My Bantam Cochins went broody! Stealing each other's eggs, read!

[chicken_china_mom]

I have the pair I bought last summer, their names are Henry and Ann. I adore those little birds!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I just LOVE cochins, they are so cute and cuddly! I even had 2 blue cochin bantam roosters and they loved to roost on my arm! But something got them ...

 

[chicken_china_mom]

I do adore Cochins. I researched a lot of different breeds, asked opinions, and consulted a chicken vet before choosing which breeds to get for my first birds. The vet said the best breeds for kids to raise would be Polish, Cochins, and Silkies. I let the kids decide, and they chose White Silkies (I wish now that I had chosen a DARKER color!), and 4 different colors of Bantam Cochins. Before I ordered my birds I saw an ad for chick days at TSC and as soon as I laid eyes on the Silver Laced Wyandottes in it, I knew I had to have them, they were so gorgeous, and while I wanted Bantams, I had to have them, so I chose some of those two. The Cochin colors I ordered were Birchen, Partridge, Splash, and Barred. I ordered 5 of each of all the breeds. Well, I knew nothing about chickens really when they arrived, and it was several months before I realized that my Birchens weren't in my order.

Instead, to make up for the missing Birchen Cochins, they gave me an extra of all the other breeds, except the Silkies. So I ended up with 6 Wyandotte pullets, 6 Barred Cochin pullets, 6 Splash, and 6 Partridge. I ended up not liking the Partridge color much, so I sold or traded all of them, and I traded away or sold all but my favorite pair of Barred. I traded two of the three Splash roosters and kept the one with the best coloring and comb. I only lost one Silkie chick from all of that order. Then, the day after my chicks arrived, I went to TSC to pick up supplies, and their chicks had come in, and I couldn't avoid the temptation, lol. I picked up their minimum of 6 chicks which consisted of 3 assorted Bantams, and three Sexlink chicks. I grabbed one little yellow Sexlink, and two red ones, thinking I had a boy and two girls. I ended up with three hens, and I'm VERY glad for that now, lol! Of the little Bantams, I had grabbed their last 3, and two weren't looking good, but the store's Asst. Manager told me that if they died in the next day or so, I could come back and replace them the next time they got chicks in. Well, sure enough, two died, so I went back the following week when they got in their new chicks, and they were so cute! And of course I made the mistake of bringing my kids with and they couldn't choose just two, lol. My younger daughter picked out one that we though might be either an EE or an OEGB, and a Blue Silkie, and my older daughter picked out a little black chick, and a little reddish chick, and I picked out two more, one of which I was fairly sure was a Sebright chick and was hoping it would be hen because the only surviving chick from the week before was a Sebright. The ducks were in at that point, so I let each kid pick out a duckling to finish off the 6 that needed to be ordered, because my two replacement chicks weren't part of the six. So I left TSC with 8 chicks and two ducks.

We lost 3 of those 8 chicks, and since Winter started, I lost both the Sebrights (which turned out to be roos, and one was a Sebright mix), and all I have now are my Mille Fleur d'Uccle hen (the little reddish chick), and Fannie, the mystery black chick. If I end up going to TSC to check out their chicks, at least I'll know the different breeds to recognize them, lol, and I can choose with more wisdom than I had last year at this time. But I am trying to resist the temptation to head over there to look at all the cute, fuzzy little chicks. If I can get something in one of my bators to hatch I won't need to get chicks at TSC, so I am REALLY hoping something hatches, and soon!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

It's the same way with me!!!!! I just can't help myself!!! But I didn't have as much luck as you ... I got 1 white silkie, 1 golden brahma bantam, 1 black cochin, 1 blue cochin, 1 partridge cochin, 1 poreclian D'uccle chick, it was SO TINY but it didn't have a MUFF! AHHHH! And then I got 1 EE bantam. And I had to put them in with some older chicks, and the nest morning the black cochin was DEAD!!! So I brought them in the house and it was really cold that night, so I put them by the fire and me and my older sister slept in the living room that night so I could put wood on the fire etc. So I get up in the night to check in them and the EE chick was dead. So I go back to sleep and when I wake up I don't hear any cheeping!!! SO I go in there and there was NO chicks in the box!!! Panic time!!!
So I turn in all the lights and I can't find them anywhere!!! So I go into my room and look I don't see anything but I didn't turn on the light so I go out and my lil' dog Gypsy was asleep on my bed, so I get my mom up and we turn on ALL the lights. So then my mom says: did you look in your room? I said: YES!!! So we go back there and look anyway and we turn on the light and there on the bed are ... my baby chicks cold and dead!

So we started searching the house and 1 by one we found the dead chicks that my dog had killed. But she didn't kill them to eat them it looked like she had just licked them to death, because they were all wet!!! She had all chicks on the bed sleeping with them! Boy was I MAD at that dog. I don't think I've EVER cryed so much in my LIFE!!!! So Don't EVER leave baby chicks, where dogs can get to them!!!

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Oh, I know, I watch my dogs VERY carefully. That's why when I have my brooders up and running, I keep it in the bathroom where no cats or dogs can get in there. I also rig the top of the brooder with something like a babygate or screening to keep the chicks from escaping. I have seen cat paws slip under the door while I was in there with my chicks, and they get a cold squirt of water every time they do that too! I'm sorry you lost all your little chicks! That is so sad! nn I wish you lots of luck with all your future hatches though!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Thanks!

I hope alot of my eggs I hatch in the bator will hatch, but I haven't started it yet ...