Illinois...

[Faraday40]

I'll see what I can do about a recent pic. Here are a few from last week. Poor Oopsie had a few missing feathers from the boys then sat on eggs for weeks without her usual dust baths. Now that she has chicks, they are constantly riding her back & pooping all over her. She's a terrible mess.

Oopsie is a great broody though. She growled when I fussed with her eggs but never pecked. She's never bothered when I handle the chicks. The only exception is when a visitor is here. She seems to know that her babies are being sold, so she makes a lot of noise - still no pecking. I certainly didn't think she'd be this motherly. After all, she abandoned her 1st attempt at hatching after a week.

Cookie (my bantam orp) is another great broody, but she only takes chicks if she thinks she hatched them. I would never be able to add more chicks like this to Cookie. Every hen is a little different.

 

[Faraday40]

Here are some active brooder pics from the day.
1- I like how I caught the chick just as it landed on mama's back
2- Shows the wide age & even species range
3- A 5+ wk silkie & 4 wk old lav orp. Any guesses on silkie gender?

Bed time pics:
Can you see the Spitz poking out from the wing? Also look closely at all the little feet under her. Basically most of the chicks are extremely curious, so they come running out to see me as soon as they hear me coming.

 

[megpie021]

Wow. She is super mom.

 

[Junibutt]

Here are some active brooder pics from the day.
1- I like how I caught the chick just as it landed on mama's back
2- Shows the wide age & even species range
3- A 5+ wk silkie & 4 wk old lav orp. Any guesses on silkie gender?
View attachment 557187 View attachment 557189 View attachment 557190
Bed time pics:
Can you see the Spitz poking out from the wing? Also look closely at all the little feet under her. Basically most of the chicks are extremely curious, so they come running out to see me as soon as they hear me coming.
View attachment 557215 View attachment 557216 View attachment 557217

Wow she is amazing. Can I post these pics on a facebook forum?
P.S. the silkie looks like a boy to me. Sorry!

 

[Junibutt]

In a case of chicken math and sheer impulsiveness, I have won two egg auctions from Papa's Poultry:

• 12 choc mottled orp x mottled orp eggs. (ok these ones were justified for my project)
• 30+ Papa's Choice Orp eggs. This one was just an impulse. I was afraid I was going to lose the other auction and I bid on it as well.

Eggs are arriving Thursday or Friday. If anyone wants some for hatching or wants chicks please send me a PM.

 

[megpie021]

@Junibutt and anyone else,

So if the big girls are getting close to laying, as suggested, how much longer do I wait to open up the nesting boxes? They are blocked off because we were trying to get them used to roosting. Which they have been doing great at the last like 4 nights. As of today they are officially 13 weeks old, and everything I find says oh they will lay at 20 weeks, open them up at 18 weeks.... If my girls are ahead of schedule none of that helps Advise me oh sage chicken keepers!

Otherwise Poppy and Ginger (the little Polish girls) met the 4 tweens yesterday. We decided to try to integrate them together before mixing everyone. Poppy and Ginger cared way more about the big ones than the bigs did about them. I hope thats good. They were desperately trying to get to the 6/7 week olds and the 6/7 week olds kept just kind of looking at them for a minute and then going about their business. The austra white Meringue caught and earth worm and that was good fun. She ran around squawking and the others chased her. It was the first time I had ever seen a good game of chase.

 

[Faraday40]

@Junibutt and anyone else,

So if the big girls are getting close to laying, as suggested, how much longer do I wait to open up the nesting boxes? They are blocked off because we were trying to get them used to roosting. Which they have been doing great at the last like 4 nights. As of today they are officially 13 weeks old, and everything I find says oh they will lay at 20 weeks, open them up at 18 weeks.... If my girls are ahead of schedule none of that helps Advise me oh sage chicken keepers!

Otherwise Poppy and Ginger (the little Polish girls) met the 4 tweens yesterday. We decided to try to integrate them together before mixing everyone. Poppy and Ginger cared way more about the big ones than the bigs did about them. I hope thats good. They were desperately trying to get to the 6/7 week olds and the 6/7 week olds kept just kind of looking at them for a minute and then going about their business. The austra white Meringue caught and earth worm and that was good fun. She ran around squawking and the others chased her. It was the first time I had ever seen a good game of chase.

I'd wait 1-2 more weeks before opening the nest boxes, so they can get into the habit of sleeping on the roosts. The youngest I ever had lay an egg was 17 weeks. You'll see the combs get much darker before the eggs come. Also they may start to squat for you when you pet them. The week before they lay, they may start checking out the nest boxes.

Chicken chases are very amusing. Over here it's Trouble who usually grabs the biggest treat. She's the smallest bird carrying a food 6x the size of her head. She very vocal & always makes a lot of noise to really rub it in, so the others all chase her. Our orps are not as fast, so the chases can last a long time.

 

[megpie021]

I am totally fine waiting to open them. They have been good girls and have been learning pretty quick I feel.

Next question for you all I was thinking of taking the top off the cage the Polish are in, and putting it inside the pool with the bigger ones, to make a sort of brooder with in a brooder thing to get them all used to the Polish chicks. My question is, they are in the ugly t rex looking phase of feathering, if they could handle being out their with no heat? The garage does get cooler, stays a bit above what ever the low is. They were about a week old when husband brought them home. And that was 2 weeks ago. If not I will maybe try the head pad thing, since the netting over the pool scares me to use a lamp with.

Second part of the question, do you think using the top of the guinea pig cage like that would work? I am not sure how else to achieve the look but dont touch thing in the pool. The ones in there are 7 weeks, and the Polish girls are now 3 weeks old ish? (they werent day olds when he bought them, they already had some pretty good little wings on them, but the guy that sold them to him didnt know when they had come in) I would like to get this whole integration thing going and wrapped up as soon as I can with out risking any one.

And we decided to build the ducks their own run type thingy. Wont be nearly as elaborate as the coop though.

 

[Faraday40]

@megpie021
I'd recommend making a heating pad broody since we're currently having chilly weather. If we had normal end of May temps (above 70'F ) then they'd be OK. This way if they need it, they can warm up. By 4 weeks they can take spring's chilly nights by cuddling each other inside a huddle house/small box without a heater. If you do use a heat lamp, then take a little time to find some way to securely hang it. Never trust those flimsy clips. Always tie it as a back up. I use the heating pad method now, but when I need to, I use lower W bulbs. Those very powerful brooder bulbs get very hot.

To separate chicks: Do you have a scrap of netting material that you can clip or pin or zip tie to the wire sides of your big brooder? A baby gate? a screen window? They'll only need separation for a short time. Sometimes not at all. (ie- I currently have 6wk down to 1 week old chicks in the same brooder w/o separation - but have a fake heating pad broody and a real broody to care for them.)

My go to material is that plastic bird netting. I use it in my garden for pea plants, but have found all sorts of uses. It can easily be cut with scissors, is flexible & reusable.

Add the garden netting to a box & clothespins = instant temp cage for a chicken that needs observation.


Can be used to prevent big hens from pushing broody bantam off her nest.

 

[megpie021]

I am actually using the garden netting over the pool right now to prevent them from escaping. So I can try to find a way to make that work.

We contemplated trying to just add them in and see, after they didnt seem to care the first time, but I am nervous to do that. I have read so much about how Polish chicks are so delicate, but also that they arent. They met outside in neutral territory, with the cage top separating them.