Fisher: All your girls do well...you flock is broody bootcamp....you always have many and have reported numerous 'group broods'....imho, you have it way to easy...lol
I agree that it seems like a broody boot camp! I am really starting to believe that it is more environmental than genetic, I had 2 hens go broody who were raised by a broody but their parent stock is not broody type at all.... so I seriously think the power of suggestion can be a very strong thing. The group broods I am still trying to figure out. I can understand the ones who were raised together as 'sisters' being more prone to it, but the communal attitude with the chicks has really been evolving over the past couple of years and I have seen 2 different young hens 'drop off' their chicks to an older broody with chicks of the same age in the evening and then go up to roost on the shelves... in the morning they come down, pick up their own 'kids' and head outside to start their day. The two young hens who did it are actual sisters and I have never seen that from any of our other hens. It is amazing to watch the 'babysitter' just shuffle the extras in for the night. Rarely do any hens fuss about a 'neighbor kid' stopping in for a visit. We have a security camera in the coop with night vision, it is cute to watch the little ones spill out of nests in the evening one or two at a time, run to the waterer and then head to different box for a visit, then eventually end up back with their own broody.
As far as the easy part... we have been blessed, but their have been some heartaches along the way, which is an inherent danger when raising chicks in a flock scenarios. We have had a couple of unexplained fatalities found in the fenced run which we attributed to chicks being stepped on by big birds who weren't paying attention and a few who died overnight in the nests with the hens who may have been natural or suffocation, but no way to tell. Using large fowl broodies can be a frustrating thing for eggs being at risk of breaking during the brood or a few even broken when non-broody hens decided to hop in the broody's nest to lay their egg for the day. A few of the hens we provide more separation for, but I don't want to have to set up totally new areas and keep the chicks separate through the entire brood... I hate seeing these things happen, but DH and I have talked about the safeguards and risks and we just still come back to the fact that we prefer the flock environment for our goals in our coop.
I love your set up.
Auro: I've seen this too...everything changes in a flock every day...your midnight may regain her dominant status after the brood or others my claim the space....midnight may be comfortable being a mid level girl or may exert her dominance...may take months to know....
totally agree...
Hope everyone made out okay with the "snow storm"...we are very fortunate, didn't get a thing here in central PA.
What a cutie you've got! I hope the hot pepper works out for you and LMP. I'm going to start trying the hot pepper seeds today. Our egg count has been terrible. I'm thinking we may be at a spot where our old girls are stopping and the new ones haven't started but not sure. I actually had to buy eggs at the store. As far as the coyotes, they are very brazen. We've had one on the porch. I won't let my daughter go out with me to feed right now and the dog is escorted at night when he goes out. I'm calling my nephew and his buddies and going to organize a hunt.
