Not with my flock. I got a four year old WGSD (White German Sheperd) before the flock. They are innately trained to shepherd thus the name. She is very careful of protecting all I own. I can tell by how she feels when she bumps into things. Sorry, sorry, I will do better I promise, master. Rarely does damage. Another thing and I grew up with German Shepherds is they don't like anybody fighting even play fighting and they will try to break it up. happens around here with my three and sometimes more roosters. So waiting is not a worry.
very cute. Good job.I had problems with my bantam being kicked out of her nest by the bigger girls. (She had picked their fav nest.)
I borrowed some one else's idea of blocking the others out. She had food & water within reach, but I had to open the nest each morning so she could poop.
After they hatched I had problems with chicks passing through a fence & freaking out when they couldn't get back to Mama hen. I simply put an old rabbit cage in the run to contain them.
On nice days, I gave them some grass time in a baby play yard. At the end of the day, I opened the gate & she led them back to their little rabbit cage. Reverse commute in the am. By age 3 weeks, I just left Mama hen figure out how to keep them all safe. I put the cages away.
Too much risk. Why bother with the heart ache. Control those silkies. I don't relish having rat attacks on defenseless animals either. Silkies are still way bigger than a chick and they will crush them if not beat them up just fighting over who owns what. Bad scenario. Anything, can happen and not always bad but my Broody that just hatched two in three days and the youngest being one day old was stepped on while I was watching and she did not even step off it. I took it and the other and completely rearranged everything so she is out on 4 duck eggs(in house) but I know she is pining for them because she is making sounds and scratching to show them foraging even though they are not there. (Crazy emotional) I know I could put them in something bigger in the house but I sometimes have rats and mice in here so still no deal. I have had a lot of chicken trauma around here this year so no way. They are in the sun as much as possible and will stay in my ensuite bathroom for safety at night with a ceramic lamp heater. Each person's situation will be different. I am use to being the Mama. They will be the fourth hatch I had to take over this year but it's better than having nature do it's dirty work.
Congrats on the little chick. Mine wait 1-2 days before leading the chicks away from the nest. I never hatched duck eggs, but i think they take longer than 21 days. If you started them at the same time, then you'll need to use an incubator.Hello everyone. I just wanted to share my first hatching experience and ask a question. First I should say that two of our hens went broody AFTER we got rid of our roosters, lol. I read somewhere that a hen can still lay fertile eggs for weeks after a rooster is gone so I thought what the heck. We bought some fertile eggs (13) just to be sure though and added 2 duck eggs for a total of 20 set eggs. The girls were sharing a nest, we separated them, they got back together; I found that one of them was breaking eggs; kicked her out into the broody breaker pen; ended up with just 2 eggs (one chicken and one duck) making it the 21 days. The chicken started peeping on day 21 and hatched during the night. The duck egg is still intact and doesn't seem to be doing anything but the hen is still sitting on it. How long will a hen wait for other eggs to hatch once hatching begins? Here's a picture of 'Little Chicken.' Not a great first experience but at least one made it. My DH says it's probably a rooster, lol.
