Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[daniellea2912]

I don't have that

As far as I know, you can only use the cute smileys from a computer or tablet right now, but not on mobile...It's a bummer.

 

[Tabatha]

Ok. Thanks guys! I'll try from my pc next time. For now I'll just do the durp faces :/ lol. Hijack over.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
I know what you mean -- it is so hard to choose!! I would love to have Brahmas, and there's a wonderful breeder very close to me where I could get great quality stock. But I've got geriatric Croad Langshans, which are somewhat similar and not quite as feathered down the legs, so I'll try to hatch some from that flock before they are completely infirm and infertile. I want more Buckeyes and Speckled Sussex, which are wonderful birds that really grow out well. I've fallen so much in love with my heritage turkeys that I'm scared to breed them because I may never slaughter the culls, and they're too big to have too many of them crawling all over me begging for cuddles all at once!! And my main breed, Red Dorkings, are just such a perfect match for what I want in a chicken that I sometimes wonder why I have any other breeds, except that there's so many other wonderful breeds out there. Oh dear, "Confessions of a Poultry Addict!"

 

[Sydney Acres]

At what age do you all put your chicks in with your established flocks? For some reason I think I read 8 weeks was a good time to do it, but there are so many pages on the thread to look thru. My 7 chicks are 6-7 weeks old (6 are brooder raised, one is broody raised but momma hen is weaning her- she goes out with the flock about half the day and roosts with the flock). A few are starting to really try to get out of their grow out area of the coop to get up on the big girls roost at night... 2 are quite obsessed with trying to escape and about gave me a heart attack tonight when they succeeded and I couldn't find them with the rest of the chicks! They were up on the roosts but being pecked at until they found a good spot. Secondly- what do you feed when they are all together? Can I just mix chick and layer feed together half and half (they have oyster/eggshells and grit offered at all times) or do I have to switch to an all flock type feed?

When I have chicks younger than 18 weeks mixed together with older birds, I stop feeding the layer pellets and switch to a general flock raiser, but am very careful to keep the oyster shell pans full. Excess calcium in the layer pellets can adversely affect the young birds during rapid growth, and lack of calcium supplementation can cause thin egg shells and osteoporosis in the layer hens. So by offering food without excess calcium, but also providing calcium "on the side," the layer hens can consume what they need without forcing the chicks to partake. Then when the chicks are 18 weeks I usually switch back to layer pellets during laying season, although you can use the oyster shell on-the-side method year round. I've found that my turkey hens actually prefer that option, and it may be a better choice for the roosters (lots of debate about that on some threads).

 

[daniellea2912]

When I have chicks younger than 18 weeks mixed together with older birds, I stop feeding the layer pellets and switch to a general flock raiser, but am very careful to keep the oyster shell pans full. Excess calcium in the layer pellets can adversely affect the young birds during rapid growth, and lack of calcium supplementation can cause thin egg shells and osteoporosis in the layer hens. So by offering food without excess calcium, but also providing calcium "on the side," the layer hens can consume what they need without forcing the chicks to partake. Then when the chicks are 18 weeks I usually switch back to layer pellets during laying season, although you can use the oyster shell on-the-side method year round. I've found that my turkey hens actually prefer that option, and it may be a better choice for the roosters (lots of debate about that on some threads).

Do you switch the feed over slowly (mix some old with some new) or just switch it out fully in a day?

 

[sssharon]

I have 4 New Hampshires and a Speckled Sussex that is so tiny. They all came to me together. When they were 5 weeks old I put them in the chicken pen to get them and the hens used to each other. I put the little ones in a small chicken coop and one day I forgot to latch the door and they were jumping out like mad hatters. I was sorry I didn't get to see their first jump. They weren't even 6 weeks old. I have one hen that is naughty and even chases her sisters around and of course she went after the chicks. Didn't take them long to learn how to avoid her and they are very good runners. The hens are brown leghorns and the chicks are getting as big as them and are 11 weeks old. It won't be long before they surpass them. I keep telling my naughty hen, Just wait, some day you're going to get your just desserts! I can't wait to see the day. She is so mean. My chickens are pretty quiet except her. When a chicken is in her favorite egg nest she sits and squaks until they vacate. Life is definitely interesting around chickens. I have 4 new babies just hatched and one more on the way. Hopefully more. Sorry for the longwinded story. Love my chickens
As far as the food goes I tried to keep it separate and it does no good. They love to eat each others food so I gave up. It hasn't hurt for the hens to eat chick feed so far. Eggs are good, shells good and everyone's is happy! {mostly everyone}

 

[sssharon]

I put two roosts in my chicken house and put one roost down closer to the ground for the chicks. It works well. They are good chicks and catch on fast. I read that the roost doesn't have to be up high. They like anything as long as it is up from the ground some. It's a real process getting chicks and chickens used to each other for sure. I seem to have more patience than I thought.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The roost doesn't have to be high but needs to be higher than the nest boxes or they'll sleep in them.
Most breeds of chickens like to sleep in the highest place possible. One of my coops has various level roosts but the chickens try to sleep in the rafters.

 

[bumpercarr]

When I have chicks younger than 18 weeks mixed together with older birds, I stop feeding the layer pellets and switch to a general flock raiser, but am very careful to keep the oyster shell pans full. Excess calcium in the layer pellets can adversely affect the young birds during rapid growth, and lack of calcium supplementation can cause thin egg shells and osteoporosis in the layer hens. So by offering food without excess calcium, but also providing calcium "on the side," the layer hens can consume what they need without forcing the chicks to partake. Then when the chicks are 18 weeks I usually switch back to layer pellets during laying season, although you can use the oyster shell on-the-side method year round. I've found that my turkey hens actually prefer that option, and it may be a better choice for the roosters (lots of debate about that on some threads).

X2. I feed Flock Raiser year round and offer oyster shell on the side. I just find it easier to not change feeds as I am usually hatching 3-4 times a year. Because of the heat that we are experiencing right now, I'm wetting the feed in pans for them rather than using the feeders so much (keeping feeders full though in case they want some dry). The difficulty with this method is that they tend to walk in the pans, squish (is that a word?) down the food, packing it into the bottom of the pan where they can't eat it. I don't give the cockerels any oyster shell, it doesn't seem to affect them not having it, but then again I've yet to get a cock bird to live beyond a year due to the neighborhood dogs. I should say though, that when they are in with the girls to breed, they can certainly have some of their oyster if they want it....I don't recall ever seeing them take any though.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Do you switch the feed over slowly (mix some old with some new) or just switch it out fully in a day?

I think what is best would depend on your overall management.

If your birds are confined and only get one type of food, then I would provide the oyster shells one week before I started switching out the diet (having both a small feeder or dish for the oyster shells, and throwing some on the ground daily in their favorite scratching areas to get them used to finding and consuming them), and I would wean them onto the new diet over a week, mixing about 10-15% more of the new food in every day. I would be sure to have the transition completed 1-2 weeks before the chicks were mixed in, if possible. In all likelihood they would be fine if you just switched them over one day, but this method gives them a chance to adjust, and avoids any temporary intestinal upset, calcium deficiencies, or food refusals because it tastes different.

On the other hand, if your birds regularly get different varieties of food, especially if they also free range, then they probably have iron guts and good food curiosity, so a lengthy transition would not be necessary. I free range my birds, throw oyster shells in their favorite scratching/foraging area daily, and mix 2-3 different brands of layer pellets together in their feeder at all times. When I change over I tend to just add a small feeder with only oyster shells (if I put them in a bowl, my silly Speckled Sussex rooster will immediately go through, i.e. empty, the entire bowl in one minute looking for something that he wants to eat, so at least the feeder keeps them in place for the hens), then mix my layer pellets and flock raiser in an "eyeballed" 2:1 ratio on day one, in a 1:2 ratio on day two, and then just flock raiser on day 3. I keep my feeders at the birds shoulder level, so I put pellets in the larger, higher feeders for the layer hens and crumbles in the lower, smaller feeders for the chicks. When the chicks are big enough to reach the higher feeders, then they are also big enough to eat pellets. (I really don't like crumbles -- too messy, which creates unsanitary conditions around the feeders within a few days, plus lots of waste, and my vacuum-cleaner piglets, aka layer hens, tend to choke on the crumbles, then go to drink water with the crumbles around their beaks and it gets in the water bowls which fouls the water, so I try to get my birds on pellets asap.)