Natural breeding thread

[BDutch]

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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.

Maybe weird for you or an Araucana? My hens and many more hens have no problems at all to sit on eggs that are very different from her own. Other shape, other colour, and other size don't matter at all.

Buying very different hatchery eggs from another chicken keeper is common practice for people who have no roosters.

Most of my broodies don’t mind if another hen comes along to lay an extra (infertile) egg in the nest after a few days. Hens may be clever but not very smart. I take the unmarked eggs out if I find any.

 

[BDutch]

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

Welcome to the ‘party’.

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

Not sure if all my hens are more clever than me. They do stupid things too.

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

The broodies often have no other choice than to choose for the fittest. They usually give up on a chick that is later or less strong.

I had one last year who struggled to hatch. The two mothers took the little older chicks out to forage and left the weak chick on his own to die. I took it inside. Gave water with electrolytes, kept it warm and put it back under one of the mama’s after dark.

The next morning the chick was fine, much stronger and it managed to follow his siblings.

 

[GlicksChicks]

I have both hatched eggs in incubators and had my broodies deal with it all.

From my personal experience, I would say let the broody do everything. Don't baby her. If she has the right instincts, she should be able to do it all on her own. If she needs your intervention or your pampering when incubating eggs, then she may not be cut out for the parenting gig.

I made the mistake of helping a hen too much, and all but 1 died. I took the last one before it could die.

 

[Altairsky]

My first broody, 2 and half years old local breed related to orpingtons, hatched her first clutch one year ago. I didn't have a rooster so she sat on a mixed bunch eggs of araucana, polish, and one cemani egg I got from a friend for free.
At day 16, she picked out the one cemani egg and ate the unborn chick.
What a racist.

 

[Perris]

some are just hardwired differently I guess

I'm sure that's true, as some chickens go broody and some are brood parasites, happy to dump their eggs in someone/anyone else's nest.

When they are all one flock, as here, the hens at least perhaps assume (correctly in most cases) that they're all family to some degree, so the extended family genetics argument might apply. And it's a mixed flock, so birds and eggs looking more or less different from one another is the norm that they all grow up with.

 

[fluffycrow]

Welcome to the ‘party’.

Not sure if all my hens are more clever than me. They do stupid things too.

The broodies often have no other choice than to choose for the fittest. They usually give up on a chick that is later or less strong.

I had one last year who struggled to hatch. The two mothers took the little older chicks out to forage and left the weak chick on his own to die. I took it inside. Gave water with electrolytes, kept it warm and put it back under one of the mama’s after dark.

The next morning the chick was fine, much stronger and it managed to follow his siblings.

I’m sure that’s true. I’m not comparing intelligence, even though I’ve seen humans doing a lot of stupid things (myself included).

It does seem fair, however, to say that chickens know more about chickens than we do. That doesn’t mean that they are incapable of making bad decisions, or that every broody is a great broody.

Indeed. Sometimes leaving one or two chicks who are behind, in favour of the rest who are already starting to get dehydrated is the choice they have to make in order to have a successful breeding season. That’s where we can step in, and see if said chick can be saved and/or reintroduced to the group once it’s ok

 

[BDutch]

I'm sure that's true, as some chickens go broody and some are brood parasites, happy to dump their eggs in someone/anyone else's nest.

When they are all one flock, as here, the hens at least perhaps assume (correctly in most cases) that they're all family to some degree, so the extended family genetics argument might apply. And it's a mixed flock, so birds and eggs looking more or less different from one another is the norm that they all grow up with.

Chickens are birds, and I think somehow wired like silly birds. (Sorry Shad, but I think chickens are clever in many ways but not in knowing what they are hatching).

The cuckoo’s nest is the best example of birds who can even stupidly hatch other eggs of other species.
It wouldn’t surprise me if chickens would hatch crocodile eggs if given to them in the nest they get broody in.

 

[BDutch]

Just a link to a photo I love to share :
embryo development in the egg

 

[TOMTE]

Chickens are birds, and I think somehow wired like silly birds. (Sorry Shad, but I think chickens are clever in many ways but not in knowing what they are hatching).

The cuckoo’s nest is the best example of birds who can even stupidly hatch other eggs of other species.
It wouldn’t surprise me if chickens would hatch crocodile eggs if given to them in the nest they get broody in.

Interestingly, some birds have learned to recognize the eggs of brood parasites. I believe bluebirds have been observed adding more nesting material on top of eggs that aren't theirs to smother them, or simply pushing them out of the nest.

My bet is that it 100% depends on the individual hen when it comes to chickens. They are brilliant birds for ones with such small brains LOL, but that instinct to brood and set and mother might just be much stronger in some so that they overlook differences in egg size, shape, and color, and same with the chicks they hatch out.

 

[Perris]

The cuckoo’s nest is the best example of birds who can even stupidly hatch other eggs of other species.

so you might think, but actually brood parasitism of this sort (around 100 bird species are obligate parasites) "is generating some of the most intriguing behaviours in the animal kingdom: sophisticated trickery, keen powers of pattern detection, ingenious covert systems for sharing information, and complex strategies for decision making. All thanks to a tit-for-tat war between parasite and host." Ackerman The bird way 2020: 271.