Natural breeding thread

[dannichols525]

This pair just started brooding. The hen is crippled. Knowing she would likely break her eggs, we put them in the incubator. The hen is sitting on dummy eggs. When the eggs hatch the chicks will be returned to the hen to be raised.

 

[Khelton1]

What breeds of chickens yall using?

 

[BDutch]

What breeds of chickens yall using?

I can’t keep a rooster and buy hatching eggs if I have a broody + want chicks.
Had several breeds, always bantams.
Next time I try to buy bantam speckled Sussex.
My Dutch are make good broody pairs and are great mothers. My bantam RiR was a good broody too , but lost interest in being a mother pretty fast.

 

[BDutch]

Co-brooding however creates another uncertainty. This being are they actually doing it together, or apart and might refuse each other chicks. During the summer they were pretty close with each other, so I hope that friendliness carries over here.

I was reading this old post and it seemed I never reacted to this question/ assumption. Co brooding hens do not refuse each other chicks. How did it go @Skyenight ?

My experience (and a bit from reading) for whoever might read this:
If 2 hens brood around the same time in seperated nests and the earlier to hatch broody has chicks but the other not yet, this can be a problem if a chick appears before the broody who is not their mama. The broody is disturbed and can peck the chick hard to urge the chick to go away. The other broody and mama can not defend the young chick if she is still brooding on several eggs.

If you have 2 broodies its better to have them in 2 separated places a few meters or several feet apart where they do not see each other. If the chicks are old enough to come out from the nest and the broodies left the nests there is no problem anymore between them. I prefer to seperate the broodies with chicks from the other hens in the first week after hatch, to give the mama’s and chicks an easy start. If you have lots of space and the other hens are friendly this is not necessary.

 

[BDutch]

What breeds of chickens yall using?

Sorry for the late reaction. Somehow I missed this post.

I hope you don’t want to use a chickens like a machine. It’s a living creature with a heart . Most do great after being committed for a few days, but some can be unpredictable in loving to sit or raising chicks.

Do you mean what breeds are best as broodies?
A lot of heritage breeds are good broodies. The laying hybrids and breeds that produce an egg almost every day are the ones who often don’t get broody.
Getting broody is an individual thing. But some Wyandotte’s, Cochins and Orpington’s are famous for getting stubbornly broody. My 3 old Dutch and my bantam Rhode Island Red are/were my best broodies.

 

[Skyeknight]

Co brooding hens do not refuse each other chicks. How did it go @Skyenight ?

technically they went broody in different nest boxes. I put them together so I could save space and not have to deal with 2 different broodies with chicks in a too small coop (which you often see used here). It went decently well as they are the only 2 Silkies I have and they spend a lot of time together under normal circumstances. Although the Silkie that was a first time mom did way better than the one that already had chicks last year. The first time mom stayed with all the eggs before they hatched and kept sitting on the chicks even though they are way too big for her. The second time mom abandoned the eggs and started roosting earlier without all the chicks. All the fertile eggs hatched with 5 days between the first and the last. The last chick to hatch died while still wet, all the other chicks are still alive.