Natural breeding thread

[BDutch]

sitting on 3 eggs since 4/19 and I think that means we are very close to hatch date!

Yesterday this was day 17. Too early to hatch.

Sadly we just found a dead chick halfway hatched underneath her.

Therefore I think it must have been something like Altairsky presumed. A heavy clumsy broody or the shell may have been to weak.

This never happened with my bantams. Did have full grown chicks in the eggs that didn’t hatch a couple of times. Probably a weak chick in a strong shell.

 

[redinator]

a hen brooding other hens' eggs of the same breed makes it similar to the observed cases from the 90s then, e.g. in colonies of gannets, terns, gulls, skuas. The recognition concerned is of the individual's own eggs, not the species. An ability to recognize their individual eggs amongst others of their breed has even been tested and demonstrated with guillemots.

Flocks (social structure of chickens) and colonies (above) are not the same thing. Colonies of birds gather specifically to breed and raise young together for better predator protection, or simply because that's where the best nest sites are and where food is available. Flocks live together all year round, not just when nesting and raising young. I don't have a specific source for this except I've watch a lot of nature shows throughout my life, so feel free to fact check and correct me if I'm wrong. The distinction is needed because it's a completely different social structure.

Now that I'm thinking of the flock I wondering about color variety in a given flock and whether or not it plays a role in hens accepting random chicks.

This part is all theory since I have no experience with broody hens raising young, but it came to mind while reading through this thread:

If you you a flock of only RIR and introduce a red chick the hen may assume the chick belongs to another flock member and raise it. If you tried to put a black chick (or egg that hatched out a black chick) in the nest the hen may attack it. On the other hand if you have a mixed flock maybe the hen would be more willing to accept chicks that resemble other flock members. Anyone have thoughts or experience with this?

 

[redinator]

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?

I recently watched the same video here's the link:

 

[Perris]

Flocks (social structure of chickens) and colonies (above) are not the same thing. Colonies of birds gather specifically to breed and raise young together for better predator protection, or simply because that's where the best nest sites are and where food is available. Flocks live together all year round, not just when nesting and raising young.

True, and a useful distinction.

The distinction is needed because it's a completely different social structure.

That I'm not so sure of. The more I read in ornithology, the more I realize that there is a lot more variety and fluidity in avian lives than was thought or taught in times past. And that things can change/ evolve much more quickly than anyone guessed - within as short a time as 3 generations, which for a lot of bird species is less than a decade. Distinctions, I find, are useful when they serve as guides, not as rules.

if you have a mixed flock maybe the hen would be more willing to accept chicks that resemble other flock members. Anyone have thoughts or experience with this?

I have much experience with mixed flocks and broodies; and for homogeneous birds though there only in the limited sense of some birds within the flock being the same breed and appearance as each other, but not the rest of the flock.

My broodies seem happy to incubate any size, shape or colour eggs, and raise any colour chicks, within the flock.

 

[BDutch]

Flocks (social structure of chickens) and colonies (above) are not the same thing. Colonies of birds gather specifically to breed and raise young together for better predator protection, or simply because that's where the best nest sites are and where food is available. Flocks live together all year round, not just when nesting and raising young. I don't have a specific source for this except I've watch a lot of nature shows throughout my life, so feel free to fact check and correct me if I'm wrong. The distinction is needed because it's a completely different social structure.

Right as far as I know. We share the same experience.

Now that I'm thinking of the flock I wondering about color variety in a given flock and whether or not it plays a role in hens accepting random chicks.

This part is all theory since I have no experience with broody hens raising young, but it came to mind while reading through this thread:

If you you a flock of only RIR and introduce a red chick the hen may assume the chick belongs to another flock member and raise it. If you tried to put a black chick (or egg that hatched out a black chick) in the nest the hen may attack it. On the other hand if you have a mixed flock maybe the hen would be more willing to accept chicks that resemble other flock members. Anyone have thoughts or experience with this?

I have no idea about other birds than chickens. But chickens don’t seem to care about color or size of their ‘offspring’. Must say I never had a complete flock of the same colour and breed.

I had all kind off eggs under my broodies. The broodies hatched larger eggs, got larger chicks, different look and getting a very different pattern a few weeks after hatch. After a few months the Amrocks got much larger in size, but the 2 broodies kept mothering their adopted eggs/chicks/juveniles.

Some people even had broodies who hatched ducks and raised them. Read it somewhere here on BYC. The hen panicked when the ducklings went into the water the first time. She waited nervously at the borderline till the ducklings got out. After this, it became a routine to follow the ducklings to the water and wait patiently until they came back on land.

I wonder what broody hens would do if they hatched reptiles or dragons ? Hopefully they eat them before they get eaten.

PS found a video on youtube. It was on the Belgium National news 8 years ago. The man tells: “a hunter found a nest with warm eggs beside the water where a farmer just mowed. There was no mother in sight anywhere. Thought it were pheasant eggs. He asked if I had a broody to hatch them. See how she acts.

 

[fluffycrow]

Yet another example of communal laying and distinction between one’s own eggs and those of other (hens) are ostriches.

They too live in groups, and follow similar hierarchical standards to what we observe in our beloved chickens.

Shown in the video below, is the ability of the head hen to not tell her eggs apart, but use the eggs laid by lower-ranking hens as the last resort to defend against predators trying to get to hers. As the video mentions at the very end, once the chicks hatch, she will raise them all, knowing that some of them are not hers.

Much like Perris and BDutch, I have not noticed my broody hens and pullets favouring a certain type of chick (colour, height, build, even behaviour wise) over another. What will not be accepted by most broody mothers is a chick (or more), introduced after they have bonded and imprinted on their chicks