My hens won't incubate their eggs.

[lighthouse]

Using just tape won't work. Chicks grow fast and jump like frogs. Use cardboard or some other stiff material. Cereal boxes taped together are fine, or anything you can get free from a store.

Why are they not outside in a coop and run? That is really the best place for them all. Mamas will take care of the babies. Cats and other predators can't get at them.

Baby cockerels, well that is the problem we all have! Rehoming or eating or separating into a bachelor coop, or integrating into flock if you have enough space and hens. Deal with that when you get to it.

but if i cover that wall completely with carton boxes they won’t get any natural light because if i don’t close up to the top my cats will still be able to sneak in BUT if i build a transparent wall with transparent tape from wall to wall nothing goes in and nothing escapes.

they spend the day in the yard but at night the walk into the kitchen bathroom and sleep there, which suits me fine because in the morning i just go with the hose over their poo and clean it is again —here in asia bathrooms have hose for the butt and drain on the floor. so the hens decided to lay eggs on the kitchen table and that was also fine with me.

can i somehow castrate the cockerels?

 

[Chicalina]

even boxing it in halfway up is better than nothing which is the present situation. I doubt the cats will jump into an enclosed space with fierce mama hens. It is more about preventing the chicks from wandering too far away from mama and into a waiting cat's mouth. So, keeping chicks in rather than cats out.

Also taping it all up doesn't allow air to flow.

Castration (caponising) is not generally a very good idea. Have any more chicks hatched yet?

 

[Aapomp831]

Why is your chicken on your kitchen countertops?

 

[neo71665]

Caponising can be done and is a common practice for meat birds. Generally it's done on the farm and very few vets will even try it, if they do they charge way too much for it.

Frankly after reading this thread I would suggest rehoming any roosters and not to try to think about what happens. You seem like you have a huge heart and it's tough.

Wish ya best of luck with having all hens.

 

[ariri30]

I have a tiny mutt that laid about 7 tiny eggs and went broody at about 7 months. She hatched 6 chicks and raised then and a month later she went broody again thanks goodness she hasn’t been broody again. She stayed with the second chicks for a little longer than the first ones.

 

[lighthouse]

even boxing it in halfway up is better than nothing which is the present situation. I doubt the cats will jump into an enclosed space with fierce mama hens. It is more about preventing the chicks from wandering too far away from mama and into a waiting cat's mouth. So, keeping chicks in rather than cats out.

Also taping it all up doesn't allow air to flow.

Castration (caponising) is not generally a very good idea. Have any more chicks hatched yet?

yes, you are right —i’ll do the thing with the boxes tomorrow. one of my cats got too curious a moment ago and got a very precise peck between his two eyes now the moms have only four of them to teach a lesson.

why’s caponising not a goos idea please?

no, only the one so far i THINK. i’m as scared as my cats to get too close to them...

 

[lighthouse]

I have a tiny mutt that laid about 7 tiny eggs and went broody at about 7 months. She hatched 6 chicks and raised then and a month later she went broody again thanks goodness she hasn’t been broody again. She stayed with the second chicks for a little longer than the first ones.

oh, i see. so this is not a permanent state but more a temporary job?

 

[ariri30]

oh, i see. so this is not a permanent state but more a temporary job?

They will brood the babies for up to 6-8 weeks depending on the mom. It could be less or more. But the baby will know how to look for food and water and shelter to sleep. Mom will teach them all the skills before moving on.

 

[neo71665]

why’s caponising not a goos idea please?

Any surgery on birds is risky because they don't take well to being put under anesthesia.

 

[lighthouse]

Why is your chicken on your kitchen countertops?

it’s the kitchen table.

because the hens chose that spot to start laying eggs.