Michigan

[Chickmate]

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Wow! I changed my mind Farmerboy, I want to adopt your mother!

 

[Opa]

Raz, maybe this guy can help you with your school project.

 

[RaZ]

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The only difference in the groping is that my hens comne running and get in line and wait for the groping. Even mutt's little bantams are getting in on the action.

The squirrels visit the run every day and share with the chickens and wild birds that come in.

 

[teeville5]

Huh? Sorry, having a duh moment. I drove through stuff like that today. Totally weird. It was doing light flurries at my house and we drove to the other side of town and it was like a blizzard. Major 'what the hey?'

Welcome to all the new people.

Farmerboy, beautiful roo. I was in your area today as we were going to Grant.

 

[Chickmate]

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The only difference in the groping is that my hens comne running and get in line and wait for the groping. Even mutt's little bantams are getting in on the action.

The squirrels visit the run every day and share with the chickens and wild birds that come in.

Oh my god, you're groping the squirrels too????

 

[1muttsfan]

Welcome, dmclelin, to the Michigan thread

Now raz, if you start groping squirrels we are going to have an intervention

 

[RaZ]

I'm a hands on kind of guy.

 

[yorkchick]

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Yes, you have more challenges than I did because of the c-o-o-o-l-d weather. I was worried about the heat, with Edna stuck in a crate inside the coop all the time! I had a dog crate that was almost always in place in the coop, set up on cement blocks, mostly used as an anti-broody coop (wire crate with the solid floor taken out) because Edna and my other Sebright were constantly taking turns going broody on me. Finally after two years I said, "Fine, sit on some real eggs Edna!" and she did a fabulous job. When I first put her in the crate (with the solid floor back in it of course, and a little nest box) shortly before I got her the hatching eggs, she was very agitated and paced back and forth in the crate, complaining loudly. But then she noticed the wooden eggs in the little nest box, and

she settled right in. As I seem to have lost both the brain cells and the technology needed to post pictures here, here's a link to a picture of Edna on the real eggs:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6769400#p6769400
(Yep, FarmerBoy those are the beautiful eggs I got from you... and if I ever regain brain cells and/or technology, maybe someday I'll post pictures of how gorgeous they turned out. Do Not Hold Your Breath).
BTW, that's posted in the broody hen thread where I got nearly all of my info. Some of the people there hatch a crazy amount by broodies (I mean crazy in a complimentary way, obviously), and are very informative. Just scanning over the recent posts, it looks like several people are doing winter broody hatches and could no doubt help you. Also, that thread is lousy, just lousy (complimentary, again!) with pictures of broodies on their nests and with their chicks. And no one is every sick of looking at them. Never! (I love this place!)

One thing I learned from reading that thread is that there is no one right answer for a successful broody hatch. I was probably over cautious, separating Edna in the coop to hatch, leaving her in there with the chicks, and then when the babies were a week or two old, moving the whole family to a little starter coop with attached run (which I referred to as "single parent housing"

). Pretty soon Edna told me she was sick of that crap (direct quote, I believe, if my chicken translating skills are up to par) and that she was ready to take them out free ranging. She was right. The other hens never bothered the chicks, and it was wonderful to see Edna boss her big babies around, and teach them what to eat, and how to get Mrs. Food to hand-feed them (probably the most useful life skill for one of my chickens...)

Anyhow, could you block off the bottom part of the nest they're in so they can't fall out after the first ones hatch and Mama is still sitting on the slower eggs? That way you can still reach in to get Mama out as needed. And I'm sure it will be warmer/less drafty for Mama and
chicks than elsewhere in the coop. Mine actually hatched out over three days time, first to last!

Once they're hatched, you can move the family anywhere--mama will go wherever you put the chicks. After they hatch I believe a lot of people set up something on the floor of the coop for the family group. Depends on your space and draftiness issues, of course. A lot of people have success letting mom hen and babies integrate into the flock immediately after hatching, as mom does a good job protecting the babies and the other chickens usually respect that. Of course, there are also stories of that not going so well. As I said, I probably played it overly safe.

And please, please do post pictures! Nothing cuter! Nobody here can possibly be blase about more chicken pictures. (You know it's true!)

 

[yorkchick]

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Opa, that is freakin' brilliant!

 

[chickflick]

dmclalin. Great group of people here. Hope to meet you at Chickenstock.
Raz, you really got to try and control yourself. Your groping is getting out of hand. Someone is going to turn you in to the chicken protective services.
To keep track of my eggs, I just write how many I get on the calendar every day. Add as I go.