OEGB - broodiness, personality, egg-laying, maturity?

[Ruthster55]

Yes, he definitely did, for once XD
The problem is,
the coop has tons of roosting space, and 6 boxes, but isn't very big (5x6ft).
The run however, is fairly big (20x16ft or so). So I can't section off a part of the coop, not without making it much smaller and harder for the hens to navigate.
I DO have a small dog cage, maybe 2x4ft but it would only fit in the run,
plus I could stick it underneath the metal roofed part of the run for shelter.
Only thing is the bars are a bit wide, I'd need to do something to it near the bottom to make sure the chick wouldn't be able to squeeze through.
Would something like that work? I don't love the idea of the chick and broody being stuck in a cage outside the coop, but if it's the only option, eh...

We do something similar. We nailed a cage to the side of some rabbit hutches in an area of the run protected from the weather. This keeps hens with their new babies until the chicks are big enough to be on their own.

The cage is off the ground so it stays dry and coccidia don't run rampant. If the weather were drier, I would let mom and babies out of the cage sooner, but it's been really rainy here. I lost a couple of chicks that I let out of the cage too soon, along their mothers.

 

[TopazMaster91]

This chick is truly adorable, all buff/white in color, tiny puff on top of head, puffy cheeks and little beard, and it's so trusting and cuddly! We have it in a makeshift brooder in the house with a heat lamp for now, until we stick her under the broody. It really likes snuggling into a towel under the heat lamp. It also likes being cupped in my hands, it pokes it's head out from random spots, then falls asleep making happy peeps . We got it to peck at a little bit of mashed up food. It's so young it just wants to snuggle and sleep in warmth right now.

 

[JaeG]

That's amazing that it hatched. I bet it is super cute! Hopefully your stubborn broody will love having a chick of her own to take care of.

 

[TopazMaster91]

SO, we got everything set up in the run, the cage is secure, has food, water, shavings, and a nest box; we carried Yuki (the perpetual broody) INSIDE the nest box, set it down in the cage, then waited a minute. Then we stuck the chick down near her tail. Yuki woke up, pecked behind herself a few times, somehow turned herself around completely, seemed to fall asleep. Then she woke up, preened for a few minutes, fell back asleep again. Couldn't see well, but pretty sure the chick is under her; it was quiet, not peeping anymore. We shall see how this turns out, hopefully the pecking was an instinctual "wtf is touching me, in the dark!" reaction and she bonds to the chick overnight + in the morning. She has been broody for around a month and a half with no signs of stopping, so she should accept the chick, it's only MAYBE 24 hours old at this point.
I set an alarm for 5am, going to wake up early to go out by the run and watch/listen in case I have to intervene. Hoping for the best!

 

[JaeG]

SO, we got everything set up in the run, the cage is secure, has food, water, shavings, and a nest box; we carried Yuki (the perpetual broody) INSIDE the nest box, set it down in the cage, then waited a minute. Then we stuck the chick down near her tail. Yuki woke up, pecked behind herself a few times, somehow turned herself around completely, seemed to fall asleep. Then she woke up, preened for a few minutes, fell back asleep again. Couldn't see well, but pretty sure the chick is under her; it was quiet, not peeping anymore. We shall see how this turns out, hopefully the pecking was an instinctual "wtf is touching me, in the dark!" reaction and she bonds to the chick overnight + in the morning. She has been broody for around a month and a half with no signs of stopping, so she should accept the chick, it's only MAYBE 24 hours old at this point.
I set an alarm for 5am, going to wake up early to go out by the run and watch/listen in case I have to intervene. Hoping for the best!

for Yuki and the little cutie. Keep us updated.

 

[TopazMaster91]

for Yuki and the little cutie. Keep us updated.

Will do, going to bed now, should have updates early in the morning
Super hoping it'll all go well! The chick is so adorable <3

 

[TopazMaster91]

Oh man, lucky day, she accepted it
She's making momma noises, called it over when I set a bowl of food in front of her, lets it jump onto her back, it's gonna work out

 

[TopazMaster91]

We named the adopted-by-Yuki baby fluffer "Snowy", both for its light color AND
because the adoptive mother's name, Yuki, actually means Snow in Japanese It's perfect! I'm going to upload some pics when I get a chance .
Oh and Gracie and her four fluffers are doing just great, they've finally gotten down the ladder to explore the ground under the tiny prefab coop!
I caught them all dirt bathing at the same time, it was adorable .

 

[Chicken Heel]

We named the adopted-by-Yuki baby fluffer "Snowy", both for its light color AND
because the adoptive mother's name, Yuki, actually means Snow in Japanese It's perfect! I'm going to upload some pics when I get a chance .
Oh and Gracie and her four fluffers are doing just great, they've finally gotten down the ladder to explore the ground under the tiny prefab coop!
I caught them all dirt bathing at the same time, it was adorable .

Nothing cuter than a mama hen with diddles, especially bantams. My Grandpa got me started over 50 years ago with a bantam hen and 12 chicks and I was done for. Raising chickens has been one of my favorite things in life.

 

[TopazMaster91]

Nothing cuter than a mama hen with diddles, especially bantams. My Grandpa got me started over 50 years ago with a bantam hen and 12 chicks and I was done for. Raising chickens has been one of my favorite things in life.

Oh yes, fully agreed on that! Our chicken obsession got started when my mother stopped in at Tractor Supply for something, and they had baby chicks out for sale; she just impulse-bought four of them, we had no experience, no coop, no idea what to do! I had to do a lot of research, but we ended up okay. Now, if you count the babies as well, we have 14 chickens .
It's only been a bit over a year, and we just keep getting more and more!