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I just love chickens in the sun. Wonderful.View attachment 3110090
Our 1st sunshine in nearly 2 weeks.
Chickens sprawled all over the yard enjoying.
Desdemona, Portia & Wrold.
Hey my MIL has chickens. I'm sure she would like more. Since when is more chickens bad.
I wonder about people sometimes.
I had a phone call today from my DIL offering me 4 free chooks.
The Child Care Centre has to rehome their bantams & DIL thought I might like them.
Firstly I'm pretty sure the chooks are silkies. DIL wasn't sure. I'm not a fan of silkies & I already have 3 chooks I should never have acquired.
Secondly, I don't actually have a proper coop @ present.
Thirdly, I'm already pushing the limit with the numbers I'm allowed here even if you count bantams as half a chook.
Fourthly, biosecurity, darlin', biosecurity.
Fifthly, Sikies= dumb & not predator savvy. I have a hawk. The only reason I figure he's ignoring my birds is my Campines are leery as of him.
Sixthly, Silkies =broody. Like I don't have enough wanna be mums on my hands.
I said no. Very definitely no.
Hang on. For you it may not be so simple. You've got a rooster and that means fertile eggs and that means chicks probably if the hen sits full term.It certainly didn't feel right to me, but it's something I know nothing about. I'm happy you gave me some reassurance.
I find that things concerning animals that uses terms like "break", "yield"...will need thinking about .
You mean birth control?Hang on. For you it may not be so simple. You've got a rooster and that means fertile eggs and that means chicks probably if the hen sits full term.
You need to be a bit carefull and remember that often the advice you read is for female only flocks. Once you have males it all changes.
I have one hen, an Orpington, who is a serial broody. She is broody now and it will be three weeks on Friday. I see no signs that she is planning on stopping.It pays to check where your advice is coming from.
I knew nothing & was worried for my girls so followed the standard advice. Now I know a little more, have a little experience , & the advantage of being able to pick someone like Shad's brain. I don't need the eggs so if my nutters want to sit on air & stare @ 4 blank walls for 3 weeks @ a time then so be it!
That is spectacular!
@Lexicon :Mine usually quit on their own @ the 21 day mark, more or less. Even my very stubborn broodies come off the nest once or twice a day to eat & drink, usually 1st thing & just before roosting. I do monitor & as you probably saw on @BY Bob 's thread I will throw a hen off a nest temporarily if other hens can't get into a box to lay. My girls go in batches. All my white bantams nest share. The Wyandotte sisters sit together. My black bantams shared a nest together.I have one hen, an Orpington, who is a serial broody. She is broody now and it will be three weeks on Friday. I see no signs that she is planning on stopping.
Do you find that your hens eventually stop on their own? I wonder at what point I should intervene, if ever.
I just love is that Tsuri nonchalantly sitting there with her tail pointing to the sky!@Lexicon :Mine usually quit on their own @ the 21 day matk, more or less. Even my very stubborn broodies come off the nest once or twice a day to eat & drink, usually 1st thing & just before roosting. I do monitor & as you probably saw on @BY Bob 's thread I will throw a hen off a nest temporarily if other hens can't get into a box to lay. My girls go in batches. All my white bantams nest share. The Wyandotte sisters sit together. My black bantams shared a nest together.
I just love is that Tsuri nonchalantly sitting there with her tail pointing to the sky!
I have noticed that Penny does get off when others get too insistent about needing the nest which is the favourite, of course! I wonder if she knows that if she lets them in, they will leave her an egg to nurture?
I may start encouraging her to take more daily breaks this weekend as it will have been three weeks.
I have two other Orpingtons who are both feeling the need to be broody too and one other Orpington who gets so mad about her hormonal mates and chases them around when they are acting weird. She never does this when they are their normal selves. High drama around here in the summer!