Integrating a cockerel into a flock of mature hens

[lazy gardener]

Quote:

Oh thank you for the tips! I use hemp seed oil here which contains vitamin E and Omegas 3, 6 and 9. It's great for skin conditions. I give it to Willie in his food as he's allergic to everything you could imagine and breaks out in hives and hot spots all the time. The oil has been a tremendous help to him. I also use it on my skin sometimes in addition to cooking with it. It should work well for the pullets too.

Having the new girl home was a huge relief and when my daughter saw her, she so happy she cried.

Their tails are pretty sad but not as sad as some were. There are two that have more prominent leaders; the one in the forefront and the one in the back with her head down), one who has it but it's not as noticeable from further away (the girl in the first of the three photos and on the right in the photo above) and then the one who went missing (on the left, facing left in the photo above) who I believe hasn't started laying yet due to the underdeveloped comb and wattles and it's difficult to say how hers will turn out.

My pup does not have any hot spots, but she has itchy skin. Might try the HO, and see if it makes a difference. How much do you give to Willie?

Any type of oil will kill scaly leg mites. Dom hens are supposed to have darker shanks. This is one of the auto sexing traits common to barred and cuckoo patterned birds. IMO, the darker, the better on a female.

Nice looking Doms. Perhaps I may need to take a road trip to visit you in the spring.

As far as the potential broody, wouldn't you also have fertile eggs from your 2 older hens, or are they not currently laying? Your call re: allowing her to brood at this late time of the year. If you have a location where she can raise her clutch for a few weeks without being harassed by her flock mates, it might work. Otherwise, good idea to break her. Great temptation to get a new generation on the ground.

 

[islandgirl82]

Quote:
I give Willie about a Tablespoon per feeding (twice each day) so I'd say about a teaspoon per feeding for your girl.

The pullets shanks are more of a darker gray than yellow...is that what you mean by darker? Their scales are all nice and flat but I still need to get out there to get photos of them. They have a few spots on them that aren't raised or crusty or anything but look like they could be bruises. Or maybe it's just their coloring.

You're certainly welcome to take that road trip. I'd love to have you visit.

The hens in the main flock have all been molting with the exception of the two Red Sex Links. They'll remain here until the pullets are finished with quarantine and are ready to move in with everyone else. The two Doms didn't go through it as severely as some and they're finished now but I don't expect them to start laying again until the days get longer. I do have two isolation coops, the larger one is currently occupied by the pullets but the smaller one could easily be moved into the run with the main flock to give the (potential) broody privacy to raise a clutch without being too removed from everyone else. If I had an incubator, I'd be hatching these first eggs from the pullets. I was waiting until spring to get one but maybe I should start looking now.

 

[lazy gardener]

Could you re-wire a lamp if you had instructions??? If so, you can easily build an incubator. And you can expect it to provide as good a hatch as a middle of the road forced air incubator that you would buy, for about 1/4 of the expense. I'm a confirmed scavenger. So, just love the challenge of gathering the bits and pieces for a "build". Weighing in on the other side of the project is hubby, who will go out and buy the do-dads. So... at any particular time, I probably have enough materials on hand to build 2 more bators!! Check out the how to videos on You Tube by Rush Lane Poultry.

 

[islandgirl82]

I don't have experience rewiring lamps but if it's anything like changing a hardwired light fixture then yes. Will check out videos now. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Leahs Mom]

On the broody....based on your description I'd say not a broody. She may just be avoiding roost-time drama and not wanting to fight it out for space.

If she starts staying in a nest during the day, I test them out quite thoroughly before allowing them eggs. I pick them up and take them far out into the yard and put them down on the ground. If they return consistently after several days of this, and appear to be in a daze, then I assume it's good to go!

I had one hatchery red brood 2x for me. The first time she went broody was in November! I decided to let her hatch and they all hatched on New Year's eve in 19 F. weather. I don't heat my chicken house and she took grand care of them. Those little ones were out running around much more than I expected they'd be. When they got loud, mamma would drop wherever she was and they'd scoot under enough to warm up before coming back out again. She even took them outside on the packed snow in the run!

And...she wasn't mean to me at all. But if one of the other chickens approached, it was war. They learned after the second time and never paid them mind again.

 

[islandgirl82]

It could be due to avoidance. It's a little strange that she'd move back to the roosts after the one passed only to go back to the box again. She's in the box again tonight and any time I went out there today, I watched her as she raced in and out of the coop like she couldn't decide where she wanted to be which is unusual behavior for any of them.

If she is going broody, her timing couldn't be more perfect as far as me having fertile eggs from the new girls and your experience with such a late hatch is encouraging! I just need a little more time to save more eggs from them and that'll give the hen time to figure out what she's doing and/or me to make an incubator.

I did notice today, I have at least one feather picker/eater amongst the pullets. I watched her pluck the others several times today and one of those times, the one she pulled from turned around and took the feather from her and ate it herself. Sigh. I know that habit would have begun from being too cramped in their previous coop but they did get to free-range there, at least during the afternoons. I'm reading I should increase their protein intake and I was sent some pinless peepers by another BYC member ages ago that I never ended up needing to use but I think I'll have to with this bunch.

I cleaned out the woodstove today. I separated it and brought the chickens some of the ashes to bathe in. The pullets didn't know what to do with their ashes but stomped around and pecked through it for a while before kicking a bunch of leaves into it. It was cold here today so maybe they just weren't up for a bath.

They are getting more comfortable with me being around and a couple of them even followed me into their coop when I had to make a few adjustments in there - it had been a children's playhouse so it's not exactly roomy for an adult, especially considering the top of the door is only as high as my waist. They don't want me touching them but they are getting more and more curious about me, especially that one that put on the disappearing act the other day. I'll pick up some sunflower seeds during my next trip to town. That was one of the GSH's favorite treats and I had her eating out of my hands in no time with those.

 

[Leahs Mom]

You might try giving them some raw ground meat for a few days.

Disclaimer:
I only feed raw if I know the source of the meat and know that it is raised on good pasture outdoors.


If they've never had any before it will take a bit before they get the courage to try it. But after they know what they're getting they'll gobble it down.

Maybe it will just take a little "nutritional remediation" to bring them up to par.

 

[islandgirl82]

I hope so. I have them on fermented feed now and fruit and veg scraps and scrambled eggs. We don't eat a lot of meat so I don't usually have much around but I'll have to pick some up for them or go down to the shore and gather up some mussels for them. I know they got to free range before and she said she always fed a super high protein feed so they wouldn't molt but I'm not really sure they were getting much beyond soaked multigrain breads loaded with whole seeds.

 

[islandgirl82]

I also know they're going a little stir crazy in their current accommodations. They can see a whole big yard to explore and don't have access to it.

 

[Sylvester017]

I've never experienced the joys/terror of a broody hen before and I'm not sure what the early indications are of such a hen but the girls who had been sleeping in the boxes moved back to the roosts after the one passed. However, the last two nights one of the Dominique hens who came here earlier this year has slept in the box for the last two nights, softly purring as I pet everyone goodnight. I'm not/wasn't overly thrilled about it, mainly because I know the mess that will end up in the box if this continues but there have been NO droppings in the box. In the mornings and all day she's up and about, eating, drinking, gossiping and socializing with the rest of the flock but is this recent interest in the box the beginning of broody behavior?

If so, do I let her go [broody that is]? The eggs from the new pullets are all fertile from any of the numerous (and gorgeous) cockerels that they'd been kept with and hatching them could give me more unrelated-to-Ichabod females and a greater selection to choose from. With the coming winter, I'd say it's unwise to let a broody hatch them but on the other hand, nature would be taking it's course. Thoughts on this?

I've known some breeders to hatch chicks in December or January so they can fill their Spring orders but it's totally an individual choice. I personally don't like to deal with chicks for myself but I don't have space. You could keep the momma and chicks separate from other hens in an in-house area or porch or wherever since momma will keep the chicks warm under her. As for nest sleeping -- my Silkies have slept in nestboxes since day one and almost 6 years later still sleep in nestboxes. It means daily checking for poops and removing straw to add clean straw but we don't mind since we never have more than 5 hens at any given time. Sometimes the large fowl will sleep in a nestbox and other times they roost on a perch -- all depends on their mood. Dominique hens are known to be a broody breed so I think it's exciting if you have one that will go broody. But being a younger pullet she may not stick to the nest all the way to the end. But then she might surprise you and be a good broody. It's not unusual for a first time broody to desert a nest in which case you would need to incubate the abandoned eggs before they die. Another thing about a broody hen is that other hens will try to deposit their eggs in her nest and then there will be more eggs than needed for hatching or all may not hatch from the other hens. She'll need to be cutoff or divided from access to other other hens. Like I said I don't like dealing with chicks and maybe consulting the BYC hatching threads and even other on-line websites on hatching would be helpful. Either way, it's exciting if you can pull it off to have non-Ichabod related pullets out of the new Dom girls! I had a Marans that came to us fertile for up to 2 weeks -- we gave her 6 eggs to a friend who had a broody and 5 of the eggs hatched!