I am very new to keeping chickens having only had them since early this year. I have a rather ecletic mix of 12 hens and one cockerel ranging from 15wks up to over a year.
I have two Pekin/cochin Bantams that are last years stock (or so I was told, they could be much older
and my cockerel is also a pekin, and of the same vintage.
I noticed little Bill (the cockerel) didn't seem to crow alot, definately not every day, and wondered whether it had something to do with him not bein at the top of the pecking order in this little bantam trio. The dominant hen was definately boss.
So after a few months of very little crowing, or even mating (what more could a young stud want then to be thrown in a pen with two lovely ladies?), I desided to move him out of the breeding pen and threw him in with my mixed LF flock. He loved it. A changed cockerel indeed. So his not quite boss, as I have one hen who has spurs and is very good at fighting, but is second in line, and has 6 lovely ladies below him. He has started to crow again, and has to work extra hard to mount the big girls, so he is a happy chappy.
Now more curiously. The day after I moved Bill out of the pen with his two Pekin girlies, one of them went broody. She would puff up and shriek at me if I put my hand anywhere near her. The next day I went to collect eggs and lifted the lid of the nest box to find two hens in two nests, puffing up and shrieking at me!
I watched them closely for a week to see how serious they were, and one hen was very hard core and never seemed to eat or drink and the other would only move first thing in the morning, ate, drank, quick dust bath, back on nest withing 10-15min. They did swap nests once in the week also, I think this is why one doesn't move anymore lol
So I went on ebay to find some hatching eggs, as the eggs the broodies were on could only have been laid after the removal of Bill (my local chicken breeder had no hatching eggs as her chickens were moulting). I bought a dozen hybrid hen eggs as I figured I could do with some more laying hens, and as this was my first time with chicks, I thought they might be more sturdy then little bantam babies.
When I went to set the eggs two days later in the dark, I was expecting to find lots of eggs under the two broodies. I lifted one up, the one that had gone broody first, and she was sitting on absoloutly nothing. I slid my hand under the second girl, and pulled out just one little egg. It was white so wasn't even her egg! So what seems to have happened was one girl laid and egg after Bills departure and desided to sit on it and instantly went broody. Then for some reason (probably because of the piece and quiet without Bill stiring up the nests), the other hen had gone broody before she had even laid an egg (and these two girls were laying 6 eggs a week before), and therefore sat on nothing. Now at some point when the first broody had got up to eat, the second one had stollen her nest with the one egg in it, leaving the first broody to sit on her empty nest. That first broody doesn't move anymore.
Anyhow, the eggs are set, under two very very dedicated broodies. Bill the cockerel is getting better at crowing and mounting. And with any luck I shall have a few chiping chicks before the month is over. What a productive month
I have two Pekin/cochin Bantams that are last years stock (or so I was told, they could be much older
I noticed little Bill (the cockerel) didn't seem to crow alot, definately not every day, and wondered whether it had something to do with him not bein at the top of the pecking order in this little bantam trio. The dominant hen was definately boss.
So after a few months of very little crowing, or even mating (what more could a young stud want then to be thrown in a pen with two lovely ladies?), I desided to move him out of the breeding pen and threw him in with my mixed LF flock. He loved it. A changed cockerel indeed. So his not quite boss, as I have one hen who has spurs and is very good at fighting, but is second in line, and has 6 lovely ladies below him. He has started to crow again, and has to work extra hard to mount the big girls, so he is a happy chappy.
Now more curiously. The day after I moved Bill out of the pen with his two Pekin girlies, one of them went broody. She would puff up and shriek at me if I put my hand anywhere near her. The next day I went to collect eggs and lifted the lid of the nest box to find two hens in two nests, puffing up and shrieking at me!
I watched them closely for a week to see how serious they were, and one hen was very hard core and never seemed to eat or drink and the other would only move first thing in the morning, ate, drank, quick dust bath, back on nest withing 10-15min. They did swap nests once in the week also, I think this is why one doesn't move anymore lol
So I went on ebay to find some hatching eggs, as the eggs the broodies were on could only have been laid after the removal of Bill (my local chicken breeder had no hatching eggs as her chickens were moulting). I bought a dozen hybrid hen eggs as I figured I could do with some more laying hens, and as this was my first time with chicks, I thought they might be more sturdy then little bantam babies.
When I went to set the eggs two days later in the dark, I was expecting to find lots of eggs under the two broodies. I lifted one up, the one that had gone broody first, and she was sitting on absoloutly nothing. I slid my hand under the second girl, and pulled out just one little egg. It was white so wasn't even her egg! So what seems to have happened was one girl laid and egg after Bills departure and desided to sit on it and instantly went broody. Then for some reason (probably because of the piece and quiet without Bill stiring up the nests), the other hen had gone broody before she had even laid an egg (and these two girls were laying 6 eggs a week before), and therefore sat on nothing. Now at some point when the first broody had got up to eat, the second one had stollen her nest with the one egg in it, leaving the first broody to sit on her empty nest. That first broody doesn't move anymore.
Anyhow, the eggs are set, under two very very dedicated broodies. Bill the cockerel is getting better at crowing and mounting. And with any luck I shall have a few chiping chicks before the month is over. What a productive month
