Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[Kev]

She is my one and only person who knows anything about chickens and is interested in it.
I will probably hatch some chicks this year with broodies and she will be my first aid kit. I plan to raise them with broody, even thought she raised chicks in the brooder for years. I noticed that we didn't hatch a single hen that went broody for two years now. I hope that raising them with mother will help to get the instinct back.

No that will not encourage broodiness in the chicks. You could put leghorn eggs or chicks under a hen and the leghorns still won't go broody. On other hand, you can raise 100 generations of silkies or game chickens in incubator and brooders and these will go broody if you took a few and put in a coop or let free range. It is genetic, not learned.

I kind of like the combination of 'lays many eggs before going broody'... but yeah it gets frustrating sometimes when they are laying hundreds of eggs and not a single broody when you REALLY want to start hatching chicks.. sigh.

 

[Kev]

I don't have the broody right now, but I plan on doing it, I know that they sometimes lay one or two eggs when they start to sit.

And do you know how much eggs should go under a broody? I can put under most of my hens tops 19 eggs, but I don't think that they could take care of that many. Especially if they all hatch

If your hens are heavy, that is far too many eggs. That's asking for broken eggs and lower hatch rate under such a broody.

10-12 is a good average number. I do like to give them the maximum number they can cover with direct skin contact, then candle at 2 or 3 days to remove any infertiles(which is also a good way to reduce the egg number to a better one for maximum hatchability).

Also the eggs are properly warmed if they have direct contact with the naked skin on her breast... if they are simply covered by feathers or wing with no direct skin contact, they are got getting properly warmed. So if only 10 eggs at a time are getting direct breast contact, the other 9 eggs are going to get cooled down a lot, to the point some are going to be killed.. The hen rotates the eggs around some, which can lead to the killed eggs rolling directly under her and the live eggs rolled out to the too-cool areas and then get killed. It's not so rare for hens trying to sit on 20+ eggs to end up hatching less than 5 chicks for this reason.

Also all hens are able to take care of many more chicks than eggs. This is because the chicks are more mobile than eggs, they can and will snuggle and stand up against her breast and sides, and here the chicks can get warmed under the wing, unlike with the eggs.

Peahens(female peacocks/peafowl) look like such big birds but they are actually mostly tail and huge wings.. their actual body is rather small. Their broody patch on breast is surprisingly small for such a big bird. They can only really sit on 4, maybe 6 eggs with good success. But, they can easily take care of 10-15 chicks very well. I used to set eggs under several broody peahens and chicken eggs to hatch on the same day and give all of them to a single peahen.

Very much agree chicks raised under hens can be stronger than brooder chicks. They can tolerate temperatures that would kill brooder chicks of the same age...

 

[Phill98]

Thanks. Very helpful. I still want to try raising chicks with broodies, I think it's better then brooder.

One hen started laying in neighbour's shed. I was fine with it, but then two more joined and now I close them arpund 10 in the morning and let them out around 1:30, that is usually the time when they lay. And they finally started laying after a month. Last few days I got seven-nine eggs per day from 17 hens. Last week I was getting two tops.

 

[flower]

Thanks. Very helpful. I still want to try raising chicks with broodies, I think it's better then brooder.

One hen started laying in neighbour's shed. I was fine with it, but then two more joined and now I close them arpund 10 in the morning and let them out around 1:30, that is usually the time when they lay. And they finally started laying after a month. Last few days I got seven-nine eggs per day from 17 hens. Last week I was getting two tops.

Fun story about crafty birds ! Looks like you need to be a detective and follow those hens around until you discover their secrets.

 

[Kev]

Thanks. Very helpful. I still want to try raising chicks with broodies, I think it's better then brooder.

One hen started laying in neighbour's shed. I was fine with it, but then two more joined and now I close them arpund 10 in the morning and let them out around 1:30, that is usually the time when they lay. And they finally started laying after a month. Last few days I got seven-nine eggs per day from 17 hens. Last week I was getting two tops.

Haha yes the spots my free range hens have used in the past have been very varied.

I agree with raising chicks with hens, so much easier overall. I would love to just magically have hens ready to adopt chicks rather than put them in the brooder.

 

[chickengr]

If your hens are heavy, that is far too many eggs. That's asking for broken eggs and lower hatch rate under such a broody.

10-12 is a good average number. I do like to give them the maximum number they can cover with direct skin contact, then candle at 2 or 3 days to remove any infertiles(which is also a good way to reduce the egg number to a better one for maximum hatchability).

Also the eggs are properly warmed if they have direct contact with the naked skin on her breast... if they are simply covered by feathers or wing with no direct skin contact, they are got getting properly warmed. So if only 10 eggs at a time are getting direct breast contact, the other 9 eggs are going to get cooled down a lot, to the point some are going to be killed.. The hen rotates the eggs around some, which can lead to the killed eggs rolling directly under her and the live eggs rolled out to the too-cool areas and then get killed. It's not so rare for hens trying to sit on 20+ eggs to end up hatching less than 5 chicks for this reason.

Also all hens are able to take care of many more chicks than eggs. This is because the chicks are more mobile than eggs, they can and will snuggle and stand up against her breast and sides, and here the chicks can get warmed under the wing, unlike with the eggs.

Peahens(female peacocks/peafowl) look like such big birds but they are actually mostly tail and huge wings.. their actual body is rather small. Their broody patch on breast is surprisingly small for such a big bird. They can only really sit on 4, maybe 6 eggs with good success. But, they can easily take care of 10-15 chicks very well. I used to set eggs under several broody peahens and chicken eggs to hatch on the same day and give all of them to a single peahen.

Very much agree chicks raised under hens can be stronger than brooder chicks. They can tolerate temperatures that would kill brooder chicks of the same age...

thank you for the information. I now understand why my broody didn't hatch more chicks - no direct skin contact. she didn't loose many feathers when got broody and I put many eggs. I need to learn first, lol. next time I will put 5 eggs only, she is small.

 

[Kev]

thank you for the information. I now understand why my broody didn't hatch more chicks - no direct skin contact. she didn't loose many feathers when got broody and I put many eggs. I need to learn first, lol. next time I will put 5 eggs only, she is small.

you can reach under her while she is sitting to get a feel of how many eggs she can cover.

how many eggs was she on?

btw remembered another detail that seems to make a big difference is if she can make a cup around her. I like using straw, stemmy weeds, tall grass stems for this reason. Shavings, clipped grass etc IMO are poor nesting material. they still can hatch but when you want as many chicks as possible to hatch, so much the better if she can make a stable cup around her.

I've mentioned this before, fully realize it is not always possible or easy, it is so so much better if the broody is completely isolated from other birds. either in a pen/cage all by herself or her nest is blocked off(I've used wire for this)- but with this you need to take her out once a day for toilet breaks.

if another hen has access to the nest, mark the hatching eggs and remove the fresh eggs- but with this, do not be too shocked if there are broken eggs.

 

[chickengr]

you can reach under her while she is sitting to get a feel of how many eggs she can cover.

how many eggs was she on?

btw remembered another detail that seems to make a big difference is if she can make a cup around her. I like using straw, stemmy weeds, tall grass stems for this reason. Shavings, clipped grass etc IMO are poor nesting material. they still can hatch but when you want as many chicks as possible to hatch, so much the better if she can make a stable cup around her.

I've mentioned this before, fully realize it is not always possible or easy, it is so so much better if the broody is completely isolated from other birds. either in a pen/cage all by herself or her nest is blocked off(I've used wire for this)- but with this you need to take her out once a day for toilet breaks.

if another hen has access to the nest, mark the hatching eggs and remove the fresh eggs- but with this, do not be too shocked if there are broken eggs.

I didn't have a lot of straw and used some shavings and clipped grass. there were 11 eggs. she did cover all of them and there was a stable cup around her but she maybe couldn't keep all of them warm. she was isolated, she could get out but couldn't find the way back. one morning I found her out and don't know for how long she had been there.

 

[Phill98]

Fun story about crafty birds !  Looks like you need to be a detective and follow those hens around until you discover their secrets. 

Haha yes the spots my free range hens have used in the past have been very varied.  

I agree with raising chicks with hens, so much easier overall.  I would love to just magically have hens ready to adopt chicks rather than put them in the brooder.

I think that we will be searching for eggs for Easter. Only the eggs won't be boiled and colored.

 

[Phill98]

you can reach under her while she is sitting to get a feel of how many eggs she can cover. 

how many eggs was she on?

btw remembered another detail that seems to make a big difference is if she can make a cup around her.  I like using straw, stemmy weeds, tall grass stems for this reason.   Shavings, clipped grass etc IMO are poor nesting material.  they still can hatch but when you want as many chicks as possible to hatch, so much the better if she can make a stable cup around her.

I've mentioned this before, fully realize it is not always possible or easy,  it is so so much better if the broody is completely isolated from other birds.   either in a pen/cage all by herself or her nest is blocked off(I've used wire for this)- but with this you need to take her out once a day for toilet breaks.

if another hen has access to the nest, mark the hatching eggs and remove the fresh eggs- but with this, do not be too shocked if there are broken eggs.

I also like to use some bigger grasses for nests, even for laying. Chickens like to pick some of that grass and put it on themselves, so they can hide, ha!

One more thing, few years back we set two broodies next to each other in their regular nesting places where they decided. It actually worked out better tgen we thought. They were top hens so other chickens didn't even try to sit there. We marked the eggs and there was not a single one laid after we set them. They could also go out as much as they wanted and the hatch rate was great! Only two eggs didn't hatch and non of them were broken.
So even thought I still think it is better to isolate them, I think that they do better when they get to brood in the place they chose. And I have to remember you, they were top hens in the flock.