Natural breeding thread

[TOMTE]

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.

I'll keep that in mind. I was thinking more along the lines of books but anything helps!

 

[Skyeknight]

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?

If this is the case then I do find it a bit weird that a hen is communicating this by loud sounds to others instead of showing the nesting place in another way. Seems like it would just be an invitation to nearby predators.

Most social animals live in family groups and since they are genetically realted it doesn't matter to them if it's their offspring or those of a relative. Both will help them carry on their genes. So using the egg song could also be for this purpose, but I don't know enough about the egg song to state anything specific.

Accepting chicks and eggs from others within a family group isn't that weird. But if for example you have araucana's who lay blue eggs and you let them breed out white or brown eggs its kinda weird that they accept them. Since eggs from other breeds don't look like their own. Same should apply to chick down colour.

 

[Shadrach]

I'll keep that in mind. I was thinking more along the lines of books but anything helps!

If this is the case then I do find it a bit weird that a hen is communicating this by loud sounds to others instead of showing the nesting place in another way. Seems like it would just be an invitation to nearby predators.

Most social animals live in family groups and since they are genetically realted it doesn't matter to them if it's their offspring or those of a relative. Both will help them carry on their genes. So using the egg song could also be for this purpose, but I don't know enough about the egg song to state anything specific.

Accepting chicks and eggs from others within a family group isn't that weird. But if for example you have araucana's who lay blue eggs and you let them breed out white or brown eggs its kinda weird that they accept them. Since eggs from other breeds don't look like their own. Same should apply to chick down colour.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-not-about-the-egg-it’s-an-escort-call.74386/

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

I know I'm late to the party, but I wonder if broodies know more about the chicks than we do.

For instance, our first broody- Mama, a buff Orpington who was marvelous at her job, first hatched 6-- 5 five white 1 black, not a care in the world. She treated them all the same, didn't mind us handling or being in with her. But I had also accustomed our chicks early on to be messed with on nest to gather eggs easily. Her first brood she was about 6 months old

Second hatch all Easter eggers so random colors, but she only attacked one, who few weeks later died. Granted, we took them and raised them ourselves and even putting them back outside they all seemed okay but that one almost crashed instantly. Yes, that hatch had coccidiosis, but that one just seemed off as we looked back trying to figure out what to do next.

Third hatch we used incubator and a broody(she was a BCM/egger mix) she sat just fine. But when it came time to forage with the chicks she just flung them everywhere -- not intentionally I don't think, but front, backwards, to the side. Like they were "in her way" lol. (Maybe that's what's wrong with our current roo haha jk!, although he was one she hatched)

All in all. Broody definitely seems easier, thankfully haven't had any broodies since last Aug. (We sold our black Australorp and buff Orpingtons as they constantly went broody once a month. I didn't have enough broody jails lol we kept three, Mama being one, but she hasn't been broody since, knock on wood)

My only downfall to a broody is the first brood was feral- granted it could have been cross- SLW cross BO. The one black one was a Australorp/Orpingtoncross.

But with both our broodies we were able to check daily on them just as I could the incubator, so it was fun interacting with them.

 

[Perris]

when it came time to forage with the chicks she just flung them everywhere -- not intentionally I don't think, but front, backwards, to the side. Like they were "in her way" lol.

that's normal! and no harm done; the chicks learn quickly to watch where mum's putting her feet and not to get in the way of them!

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

that's normal! and no harm done; the chicks learn quickly to watch where mum's putting her feet and not to get in the way of them!

We thought it was normal but her behavior unfortunately was not. We watched her for a while but she wouldn't call them, wouldn't show them food or water. It looked as if she would have at beginning but it progressively went south. It was one of those instances where observing was crucial. And yes we gave her a few days.

ETA I guess I should have added this to original post but it makes it hard to know when to intervene. Like Mama, yea she tossed a few around but they learned and she was always teaching/talking/communicating. Whereas Goldie- nope, she was opposite, like she didn't want anything to do with them after she hatched and showed them around for like an hour. We were hopeful, but some are just hardwired differently I guess

 

[fluffycrow]

I know I'm late to the party, but I wonder if broodies know more about the chicks than we do.

They definitely do. After all, they’re the same species.

Sometimes they know when to abandon a sickly chick, or even more commonly, throw infertile or quitter eggs out of the nest. The latter amazes me more, but it should come as no surprise. They are very in-tune with their brood

 

[Perris]

We thought it was normal but her behavior unfortunately was not. We watched her for a while but she wouldn't call them, wouldn't show them food or water. It looked as if she would have at beginning but it progressively went south. It was one of those instances where observing was crucial. And yes we gave her a few days.

ETA I guess I should have added this to original post but it makes it hard to know when to intervene. Like Mama, yea she tossed a few around but they learned and she was always teaching/talking/communicating. Whereas Goldie- nope, she was opposite, like she didn't want anything to do with them after she hatched and showed them around for like an hour. We were hopeful, but some are just hardwired differently I guess

was Goldie on her own eggs? do you think this could be a case of her recognizing the chicks as not her own and therefore rejecting them?

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

was Goldie on her own eggs? do you think this could be a case of her recognizing the chicks as not her own and therefore rejecting them?

No idea. No way of knowing one way or the other

 

[BDutch]

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

Do you mean chicks that are incubated and put under the broody?
Or eggs that weren’t hers?

I have a hen that even started to mother after another hen hatched her foster chicks. Its just one step beyond co-brooding.

I had a hen in a nestbox beside a nest were chicks hatched. The hen who was sitting and waiting got annoyed, and pecked (attacked?) the chick that came out from under mama’s wings (happened twice, different chickens). Taking the broody with her nest to another place where she could sit quietly was a good solution. 3 days later she was a happy mother too. And another 3 days later I let them all out to the run and the mingled without any problems. They started to care for each other chicks not long after.

I have seen, and read other stories where peaceful co-existence was out of the question. Accepting chicks that aren’t from ‘her’ eggs seems to depend on the chicken, the flock or maybe the breed.