Red Partridge Orpington informational hatch thread

[K0k0shka]

IME they usually show by 4-6 weeks in most breeds.

They'll be 4 weeks old this weekend. I'll post more pictures then. I'm giving them by the time they turn 5 weeks and at that point whoever looks male will need to move out, including the broody's chicks (of which I think there's 1 female and 2 males, based on combs and wattles). Last year, my first crower started at 5 weeks, and the neighbors gave me hell for it, so this year I don't want to risk it. My friend who gave me eggs to hatch for her (and who technically owns my broody's chicks and will be taking them back) has generously offered to take my partridge boys and grow them out for me until they have enough meat on them to be worth butchering. I want both the broody's chicks and my boys all to go at the same time, so they can be housed together on her farm. Otherwise I'd probably be able to keep my boys in the brooder even longer, but I want the outside chicks to go to avoid crowing issues, and if they go first and get settled there, there might be more fighting if my boys join them at some point later in what those have established and claimed as their territory (my friend won't have enough separate areas to keep multiple batches of chicks separate, so they'll likely be together). Or do they not fight much when this young? Can chicks of the same age and size be put together if they haven't met each other before, or do they need to be integrated with each other as well?

 

[aart]

Or do they not fight much when this young? Can chicks of the same age and size be put together if they haven't met each other before, or do they need to be integrated with each other as well?

The younger you integrate the better.
If the 2 groups are all going to the new place together that will reduce possible territoriality issues.
Not sure how the broody chick(s) and bator chicks will integrate, mama might have something to say about that.

 

[K0k0shka]

The younger you integrate the better.
If the 2 groups are all going to the new place together that will reduce possible territoriality issues.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking - if they all go together, everything will be new to all of them, and there will be no territorial squabbles. So I'll aim to move them to my friend's farm together.

Not sure how the broody chick(s) and bator chicks will integrate, mama might have something to say about that.

They won't be integrating. I'm not keeping the broody's chicks, so when the time comes for them to go, they all go - all of broody's and all of the bator boys. Hopefully by 5 weeks broody will be willing to let them go. I'll only be integrating the bator girls with my flock, if I have at least 2 that is... Still need to come up with a plan in case I only have 1, as I don't want to integrate a single lonely chick. Hopefully by 5 weeks it will be clear. If I do only have one, I may try to pair her with the broody's girl, the two of them separate from the flock with chicken wire in between so they can see the flock.

 

[aart]

Hopefully by 5 weeks broody will be willing to let them go.

One can hope.

 

[K0k0shka]

One can hope.

Will it make her go broody again if she loses her chicks (what she considers to be) too soon? I could leave her girl with her longer, if that will make things easier, it's the boys that I really don't want there any longer than I have to. Ultimately I don't want to keep the girl forever either, but I can let her grow up and get properly weaned first. If my friend doesn't want her back after that, or if we can't find her a new home, she could always be dinner... I feel bad for the poor thing, but I have limited space and strict requirements for who I choose to keep. They gotta pass the pet test, and this one being broody-raised is quite wild

 

[K0k0shka]

My first time broody is doing a great job with her chicks. She keeps them warm when they need it, teaches them how to chicken, finds tasty things for them, including doing acrobatic jumps up to get them greens from the top of the poor shrub in their run, which is now bald within chicken reach but she has extra motivation to try to reach even higher I'm proud of her (and I didn’t even think she’d sit long enough to hatch them!)

Whenever I go in the run, I sit down for a while to hang out with everybody, and every time she hops up in my lap and calls the chicks over, to try to show them that I'm safe They won't come anywhere near me though, despite her best efforts. That's why I'm not keeping any of them, as cute as they are. They gotta pass the pet chicken test to stay here, and you just can't get that with broody-raised chicks.

I've noticed that she has stopped defending them as diligently, and is letting them learn chicken etiquette from their aunties. Who are more than happy to put them in their place when they decide to jump up and step in the feeder Interestingly, the hen that was most harassed by the broody in the early days and most afraid of her, is now the harshest disciplinarian of the chicks. It's like she wants revenge, and she's enjoying it! She wants them at least a foot away from her while she eats, and they squeak and run even if she just looks at them. I wonder if broody is starting to lead them down the road of independence in preparation for weaning. Nobody is getting hurt, so I'm not worried, it's just interesting how quickly the dynamics have changed in just a couple of weeks.

The chicks themselves have taken an interesting trajectory in terms of development, as compared to my brooder chicks, and even to their siblings that I raised in the brooder with mine - which came from the same barnyard mix from my friend's flock, so it's not a matter of specific breed differences. The broody's chicks have always been smaller in size, which I did not expect. They were less developed for the first week or two - less feathering, less independent behavior and adventurousness overall. Their siblings that I raised in the brooder were the opposite in that time period, and the most advanced in everything from all three groups - most feathering, largest size, and most varied and adventurous behavior (dust bathing, perching, exploring new objects, etc.) The broody's chicks have gained confidence since and are now on par with the brooder chicks in terms of behaviors, but they have far surpassed them in feathering out! They are almost completely feathered now, except for their heads and a strip down the middle of the breast. They have evened out with their siblings that I raised inside (which now have outdoor access in their new home). My partridges, on the other hand, have the least feathering of all, but are the largest in size. I only have one that is at the level of the barnyard mix chicks in terms of feathering - everybody else is a fuzz ball with wings and awkward spikes of quills here and there Orpingtons are large and mature slowly, so that part makes sense. It's my friend's barnyard mixes that are interesting - same bunch of eggs split in two, the chicks even look similar visually, but the ones raised in the brooder developed so much faster than the ones with the broody (and she's a good mom!)

Here are the broody's chicks. I think the chipmunk is a girl, the penguin I'm not sure about but leaning towards boy, and the gray one has the biggest and reddest comb of all 3 groups and it looks as male as they come.

 

[aart]

Too bad you can't handle the broody chicks, probably needed to start from a day old.
I've never been able to 'tame' broody chicks either, mamas would let me handle them during incubation, but after that I got attacked.

Are the bator chicks close to the mama when they are outside?
I wonder if she would 'accept' them?
Might be worth a try.

 

[LadyLaurelin]

Just finished reading the whole thread. Thank you so much for posting all of this for us to follow along. I look forward to hearing more about these babies.

 

[K0k0shka]

Too bad you can't handle the broody chicks, probably needed to start from a day old.
I've never been able to 'tame' broody chicks either, mamas would let me handle them during incubation, but after that I got attacked.

My broody is super sweet with me and lets me (try to) handle the chicks no problem, just like she let me take eggs out to candle while she was sitting. She's awesome, so she's definitely not an obstacle. I could've put more effort into it and achieved better results, it just wasn't a priority for me. I never intended to keep those chicks anyway. Even my friend who owns them isn't too terribly invested in them. She gave me a bunch of eggs to hatch, just to see what would happen - to test her roosters' fertility and to see what color mixes she'd get. She may or may not keep a female or two, and she told me that if she can't rehome the rest, I can eat them. I'm not particularly interested in her random mixed breed bunch, especially if I'd have to put so much extra effort in taming them, and especially if I already have chicks of my own that I'm hand-raising. With a full time job and kids, I'm stretched pretty thin and can't spare the resources to tame flighty chicks. I'm focusing my efforts on my partridges. Unlike my friend, who has a farm, I only have a suburban backyard with limited space and need to be more selective in how many chickens I keep, and I want the ones I keep to be as tame and friendly as absolutely possible. So broody-raised chicks are by default disqualified... They would take too much effort to tame, with questionable results (and hand-raised chicks will just always be tamer).

My efforts are really paying off with the hand-raised chicks though. They have reached shoulder-level tameness

Are the bator chicks close to the mama when they are outside?
I wonder if she would 'accept' them?
Might be worth a try.

They haven't been within sight of her yet, but I'm curious, too. I'll take them outside again today and we'll make a stop in the run to say hi to everybody, and we'll see what she has to say about that.

 

[aart]

They have reached shoulder-level tameness

<cringes> Bad habit, IMO.
Watch your eyes and especially your kids.

They haven't been within sight of her yet, but I'm curious, too. I'll take them outside again today and we'll make a stop in the run to say hi to everybody, and we'll see what she has to say about that.

It would be really cool if she would take them on, would remove integration woes from your scenario. Even if she doesn't, it's likely the littles will group together eventually.