Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Good . Otherwise I'm bringing the baby advocate along with me. And she doesn't play nice

Ugh, I love her and her babies so much She wouldn't even have to play not-so-nice with me, I'd be ready to do whatever she told me just because she told me to.

 

[fluffycrow]

Ugh, I love her and her babies so much She wouldn't even have to play not-so-nice with me, I'd be ready to do whatever she told me just because she told me to.

Me too! These photos are particularly sentimental to me, because they are from her first brood, when she took on the Tsouloufati chicks. That yellow one is now a nice pullet, and I'm hoping she takes after her adoptive mum and goes broody in the summer.



OK, so Cruella is the last resort. I'll try convincing you without bringing her, because I'd get pecked to death if I do. Warm weather means brooding, for Cruella; and she won't be too happy if I take her with me while she's hatching the newest additions to her army of children

 

[2ndTink]

Me too! These photos are particularly sentimental to me, because they are from her first brood, when she took on the Tsouloufati chicks. That yellow one is now a nice pullet, and I'm hoping she takes after her adoptive mum and goes broody in the summer.



OK, so Cruella is the last resort. I'll try convincing you without bringing her, because I'd get pecked to death if I do. Warm weather means brooding, for Cruella; and she won't be too happy if I take her with me while she's hatching the newest additions to her army of children

I'm a bit closer to Pip and have a lovely Black Astraulorp who goes broody several times a year and is very committed. I could also very easily have a silkie or two mysteriously end up in her coop... broody problems fixed! Just let me know if the Gwenyth babies don't seem to be happening in a timely manner.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Me too! These photos are particularly sentimental to me, because they are from her first brood, when she took on the Tsouloufati chicks. That yellow one is now a nice pullet, and I'm hoping she takes after her adoptive mum and goes broody in the summer.

Aww, I hope so, too! A good broody is worth more than her weight in gold! I'm hoping that some of my broodies from last year will have improved with experience so that I don't have to worry about them so much. They were all okay at it, but I wouldn't necessarily call them 'good' broodies just yet... Well, okay, Peanut Butter and Marka were good with their babies, but the rest of them were working hard to enhance those gray hairs of mine again

OK, so Cruella is the last resort. I'll try convincing you without bringing her, because I'd get pecked to death if I do. Warm weather means brooding, for Cruella; and she won't be too happy if I take her with me while she's hatching the newest additions to her army of children

Bahaha, yeah, don't mess with mama when she's got eggs to hatch!

I'm a bit closer to Pip and have a lovely Black Astraulorp who goes broody several times a year and is very committed. I could also very easily have a silkie or two mysteriously end up in her coop... broody problems fixed! Just let me know if the Gwenyth babies don't seem to be happening in a timely manner.

No worries on getting broodies, I usually have a half dozen or more hens that are happy to volunteer for the job once summer hits

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh, I almost forgot! The Nora update! I didn't get any pictures this morning because she's looking pretty much the same as last update, but I'm not seeing any mites on her or on myself after handling her, so I think she's ready to head back outside. We're going to go outside for a spin at free-range time so that there's more room for everyone, just to test the waters, and we'll see how things go.

 

[fluffycrow]

Aww, I hope so, too! A good broody is worth more than her weight in gold! I'm hoping that some of my broodies from last year will have improved with experience so that I don't have to worry about them so much. They were all okay at it, but I wouldn't necessarily call them 'good' broodies just yet... Well, okay, Peanut Butter and Marka were good with their babies, but the rest of them were working hard to enhance those gray hairs of mine again




Bahaha, yeah, don't mess with mama when she's got eggs to hatch!




No worries on getting broodies, I usually have a half dozen or more hens that are happy to volunteer for the job once summer hits

Absolutely, a good broody is very very valuable! Hopefully your girls are excellent this year. Ursula has learned a lot from Cruella, hopefully she'll put that to use. I also hope that being raised by Cruella was enough for her adoptive daughter to go broody, even though her biological mother, and her aunts are not broody at all.

Maybe smaller brood size helps, since it's easier to control them

 

[fluffycrow]

Oh, I almost forgot! The Nora update! I didn't get any pictures this morning because she's looking pretty much the same as last update, but I'm not seeing any mites on her or on myself after handling her, so I think she's ready to head back outside. We're going to go outside for a spin at free-range time so that there's more room for everyone, just to test the waters, and we'll see how things go.

Glad to hear Nora doing better. She's a fighter for sure. Having mites on top of her injuries, she had a lot to overcome. Glad you were there to help her, I'm sure that your assistance helped tremendously

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Absolutely, a good broody is very very valuable! Hopefully your girls are excellent this year. Ursula has learned a lot from Cruella, hopefully she'll put that to use. I also hope that being raised by Cruella was enough for her adoptive daughter to go broody, even though her biological mother, and her aunts are not broody at all.

That may actually be enough to encourage her to brood, at least more so than if she was raised in a brooder! Some years back when I was researching about heat lamps and other potential hazards of using them as brooder heaters beyond just the oft-quoted fire danger, I came across a study that found that broody-raised birds were more prone to broodying, themselves, than birds raised artificially by humans, among several other behavioral differences. These were White Leghorns and commercial White Leghorn hybrids, too, so nothing prone to broodying on its own. The full article unfortunately is locked behind a paywall, but the abstract is here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/asj.12253 Anyway, hopefully that means she will take after Cruella and brood for you, too!

 

[fluffycrow]

That may actually be enough to encourage her to brood, at least more so than if she was raised in a brooder! Some years back when I was researching about heat lamps and other potential hazards of using them as brooder heaters beyond just the oft-quoted fire danger, I came across a study that found that broody-raised birds were more prone to broodying, themselves, than birds raised artificially by humans, among several other behavioral differences. These were White Leghorns and commercial White Leghorn hybrids, too, so nothing prone to broodying on its own. The full article unfortunately is locked behind a paywall, but the abstract is here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/asj.12253 Anyway, hopefully that means she will take after Cruella and brood for you, too!

Oh my gosh, that's so encouraging, thank you! I was desperately looking for something like this! It seems like I'll have a mini experiment of my own! I have that one Tsouloufati pullet that was raised by Cruella, and then one brahma×aseel pullet that was brooder-raised. On the one hand, we have a bird who (from what I have gathered) has no genetic affinity towards brooding, but has been raised by a devoted broody, and on the other a bird whose mother is a confirmed broody, and carries prominent "brooding genes" on both her parent's sides. Fingers crossed one or both of these girls broods, and raises some babies along the free range flock!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It'll be interesting to see what their broodiness is like! I similarly have two Cochin pullets (Nora included!) who were broody-raised and several more from the same biological parents who were raised in a brooder, so I'll be keeping an eye on them to see if there's a noticeable difference in their broodiness. My BBS line of Cochins has been only moderately broody, especially compared to the Red line I have who are absolutely insane with their broodying, so a difference in broodiness should be pretty apparent.