Mix breed chicks from Bantam Buff Brahma Roo (+story)

[acoustic-rooster]

This was my first try ever at hatching chicks myself, although my Buff Orp and GLW hens did all the hard work(brooding for 3 weeks!)

. There are multiple things that I did differently including:
I let both of my broodys hatch eggs at the same time. Some people say that the hens will attack the other hen's chicks, but as soon as the chicks could walk they would go from one box to the other and the mothers didn't seem to care

. so the 4 chicks have 2 mothers, odd for sure. Also I didn't move the hens into there own area, I just let them sit in two of the nest boxes I have. I did have a little trouble with other hens wanting to lay their eggs with the others, but I had marked them so no confusion as to which ones where new or not. I made a small platform and ramp to the nest boxes being used by the broodys so the chicks would be able to walk around a little and get back up to the nest. One of the chicks did fall off twice(A little too adventurous

) and one of the mothers would hop down them and nest where the chick was, we just put them back in the box and they where fine. Out of 12 eggs, only about 6-8 where fertile(1 Roo to 18 hens[-1 now

] ) and only 4 on them hatched

. I did have to help one a little because the shell had gotten a small crack within 3 days of hatching and before the chick could zip, a good part of the egg was broken

. So after helping it out of the shell I observed that that chick wasn't able to walk around as good as the others, but thankfully she/he is much better now and I've forgotten which one it was

. The chicks are about...5 weeks old now(I can never keep track

) and have most of their feathers. I found it interesting how when we raise chicks we keep them in a box for at least a month, when the hens would go out with their chicks in the first week! Now I'll put some pictures in here so you all can see them

:

So I'm in the coop watching the newborn chicks and one just hops out and goes under the other hen! "Well, you sure aren't very loyal

"

Such a cute pose.

Looking for some food outside

I'll get some up-to-date photos here soon...

 

[Ridgerunner]

You cannot blindly believe all you read on the internet or on this site. Not that people here purposely try to mislead you, but we all have different goals, set-ups and experiences. We are dealing with living animals with individual personalities. You really can't expect a specific living animal to react exactly the same as another living animal, even when the circumstances are similar. It is great to read other people's experiences. You can learn a lot from that, but you have to filter that with your circumstances and understand that occasionally, things not normal happen.

The two broodies thing, for example. There are several different bad things that can happen with two broodies together, not just one hen trying to kill the other's chicks. They do sometimes happen. But there are a lot of times that two or more broodies will work together very well to hatch and raise the chicks. I saw a post recently that blew my mind. Two broodies had hatched together, but the eggs were staggered so they did not all hatch at the same time. It was posted that the two broodies took turns being with the chicks and setting on the unhatched eggs. I would never have believed that possible, but since it was posted, I have to think maybe it is at least possible. Not that I fully believe it, but I will at least accept it may be possible. Sometimes my filters are not great.

Your are now one of the experienced onces. It is a great adventure, isn't it?

 

[acoustic-rooster]

Wow neat story! Wish mine where that smart, sometimes one would go back to the wrong box after I'd pull her out to eat/drink

and sometimes still when one is in a box with some of the chicks for the night the other will cram in the same box even if there are chicks waiting for her in another! Sometimes they are smart...but not always.