New to. BYC

lakeyluna

In the Brooder
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My name is Lake and my family of 6 (husband, three daughters and a son) are new to raising chickens. I have always wanted a flock but we have a rather small backyard so my husband was against it for a long time. Recently he relented and bought me a small coop which sat empty for months before he went to a job site where the house was being flipped and the prior owners abandoned their 7 chickens, 1-2 rooster(s) and 4 guinea fowls. Over the course of a week or two we captured four of the chickens, one sebright, one buff Orpington (we think) and her two white juveniles. The rest were captured by others who were working at the site, so all were eventually saved thank goodness. Everyone has settled in nicely, they are still not overly friendly to us, though the sebright will eat teats out of my hand sometimes the other Orpington will some pretty close for treats and her little ones stay as far away as they can.

Our sebright is an amazing layer, and just went broody two and half weeks ago so we decided to get two chicks and place them under her. Sadly this plan has not worked out very well. The first night within minutes she was pecking them out of the nest. The second night she let the sleep under her until morning but then kicked them out if the nest and got very angry. We gave it a break last night. She is very aggressive with the other chickens right now, very bossy, we have separated her out of the coop to give the others a rest. I am thinking that if she does not take these two chicks we are going to have to attempt breaking her in a broody cage so she can go back to being our regularly happy girl.

I am sure we are making all kinds of mistakes with these birds but so far they seem pretty forgiving. Hopefully BYC can help steer us in the right direction.
 
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I am very happy you joined us! Keep on using the treats- that usually wins them over eventually. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask me, or any of the friendly, knowledgable people on here
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Welcome to BYC, Lake. Glad you decided join our flock. Raising chickens is a wonderful experience for children. My granddaughter (pictured in my avatar) loves our chickens. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in breaking your Sebright.
 
If she just started brooding - it was too early for her to contemplate (If chickens do such things) caring for babies. She might do better with fertile eggs - maybe one or two slipped under her at night, if she accepts them - maybe you could add a couple more. Some broodies are more accepting of foster eggs/chicks. If this is her first try as a brooder, she may get better with maturity and experience.
 
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I'm glad you joined our community!

I'm sorry things aren't going well with your broody Sebright and chick introductions.
 
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Thank You everyone for welcoming me to BYC. I am excited to start learning more about these wonderful birds!
 

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