big_daddy_rooster_420
In the Brooder
Hi
everyone been keeping chickens and just got ducks and really excited to be on this forum poultry raising has been a real big learning experience for me. We inherited a flock when we moved to a new property that had 7 roosters and 4 hens that slept in trees and forarged. Of course there was tons of fighting so we got some help getting the flock size down to 1 rooster 4 hens, which sadly became 1 rooster and 3 hens.
Starting this spring the hens would disappear, eventually we found one sitting on a bunch of eggs. Amazingly she hatched 11 chicks. We heard this was somewhat rare, so were really exciting when hen #2 did the same thing, hatching 10 more chicks. During some cleaning we found a hidden nest with 16 eggs that hen #3 was probably getting ready to sit on. After cleaning the nest wasn't very hidden so it got abandoned, so hen #3 had to start over and only hatched out 6 chicks.
Meanwhile hen #1 had raised her babies, and then sent them off to be independent and re-integrated into the flock with the rooster like before. We got suspicious when we noticed her missing, and sure enough found her on another nest with 13 eggs. When hen #2 also began sitting on a second nest, we realized that it *wasn't* rare for these chickens to go broody and hatch babies, it was actually rare for them to simply lay eggs we could collect and eat.
So in summary we unexpectedly inhereted chickens, and went from a flocksize of 4 to over 40 this summer. No idea what breed of chickens we have, but they sure seem to be less domesticated either by breed or by the natural selection of living wildly for a while (they're in a coop now)
Along the way we also realized we already had so many poultry, might as well go off the deep end, so we got ducks too partially because we have a pond!!!!!
Many questions I have so im excited to read and ask
Starting this spring the hens would disappear, eventually we found one sitting on a bunch of eggs. Amazingly she hatched 11 chicks. We heard this was somewhat rare, so were really exciting when hen #2 did the same thing, hatching 10 more chicks. During some cleaning we found a hidden nest with 16 eggs that hen #3 was probably getting ready to sit on. After cleaning the nest wasn't very hidden so it got abandoned, so hen #3 had to start over and only hatched out 6 chicks.
Meanwhile hen #1 had raised her babies, and then sent them off to be independent and re-integrated into the flock with the rooster like before. We got suspicious when we noticed her missing, and sure enough found her on another nest with 13 eggs. When hen #2 also began sitting on a second nest, we realized that it *wasn't* rare for these chickens to go broody and hatch babies, it was actually rare for them to simply lay eggs we could collect and eat.
So in summary we unexpectedly inhereted chickens, and went from a flocksize of 4 to over 40 this summer. No idea what breed of chickens we have, but they sure seem to be less domesticated either by breed or by the natural selection of living wildly for a while (they're in a coop now)
Along the way we also realized we already had so many poultry, might as well go off the deep end, so we got ducks too partially because we have a pond!!!!!
Many questions I have so im excited to read and ask
Welcome to BYC! Sounds like Chicken Math has kicked in! Haha! Such beautiful birds you have! Best wishes and have FUN!
We are glad you joined our flock!
