Natural breeding thread

[TOMTE]

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.

Birds are so amazing! They've had MILLIONS of years to evolve and adapt to all sorts of new situations. I never pass up an opportunity to remind people: birds are LITERALLY dinosaurs. Not just descended from them. They are living, breathing dinosaurs who have been around for a very long time. I don't think we could ever fully understand how complex they actually are. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try but there's always going to be things that we don't know about them.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Does anyone have experience with a broody killing their first born and how you handled it?

I think hens that kill chicks don't want to raise another hen's offspring. I've only ever had hens kill chicks when I was new and awkward with handling the broody process

A hen is brooding. Another hen lays eggs into her nest. The first clutch hatches and the mom eventually abandons the newcomer parasitic eggs

I foolishly took the extra eggs and placed them under another broody hen, figuring she would hatch them, then I could pass her eggs along to the next hen, etc. until all are safely hatched

Unfortunately I discovered that the hen killed the new eggs I had placed under her. Perhaps they smelled different, perhaps she was just smart enough to understand that the timing wasn't correct. In any case I've only ever had homicidal hens after screwing with nature in too obvious of a manner

Natural breeding and free ranging can get awkward if there are a lot of chick-predators around like rats, cats, blue jays, crows, etc.

My property is heavily coated by blue jays and I've never seen them present any hostility towards chickens of any age

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.

Most of the clutches that my chickens sit on are heavily mixed in egg types and I've never had a mom discriminate between chicks based on color. The only issues I've ever had were from placing new eggs under a mom previously sitting on eggs for some time

 

[TOMTE]

My property is heavily coated by blue jays and I've never seen them present any hostility towards chickens of any age

Same here. Actually, when the chooks were still ranging, they'd stalk and chase the blue jays. Didn't seem aggressive, more like a game, or just to chase them off a good foraging spot. The jays never tried to return the favor, just jeered at them from the trees. Blue jays rarely eat meat anyway. Most of their diet is nuts and bugs. Only very occasionally do they eat baby birds and eggs.

I guess they might try and take out a chick if they see it as a threat, but almost definitely not for food.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I think hens that kill chicks don't want to raise another hen's offspring. I've only ever had hens kill chicks when I was new and awkward with handling the broody process

A hen is brooding. Another hen lays eggs into her nest. The first clutch hatches and the mom eventually abandons the newcomer parasitic eggs

I foolishly took the extra eggs and placed them under another broody hen, figuring she would hatch them, then I could pass her eggs along to the next hen, etc. until all are safely hatched

Unfortunately I discovered that the hen killed the new eggs I had placed under her. Perhaps they smelled different, perhaps she was just smart enough to understand that the timing wasn't correct. In any case I've only ever had homicidal hens after screwing with nature in too obvious of a manner

All eggs were from 1 specific hen I was choosing to collect from and placed under a broody. (Dates and marked)
I did this with 9 of my broodys.

All eggs were set together at once under the broody, none were added by me and any additional eggs layed in all nests by others were removed.

 

[Mrs. K]

So, do you think, or have you noticed (in a really non-scientific way)... but I have used broody hens for years. I do not expect perfect 100% hatches and can live with that.

Thing is, is a pullet more inclined to be broody if she was raised by a broody hen? I have in the last 5 years or so, boughten production bred chicks, and raised them with a broody hen. A couple of these have gone broody and raised chicks for me, much to my surprise.

Thoughts?

 

[Skyeknight]

So, do you think, or have you noticed (in a really non-scientific way)... but I have used broody hens for years. I do not expect perfect 100% hatches and can live with that.

Thing is, is a pullet more inclined to be broody if she was raised by a broody hen? I have in the last 5 years or so, boughten production bred chicks, and raised them with a broody hen. A couple of these have gone broody and raised chicks for me, much to my surprise.

Thoughts?

In my personal opinion I do think this helps, since going broody is the result of genetics, evironment and hormones. This would fall under evironment. Do you remember if these chickens where the first ones of their batch to hatch? or how much they witnessed others being broody before them?
In theory they don't really see much of the broody process since they are still in the egg when it happens. Ofcourse some hatch earlier then others and could possibly witness it, and almost all chicks will communicate with their mother while still in the egg. But who knows how much they remember of this. when growing up they might have seen flock members going broody, but I don't know how much that could impact the broodiness of generally non-broody breeds. At the very least they get actual experience from their mother on how to be a mother. Therefore since they have seen motherhood they should be better first time moms than incubator raised chicks.

 

[Mrs. K]

I don't think the order of hatching matters. Sometimes I hatch eggs, and sometimes I slip fresh chicks under a broody hen. Unlike the above posters, I have had very good luck slipping chicks under a hen.

The production hens were definitely were purchased day old chicks.

Mrs K

 

[Skyeknight]

Unlike the above posters, I have had very good luck slipping chicks under a hen.

Could you please tell us more about the breed, age, personality and living arrangements of your chickens where it worked? Also what is your process when slipping chicks under a hen? Maybe the chickens you can slip chicks under are identifiable by certain characteristics

 

[fluffycrow]

Thing is, is a pullet more inclined to be broody if she was raised by a broody hen?

Most people on BYC with more experience than me would agree.

I have a hen in the bantam group, she’s hands down the best (and most experienced) broody here. Her name is Cruella.

For her first brood, she raised three adopted chicks successfully. They were placed as eggs from my Tsouloufates (which do not have any broodiness in them) under her. One passed away later, the other was male, and the last was the only female. While she adopted quite a few of Cruella’s behaviours, she has not gone broody once.

On the other hand, during Cruella’s second brood, she had 14 biological chicks, 13 of which survived to adulthood. Out of 5 biological daughters from that brood, all have gone broody at least once, and all have done so under the age of a year old.

My conclusion from this is that there needs to be some kind of genetic component for it to be amplified through learnt behaviour. That being said, genetics and the effects of the environment are much more complex than that, and my sample size is quite small

 

[No Coop No Problem]

I don't think the order of hatching matters. Sometimes I hatch eggs, and sometimes I slip fresh chicks under a broody hen. Unlike the above posters, I have had very good luck slipping chicks under a hen.

The production hens were definitely were purchased day old chicks.

Mrs K

I've slipped chicks successfully under hens a few times, and I've had hens murder strange babies that hatched from strange eggs slipped underneath them. I think that genetics are probably the main factor at play here

My Asil would probably raise an emu if I could slip it under her somehow