Natural breeding thread

[Perris]

Very true. I bought fertilised eggs from very different bantam breeds and my broody hens don’t mind the difference in the egg size or color. And cares for them just as well as her own chicks.

Same here. None of mine seem to object to a mix of colour, shapes and sizes of eggs under them. This for example was the clutch as set for Fez last year (all hatched) when I switched out the golfballs she had been sitting on before

 

[Perris]

The hunting for new nest sites having laid in a regular spot with the other hens would seem to be a good sign. So is spotting a hen and her rooster wandering around the land looking for nest sites. Many people have seen these behaviours but just haven't put the pieces together.

I've seen this a lot over the years of course with different roos and hens. I've seen Killay doing it with several hens since Christmas for example. But none of them have gone broody, yet. What sort of time frame do you have in mind?

 

[Perris]

I've not found any "science" studies on the topic.

At the risk of derailing, I summarised on your thread Jenni and Winkler 2020, specifically chapter 3 section 4 'energetics and nutrition of moult': Protein supply may constrain moult, especially among granivores, herbivores, frugivores and nectarivores; some eat insects during this time, as inadequate dietary protein can protract the moult. Some, such as Greylag geese, lengthen food retention time, and thereby more than double nitrogen absorption (from 16% to 42%), despite reducing foraging time and intake rate by more than 50%.

 

[Perris]

The aggegating of chicken keepers obsevations here on BYC gives a much broader view because of the range of chickens and keeping circumstances

Indeed. It has the potential to be very useful.

 

[Perris]

Galliform evolution might be helpful to read about, in that case!

there was quite a discussion of that way back in Shad's thread if I remember aright. If you search that thread I imagine it would come to the surface reasonably quickly - though as with all discussions on threads, it's a bit prone to fragmentation, as participants keep different hours, several different conversations are often going on simultaneously, and it's easy to miss things. But there was some good stuff there.

 

[SourRoses]

My favorite so far has been setting eggs under two broodies (mother & daughter who happily stayed together the whole time) and putting more eggs in the incubator the same day. Then when the incubator eggs were hatching, stuck "extra" chicks under the moms. They did great raising them and I got a big batch to pick through later with a lot less work, lol.

 

[BDutch]

Thanks for this insight. My experience of co-brooding is confined to one case, and is the one last year where the first born died on the nest apparently of dehydration (perfectly formed, no physical injury visible, had been running around, yolk absorbed and consumed by the time it died, and had been cheeping very loudly in the nest box the night before it died). It had hatched under Idris 2 or 3 days earlier, run around the coop a bit on the next day, while both broodies sat tight waiting for the last to hatch (I assumed, but they were both young novices so maybe didn't recognize the urgency of its cheeps), and it ended up under Rhondda in the box next door, dead in the morning in exactly the same place it had been alive the day before. Still kicking myself over that one; it was grey, like Amadeo, and probably his grandson/daughter.
View attachment 4058614

Anyway, I can change the nest boxes by removing the central divider, so if I get co-broodies again, I'll do that, thanks to your shared experience @BDutch . Great thread you've started!

A very sad story. I think we all have them if we have chickens for several years.

And thanks for the compliment. I thought it would be nice to exchange more info about natural breeding. Because it comes in many varieties and like with having backyard chickens there is not one best way that fits us all.

Influencing:

• Free ranging vs captivity
• Chicken breed(s)
• Older hens vs pullets wanting to hatch
• Rooster(s)
• Set up, coop and run space.
• Type of predators
• Climate, type of soil
• Time of the year
• Disappearing hens vs stimulating hens to sit in a good place with fake eggs.
• Available hiding places
• Separating a broody or not
• Back up in a machine or not
• Temperament of individual chickens
• Markings eggs
• Take away extra eggs (avoid staggered hatch)
• Candling eggs or not
• Buying hatchery eggs
• Food
• Taking a hen off the nest once a day , or not, to eat and poop
• Etc.

Many things we can’t control or maybe it’s even better not wanting to control depending on your situation. A loss is sad. But this is natural too and often unavoidable.
I try to focus on the things that work out nicely and the enjoy it if chicks are thriving with a happy mother.

 

[fluffycrow]

My limited experience with co-brooding has been great. It seems to me that the females tend to prefer it to brooding by themselves, as (I believe) @BDutch mentioned.

My bantam group seems to be particularly favourable of this behaviour. Every mixed breed bantam in the group has been either raised in a co-broody situation, or has co-brooded themself.

My experience is also limited to one experienced and one inexperienced bird co-brooding, but I think this works out well.

The head hen of the group in particular, is not a very dependable broody or mother, and I would not trust her raising chicks alone. In co-brooding situations however, she works great. Given her position, none of the chicks are bothered by the other birds, and when she forgets she has chicks, they can run to the other mum for help

 

[Perris]

A very sad story. I think we all have them if we have chickens for several years.

Thanks.

Many things we can’t control or maybe it’s even better not wanting to control depending on your situation. A loss is sad. But this is natural too and often unavoidable.

I agree entirely. Intervening may make us feel better because we're doing something, but it's not at all obvious to me that it improves things in most cases, and it clearly makes it worse in some.

My limited experience with co-brooding has been great. It seems to me that the females tend to prefer it to brooding by themselves, as (I believe) @BDutch mentioned.

I think that too. My young novices had a rocky start (told above) but they did a great job thereafter, and I think it made life easier for everyone - them, the chicks, and me! If I get any again I won't discourage them, I'll just modify the nest boxes as per BDutch's advice.

 

[TOMTE]

I know @Shadrach wrote an article about the egg song being an escort call which I found really interesting. I'll have to reread it soon because most of the info has fallen out of my ears

So I don't remember if this was touched on in the article but I watched a video recently (I don't have the link) where the person stated that the egg song is an invitation for other hens to lay on her nest, so that she can incubate and hatch them.

The discussion of whether a hen will accept chicks that aren't hers reminded me of that. Does anybody have any thoughts on this?