I want chicks! - Phoenix AZ

[mirasmom]

Has anyone out there had any experience with letting your hens hatch their own chicks? I want some more chickens but to make sure they do well in the flock and because I like the babies, i'd like to let the hens raise their own.

Marian

 

[chicmom]

Hi Marian,

I have let a few of my hens raise their own chicks, and I found it to be a really neat experience. The chicks stayed right close to their mother, when they were really small, and once they were, I'd say around three months old, I noticed she didn't look out for them anymore. They would keep out of reach of the adults then. They all free ranged outside, and then the little ones were last to go inside to roost in the evenings. I think it was because mama didn't protect them anymore. They would roost near their mother though.....

 

[mtngirl35]

I have raised chicks in a brooder to add to my flock and I have let a momma hen hatch and raise some. Letting momma do it is way easier for me and I believe it is better for the chicks, too. The flock seems to adapt to them quicker. Unfortunately I have to wait on somebody to go broody first.

 

[mirasmom]

I don't have my own roo's so I would have to rent / borrow a roo to do this, or get fertilized eggs, but there is no way to know when a hen will go broody, none of mine have yet and they are all between 10 and 12 months.

What do you think is better, does it matter?


Thanks for the feedback so far!

 

[AZGardenFarmer]

I have a Frizzle Rooster that I may be willing to get rid of but, he's Very Territorial of his water. So you'd have to keep him separated from your girls. He got cranky when my girls went by his water feeder so I separated them. So now he has his own pad. He's not as vocal as most Roos. He reallllllllly shoulda been a duck. He loves his water.

 

[cgmaster]

i wish i had a frizzle... i let my silkie hen sit on some eggs but they died in the shell before they cold hatch...they might have grown too large for the egg seeing as my top rooster is nearly three times her size. Its also possible althogh highly unlikely that the eggs got overheated in the arizona summer heat...

 

[mirasmom]

i ended up getting some from the feed store, they were 2 for 1, i cant have a roo where i live sadly.

 

[AZGardenFarmer]

i wish i had a frizzle... i let my silkie hen sit on some eggs but they died in the shell before they cold hatch...they might have grown too large for the egg seeing as my top rooster is nearly three times her size. Its also possible althogh highly unlikely that the eggs got overheated in the arizona summer heat...

Where do you live?¿ I live by Lake Pleasant which is Peoria, AZ.

 

[cgmaster]

thatcher, AZ is where i live

 

[AZGardenFarmer]

Ah ha. Well if ya ever get this way, and Aqua -my roo, is still alive, you can swing on by and pick him up. I'm ordering some Favorelles in March from Murray McMurray Hatchery. They should have Frizzles.