken stuff. I’m trying to think if I’ve EVER had a broody hatch any of her own eggs.
I do a rump count. Every. Single. Night. I grab and count each and every chicken booty. One night I counted an extra booty in my “primary” roosters flock. My secondary rooster was hiding behind two of my Brahma hens lol.

To be very fair, I grew up in a more urban area, and my experience with keeping chickens was zero until I was in my late 20s (and I'm still learning!).

And last year was the first time I ever had a broody hen hatch an egg, and that was a whole other learning curve. It's not surprising that some content creators are doing a bit of exaggeration to increase their views.