Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[fisherlady]

And the last 2...

 

[OneMountainAcres]

It's so awesome that your ladies are so happy and willing to Co brood like that!

 

[Lelanae]

I am jealous of that GORGEOUS Silver Penciled Rock--and a chicken friendly dog! Here is a picture of two of my three dogs--Max (the larger) is chicken safe--he doesn't recognize them as being different from grass (like my mom's maltese). Not even worth a glancee.
Percy is a different story.

 

[fisherlady]

It's so awesome that your ladies are so happy and willing to Co brood like that!

We are lucky for sure, there are a few minor spats or posturing but they never seem to interfere in the chick tending and they rarely last more than a few moments. What we are endlessly fascinated with (and thankful for) is that the hens don't seem to care what chick needs tending, all are treated the same to food and warm up time. The chicks don't even seem to care ... they go freely from one hen to another, whichever hen is closest or has the best food... so normally we see hens divide jobs. One is sitting as the 'warmer' while another is scratching or feeding and when a 3rd is involved we will often see one grabbing some 'spa time' in the dusting tub while the other hens do chick sitting duties.

 

[fisherlady]

Thank you both We have a fireplace, but have a pellet insert in it so it's pretty much there for good. But now we're aware of how to be ready for the next outage!

Glad power is back for you, we have learned to keep at least 2 or 3 five gallon jugs of water stashed in the house to get us by and we also have wood/coal pot bellied stove and a backup kerosene heater if needed. Antique oil lamps still work for light and a couple of large coolers are good for stashing freezer and fridge items outside in the winter.

 

[BullChick]

I definitely liked seeing one hen tend to the chicks while the other dust bathed. Seeing the rooster interact with the chicks too was just too cool. He was teaching the first few out the door how to scratch while the hens were ushering the rest out.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

I can take the cold...I handle the heat...but the wind. UGH. I can’t stand the wind when I’m doing chores.

 

[BullChick]

Starla hasn’t laid again that I’ve found. Her lone egg won’t be making it past this morning.

She’s smacking it with a paintbrush. I’m sure it’s cracking.

 

[WVduckchick]

I have also had generally poor results with eggs shipped through the mail. I consider a 10% hatch rate to be a great success.

10% is awfully low. I got 18 BCM eggs mailed to me from South Carolina 2 weeks ago and shockingly every single one of them is fertile and growing beautifully. One has a really badly saddle air cell, and another is slightly bad, but they firmed up impressively after about 8 days.

If you look very, very close at the top picture you can see the chick buried under Mindy's hind leg fluff... it must have been warm and comfy, it stayed there for ages. I finally pulled it and gave it back to the hen so Mindy could move.

Gorgeous pics!

Dukling was a hoot when I remembered that her chicken from Dheltzel had laid (still only found one egg). She cuddled it, and wanted it to hatch. She cracked it, and I taped it up. It’s back in the fridge. Not good for anything anymore, but she can look at it for a few days.
View attachment 1288915 View attachment 1288916

Oh my gersh! Ducking has grown so much!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Test to see if I can upload videos (nope, too big, will have to utube )... we had 7 broodies hatch Tues/Wed and added some day old Delawares from TSC so everyone has 3 or 4. Our eggs were crosses ....white rock roo over silver pencil rock hens... Mindy is in chick heaven, lol. View attachment 1288826 View attachment 1288828 View attachment 1288835 View attachment 1288836 View attachment 1288843

Broodies are the best! I wish I had had a broody that would take the chicks I have. My Ayam Cemani has been broody for a couple of weeks now, I wonder if I should try to let her take the couple I got from Tractor Supply. Might be worth a shot...

If you look very, very close at the top picture you can see the chick buried under Mindy's hind leg fluff... it must have been warm and comfy, it stayed there for ages. I finally pulled it and gave it back to the hen so Mindy could move.

I did see it! Such an amazing picture. Oh, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who sends chicken pictures to their spouse, whether they like it or not!

We are lucky for sure, there are a few minor spats or posturing but they never seem to interfere in the chick tending and they rarely last more than a few moments. What we are endlessly fascinated with (and thankful for) is that the hens don't seem to care what chick needs tending, all are treated the same to food and warm up time. The chicks don't even seem to care ... they go freely from one hen to another, whichever hen is closest or has the best food... so normally we see hens divide jobs. One is sitting as the 'warmer' while another is scratching or feeding and when a 3rd is involved we will often see one grabbing some 'spa time' in the dusting tub while the other hens do chick sitting duties.

I found that too when I had my big hatch out last year. They were all good with tending all of the chicks. My favorite part was when the chicks would hop and play on my broody turkey. She finally gave in after they kept snuggling under her and tended them also.

I read recently that the name for picking up treats and calling the chicks to it is called "tid-bitting". I hadnt known there was a name for it before. Two of my good boy roosters are also excellent "tid-bitters".