Is 7 months too young for broody?

[TroyerGal]

I had/have 2 Lavender Orpingtons... a male and a female i don't think there was any difference in the amounts of yellow on each one. but, i could tell pretty early what the gender was just by

looking at the combs... the male's was distinctly larger

 

[Shezadandy]

Quote:

I'm glad everything is going well! They are so cute! I'm interested to see what breeds you've got!
Do you find the chicks are more scared of people than ones you've raised yourself?

They obviously don't get handled by hand from day one, but the broody is very tame. I was happily surprised when she didn't freak out about me sitting on the floor when they were just coming out for the first time, and when she took them outside the first day that she let me pick one up- after 20-30 minutes of the babies being split between coop and outside. She kept jumping off the ramp at the top and hopping up to the top so the babies couldn't follow and had no idea about going up the ramp (our broody pen was in the coop itself which is a raised building). She did come to investigate but made no move to peck or charge. I waited until the other chick and mom came to the bottom and they followed her up the whole thing.

Then a couple days ago, with no broody objection- if there had been I would not have proceeded- she let me handle them one by one. Of course they were squirmy and made lots of noise- personally I like to keep them (any chick) until they're calm, and she didn't freak out in the least about the 'what's this monster doing' chirps. After that first week of super hormone mommy chicken she mellowed out and leads them within inches of me. (thus, broody bonus points).

The broody raised chicks are having a more normal experience- i.e. seeing the whole person instead of a torso with arms over the brooder. Mom not being afraid leads to babies feeling confident. They learn fast about the joys of scratch, mealworms and other good things people bring, and they follow everyone to the food. So they're definitely different and not as acclimated to hands and so forth, but their attitude towards people seems to be trusting what Mom says.

 

[Shezadandy]

I woke up to this
4 lavender Orpington chicks! One more egg left to hatch. Looks like my broody is doing a great job so far! Yay!
A couple of the baby's look to have a more yellow tummy. I wonder if that is a way to sex them? Does anyone have experience with this breed?

Yayyyyy! Congratualtions!!! There's nothing better than seeing a mother hen and her chicks!

No idea about sexing them, but my understanding of Orps in general leads me to think not.

 

[ambergds]

Thanks! If I had to take a guess based of combs, I'd say I have two boys and two girls. I was hoping for at least one of each. I don't currently have a rooster. My last rooster was very aggressive towards me and my kids so we got rid of him. I would like to try again with a rooster.
How long should I wait on the last egg? Momma is still sitting tight.

 

[Shezadandy]

Thanks! If I had to take a guess based of combs, I'd say I have two boys and two girls. I was hoping for at least one of each. I don't currently have a rooster. My last rooster was very aggressive towards me and my kids so we got rid of him. I would like to try again with a rooster.
How long should I wait on the last egg? Momma is still sitting tight.

She'll get up when the time is right. She probably won't move until at least tomorrow. I gave my stragglers 3 days past hatch, 2 days after she got up- and none hatched. If you've got an incubator and want to give it longer, wait until she's up with the chicks before removing that egg. If you can have a little chick waterer with just the pan part full of water, not the jar- and a shallow dish of either all flock or starter or whatever you've decided to feed, she will probably start teaching them to eat and drink if it's close enough where she can reach with her beak without leaving the nest. They'll be fine for a couple days without either though.

 

[Shezadandy]

Thanks! If I had to take a guess based of combs, I'd say I have two boys and two girls. I was hoping for at least one of each. I don't currently have a rooster. My last rooster was very aggressive towards me and my kids so we got rid of him. I would like to try again with a rooster.
How long should I wait on the last egg? Momma is still sitting tight.

How's everybody doing and how many did you wind up with? Any cockerel suspects?

It's hard to believe it's been 3 weeks already. There's one fairly obvious cockerel even at this age- if it's not a boy I will be shocked. One and maybe 2 seem to have a little bitty crest poof but it's not easy to get a photo of. Soon enough though. The chicks keep jumping up to ride on their back and she's started shaking them off- maybe too heavy? =)

 

[ambergds]

Wow your chicks have gotten so big! And I agree that is a cockerel! What is your plan with the boys?
I have 4 healthy chicks! She left the 5th egg the next day. I pulled it out and it had pipped then died mommy is doing so good taking care of her babies. I am amazed at how busy they are. She has them out pecking around all day and then takes them back to nest in the evening. It's been fun for me to just watch her and let her do the work! I'll stick with broody hens from now on!
If I had to guess based on wing feather development, I'd say I have 2 boys and 2 girls. I don't currently have a rooster so I plan to keep the nicest boy and hopefully sell the other.

 

[Shezadandy]

Wow your chicks have gotten so big! And I agree that is a cockerel! What is your plan with the boys?
I have 4 healthy chicks! She left the 5th egg the next day. I pulled it out and it had pipped then died mommy is doing so good taking care of her babies. I am amazed at how busy they are. She has them out pecking around all day and then takes them back to nest in the evening. It's been fun for me to just watch her and let her do the work! I'll stick with broody hens from now on!
If I had to guess based on wing feather development, I'd say I have 2 boys and 2 girls. I don't currently have a rooster so I plan to keep the nicest boy and hopefully sell the other.

Nice! I'm glad you got the little roo you wanted! Sorry about the pipped egg- my 3 duds didn't ever pip so I didn't have to see the almost-there nature of it, just 3 regular looking eggs. After watching the broody keep everyone busy for most of the day every day, and weaving in and out of the other adults like they belong, scratching and eating ... so satisfying!

For the boys... What I've figured out about my baby chicks is they're all basically barnyard mixes, but hey, $10 for 12 fertile eggs right when I needed them, I'm not complaining! Complicating the answer is the 8 brooder chicks that are 12 weeks old. I got them before the hen went broody, or I probably wouldn't have ordered any more brooder chicks. They've got half a bedroom, floor to ceiling so it's not like they're stuck in a box. Anyways, I ended up with the super blue egg layer cockerel that I wanted and a Welsummer roo that should have been a pullet. The group of 8 will go into the run I've made off the big chicken pen -- poor goats have seen their home pen shrink, but they're out to pasture all day, so it's not a big deal. For a week or two the 12 weeks olds can meet the flock through the fence and then we'll try the full fledged introduction. That introduction pen will turn into the bachelor pad, and/or a breeding pen if I'm looking for specific crosses.

So anyway- if the cockerels- at this point, 3 that I know of, turn into terrible teens and go after hens... "assisting" each other in finding a "willing companion", they'll be ejected to the bachelor pad for a while until the hormones settle down. Any cockerel who's nasty to people ... will have a lifetime membership to the freezer club, membership 0 for now. This is supposed to be a fun and relaxing endeavor! If they peacefully coexist without separation, great. Ideally the super blue is my first pick as the primary breeder- should get some green and olive egg layers from his pullets, and of course more blue layers from the super blue pullets. I've got Welsummer pullets too-- so the bachelor pad could become the breeder pen for purebred Welsummers down the road, or super blues. For the mixed cockerels, it will depend on personality. For the current number of hens (will be 16 with the 12 week old pullets, hopefully a couple more from the broody hen batch) two could potentially exist with enough to do. I would rather have a nice roo than any specific one- so long as they're good to people and chickens. If I'm lucky enough to have good personalities post-hormone frenzy, any extras will be sold.