Red Partridge Orpington informational hatch thread

[K0k0shka]

Maybe since they had an MHP, at least more so than if they had been under a lamp.
But the mama might not accept them.
Might try a huddle box for few days before moving them.

I’ll try to get rid of the males in the next couple of days. Then the females can spend increasingly more and more time in the run, with a daytime huddle box in a dry area, and I can keep bringing them into the house at night. If it looks like they’re bonding with the broody and either going under her or at least following her into the coop, I might try to let them spend the night in the coop with her, huddled next to her if not under her. By then they’ll have more feathers, too.

 

[K0k0shka]

I have decided to try individual introductions of the brooder chicks with each hen separately. As a flock, they don’t seem to mind the chicks, but they haven’t had reason to be up close and personal with them, so I want to test that in a controlled way. I have started letting each hen into the sectioned off area, alone with the brooder chicks. Broody alone with them is fine, even with her own chicks locked outside. She still calls my chicks over for food and acts motheringly towards them.

Next up I tried one of my favorites, a large Lemon Cuckoo Orpington. She has jealousy issues and doesn’t like sharing me, but she was totally fine with the chicks! I waited until she came to the gate and asked to come in. I let her in and closed the gate. She went up to the chicks and watched them for a while, then went inside their crate to check it out, then came to me for some pets, then went back to the gate and I let her out. I was a little tense, because of her issues, but was impressed and very happy with how nice she was

I’ll try another hen today.

 

[K0k0shka]

Next up in the individual introductions series: the broody’s twin sister, my other DSL Barnevelder. She did great, too! Checked out the chicks, hung out in my lap for a bit, and left. No drama at all. I love my cool chickens

 

[K0k0shka]

Nice side by side shot for comparison - the one on the left I’m sure is male, the one at the bottom I’m sure is female, and the dark one in the back is the one I’m still on the fence about, but if you look at it next to a male and a female, it looks more female than not... right?

 

[K0k0shka]

Rehoming day was today for the chicks I'm not going to keep. My two boys are gone I moved all three of the broody's chicks out with them, too. I was originally going to keep the female for now, to use her for my integration purposes so broody can still have one of hers, and maybe take in the rest of mine to raise with it, but my recent observations revealed a worrisome pattern. The broody's boys attacking my chicks were prompting the broody to side with them and peck my chicks as well. I don't know if this is what ruined my chances with her or what, but she has started pecking my chicks preemptively when hers are around, even if they aren't fighting. I did an experiment. I put broody in the sectioned off area with just my chicks. She was totally fine, clucked for them, showed them food. Then I let her female chick in as well. With her own chick next to her, broody started pecking my chicks again! It seems like the presence of her chick was reminding her that the rest aren't hers. And this happened even without her males being present. So if the female wasn't going to help things, but keep making it worse, then there was no point in keeping her.

I locked the broody in the coop alone with some treats, so she wouldn't see me stealing her babies, and I put them all in a dog crate, in the evening close to bedtime. I hid the chicks in the basement out of earshot and let the broody out - she was very upset - and distracted her and the other hens with a bunch of scratch and fresh greens. That seemed to keep her busy and quiet until bedtime. Right now she's sleeping on the roost with her friends, for the fist time in almost two months.

I drove the chicks to my friend's farm after dark. I'd made a MHP for them, the same as mine, and set it up in a division of her giant farm coop. My boys knew what to do, but it took the broody's chicks some cajoling to stuff them under the MHP and keep them there. Being broody-raised, they are incredibly flighty and terrified of people, sadly, despite my presence in their lives and their mom's efforts to lure them into my lap. While I was wrestling with them, my boys came out, made themselves comfortable in my lap and snuggled in, ready for bed They were so relieved to see me there in that strange new place... It broke my heart. And it will break my heart again when the time comes to eat them. But such is life. We have a date to go visit them on Sunday with the kids.

Now we'll see what broody has to say about my three girls tomorrow...

 

[FeatherTay]

Rehoming day was today for the chicks I'm not going to keep. My two boys are gone I moved all three of the broody's chicks out with them, too. I was originally going to keep the female for now, to use her for my integration purposes so broody can still have one of hers, and maybe take in the rest of mine to raise with it, but my recent observations revealed a worrisome pattern. The broody's boys attacking my chicks were prompting the broody to side with them and peck my chicks as well. I don't know if this is what ruined my chances with her or what, but she has started pecking my chicks preemptively when hers are around, even if they aren't fighting. I did an experiment. I put broody in the sectioned off area with just my chicks. She was totally fine, clucked for them, showed them food. Then I let her female chick in as well. With her own chick next to her, broody started pecking my chicks again! It seems like the presence of her chick was reminding her that the rest aren't hers. And this happened even without her males being present. So if the female wasn't going to help things, but keep making it worse, then there was no point in keeping her.

I locked the broody in the coop alone with some treats, so she wouldn't see me stealing her babies, and I put them all in a dog crate, in the evening close to bedtime. I hid the chicks in the basement out of earshot and let the broody out - she was very upset - and distracted her and the other hens with a bunch of scratch and fresh greens. That seemed to keep her busy and quiet until bedtime. Right now she's sleeping on the roost with her friends, for the fist time in almost two months.

I drove the chicks to my friend's farm after dark. I'd made a MHP for them, the same as mine, and set it up in a division of her giant farm coop. My boys knew what to do, but it took the broody's chicks some cajoling to stuff them under the MHP and keep them there. Being broody-raised, they are incredibly flighty and terrified of people, sadly, despite my presence in their lives and their mom's efforts to lure them into my lap. While I was wrestling with them, my boys came out, made themselves comfortable in my lap and snuggled in, ready for bed They were so relieved to see me there in that strange new place... It broke my heart. And it will break my heart again when the time comes to eat them. But such is life. We have a date to go visit them on Sunday with the kids.

Now we'll see what broody has to say about my three girls tomorrow...

I’m so sorry... I hope it all figures out! I’m not good at that stuff, unfortunately

 

[aart]

Good experiment!
I'd have left the chicks with the broody.
But maybe too risky at night, eh?

 

[K0k0shka]

Good experiment!
I'd have left the chicks with the broody.
But maybe too risky at night, eh?

Too risky. They don't follow her around, wouldn't have known to follow her into the coop. Unless maybe she made the food sound, which they seem to respond to, but I don't know if she does that when heading back in for the night. I doubt it. Her chicks knew and just went in with her. My chicks haven't even been inside the coop, probably wouldn't have followed her into a new space anyway. I haven't started introducing them to the coop space yet, they just spend the afternoon in the run right now (mingling while I'm there, separated in their section when not). I wanted to wait for them to be fully feathered and weaned off of heat before I start leaving them in the coop for the night, because I don't want to bother with the MHP this time. The girls are more feathered out than the boys, so now that the boys are gone, maybe weaning will happen sooner. I'll start getting them used to the coop itself. At this point, I don't care if the broody mothers them or not. All I want is for her not to peck them

 

[K0k0shka]

Broody is officially not broody anymore. Her voice has broken and sounds normal now, and she's back to her regular non-broody self (that was quick!) Also, she doesn't seem upset about her babies anymore, and doesn't seem to hold a grudge against me for taking them (I'd locked her inside the coup so she wouldn't see, but she climbed up to the roost and was looking at me out the window, yelling ). When I went in today to say hi, she hopped up on my lap and we chatted like nothing had happened:

The remaining 3 partridge orps cried for their brothers when they woke up and saw them gone, and again when it was time to go to bed in the evening, but other than that, they took it much better than back when I rehomed their other hatch-mates a few weeks ago. I took them out to the run in the afternoon, and confirmed my suspicions - it was indeed the broody's own chicks that were killing the mood. With them gone, she was fine with my babies. She came over immediately after I let them out, and hung out with them for a very long time. Wasn't clucking at them or trying to feed them anymore, just seemed vaguely interested, as if she couldn't quite remember why. They ran to her whenever she started scratching or looked like she found something (without her calling them). At one point she found some bug and the chicks flocked to her, and she let them take it - a very good sign! In the half an hour or so that I hung out with them, she stayed in their immediate vicinity and gave just one single peck. Not sure what that was about, but I "pecked" her back with my finger and gave her a stern NO! I think that's pretty good overall (compared to yesterday, when she was pecking them one by one every time they came close to her chick).

I closed the partition and left the chicks in their part of the run for the rest of the day, but when I came to pick them up for bed, I saw that two of them had flown over the divider and were on the other side, standing pitifully next to the third chick that was still inside. The hens weren't paying any attention to them and there were no signs of trouble. Phew! Maybe they are ready for the divider to come down...

 

[aart]

In the half an hour or so that I hung out with them, she stayed in their immediate vicinity and gave just one single peck. Not sure what that was about, but I "pecked" her back with my finger and gave her a stern NO!

No need to peck her, she's showing them the ropes.