okay to free range my chickens again?

[Mrs. K]

NOTHING is more fun than a broody hen with chicks! Fingers crossed for a good hatch. I have my old Butter sitting on eggs now, another week for me too.

I don't know if you currently do this, but when you are cooking, check for the fertility. Then you have a fairly accurate idea of your fertility %. Check on this website for pictures of a fertile egg and an unfertilized egg. It can take a bit of practice to see, but once you get the hang of it, it is easy.

Mrs K

 

[Peeps61]

NOTHING is more fun than a broody hen with chicks! Fingers crossed for a good hatch. I have my old Butter sitting on eggs now, another week for me too.

I don't know if you currently do this, but when you are cooking, check for the fertility. Then you have a fairly accurate idea of your fertility %. Check on this website for pictures of a fertile egg and an unfertilized egg. It can take a bit of practice to see, but once you get the hang of it, it is easy.

Mrs K

Thanks for the advice, Mrs. K. I do know what the fertile eggs look like (bullseye) and I know some of them are definitely fertile, but I haven't checked for percentages. He has his favorites - usually the leghorns and the Wyndottes, both of which lay quite a few eggs at a time, so hopefully there are several of those in the nest!

 

[Peeps61]

NOTHING is more fun than a broody hen with chicks! Fingers crossed for a good hatch. I have my old Butter sitting on eggs now, another week for me too.

I don't know if you currently do this, but when you are cooking, check for the fertility. Then you have a fairly accurate idea of your fertility %. Check on this website for pictures of a fertile egg and an unfertilized egg. It can take a bit of practice to see, but once you get the hang of it, it is easy.

Mrs K

I have chicks! Several of them, by the sound of it. I've only seen one - it was white, so it's a leghorn/polish cross. I've not seen any of the others, but I'll leave the hen alone until she brings them out from under the bushes, then see about housing them in the chicken tractor. I've got to move my pretty little Easter Egger pullets out and integrate them with the rest of the flock this weekend. The hen did it all on her own with no meddling from me, so I figure she'll bring them out to join the flock when she's ready.

 

[Peeps61]

The hen brought the chicks over to the roosting area and was walking around with the rest of the flock this morning. She had four little cotton balls following her around! They are identical, so I think they are all white leghorn/buff laced polish crosses. I'll take some decent pictures tomorrow and post them here.

 

[Mrs. K]

I love raising chicks this way, the hen does all the work, I just get all the fun of watching! The flock thinks it is strange, but learn quickly to give her enough room. And the chicks just become part of the flock. Within two weeks, I have seen chicks eating between the feet of a layer.

In two-three weeks, if you can place a flat board 8-12 inches wide up near the roosts, the broody hen will teach them to roost up there, the urge to roost with the flock is very strong, and will cause a broody hen to leave the chicks. This way the chicks can still burrow in next to or under mama, and often times the rooster, while mamma is back with the flock at night. a win/win.

Later, the broody will just kind of forget the chicks, and they will be a little sub group until they begin to lay.

Mrs K

 

[Peeps61]

Thanks for the information. Right now, she's bedding down under the lawn mower with the chicks. I've to the smaller pullets out of the tractor, and hubby and I cleaned and moved it today, so hopefully she gets the hint and will take them in there. If not, I may have to catch the chicks and then put her in there with them so she gets the idea. There is a ramp that leads up to the coop, so in a few weeks, they'll be big enough to go up there and roost if they want to.

The other hens are a bit curious, but are respectful of the space. The momma hen puffs up to warn them off and they go!

 

[Nutcup]

I'm enjoying this thread. I've had similar experiences with the younger hens, sometimes one would fly into a neighbor's yard or just to the top of the fence. They're pretty easy to catch once it starts to get dark, if you can find 'em. Since this talks about ranging and food, here's what I'm wondering: we moved, and this back yard was just weeds. By now, they've eaten every bug and piece of grain or seed in the yard. They get plenty of fruits & vegies but they seem to be craving meat. There are only so many earwigs I can scare up for them anymore. I keep telling them to eat their egg pellets, and they do, but they seem frantic for meat. They would eat a cup of meal worms a day if I could afford it. Even hamburger seems expensive since I don't want to feed them (crap) - and I ration the (organic) scratch they'd be happy to gorge themselves on or it would crazy. With 4 hens and what eggs I don't eat I give to friends it's already kind of costly... also, when it's really hot they hide under the deck, then they get too lazy to run back to the nest to lay. When that happens too often I keep them locked up like Mrs K and spray the run down with enough water to keep them cooler.

 

[LBW1]

Every evening at 5pm, I take meal worms out to my hens and they race me to the coop. Sometimes they are so excited, they jump up and knock the tray of meal worms out of my hand. I also leave the coop door open all day and they return there often to feed on pellets. They certainly are creatures of habit. Good luck.
Lorraine
NZ

 

[JEWELSTOCHICKS]

I just started having chickens a couple of years ago and a friends husband built us a chicken tractor. Lost 3 of the four chickens that we bought the first night. Trapped and relocated 5 young and one momma raccoon. We ended up reinforcing the coop which made it heavier, had to put new wheels on it and the $300 coop became a $500 coop. It was still really hard to move, but it was okay. We started letting the chickens out during the day when they started laying. Started losing them except one, my favorite. Replaced and finally lost my favorite one, Agnes. Stopped letting them free range. We had to put a heavy fence on the bottom of it which made it hard for them to get to the grass and bugs.
Then my husband started making something for our anniversary. Boy, I was really curious. He owns a robotics company they design and build machines mostly for the car industry (pouring metals to make different parts for cars and other machines) First, he ordered a jack from Amazon then he bought some mini bike wheels. Thats all the information I had. Two days before he went in to have a total hip done he comes home with what he made. A machine that raises the coop and a motor on it, so we can move it around the yard. When we lower it, it goes all the way to the ground making it free range again. We move it every night. I have been amazed, With no trouble it goes around the yard, making tight curves so we can keep them in the shade. It's just the two of us, they generally give us 3 eggs ever other day during this heat and 3 eggs when it cools off.

 

[Peeps61]

I just started having chickens a couple of years ago and a friends husband built us a chicken tractor. Lost 3 of the four chickens that we bought the first night. Trapped and relocated 5 young and one momma raccoon. We ended up reinforcing the coop which made it heavier, had to put new wheels on it and the $300 coop became a $500 coop. It was still really hard to move, but it was okay. We started letting the chickens out during the day when they started laying. Started losing them except one, my favorite. Replaced and finally lost my favorite one, Agnes. Stopped letting them free range. We had to put a heavy fence on the bottom of it which made it hard for them to get to the grass and bugs.
Then my husband started making something for our anniversary. Boy, I was really curious. He owns a robotics company they design and build machines mostly for the car industry (pouring metals to make different parts for cars and other machines) First, he ordered a jack from Amazon then he bought some mini bike wheels. Thats all the information I had. Two days before he went in to have a total hip done he comes home with what he made. A machine that raises the coop and a motor on it, so we can move it around the yard. When we lower it, it goes all the way to the ground making it free range again. We move it every night. I have been amazed, With no trouble it goes around the yard, making tight curves so we can keep them in the shade. It's just the two of us, they generally give us 3 eggs ever other day during this heat and 3 eggs when it cools off.

That's really neat! We use the front end loader on our tractor to lift and push our chicken tractor. The kids push on either side to get it to move in the direction we want. They may be cheaper than a robot, but probably not!