Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[kcan2]

They should fit in fine on the site then.

I think many of us would appreciate a Shadrach's No Nonsense thread, or entire site for that matter
Any chance we could get Shadrach to conduct the interviews and host the story contests? Pretty please!

Appreciated seeing the allotment photos. What a difference. It sure is looking like an exceptionally well-managed and tidy residence for Henry & Co!

 

[Shadrach]

Marking the date of laying is not very important as long as you know the eggs are fresh. Old eggs are inferior hatching eggs.
If you give the hatching eggs all at the moment to the broody, the eggs all pip on the same day or one day /max 2 days later.

You can simply mark the hatching eggs with a circle or a cross . That way you can recognise new laid eggs you want to take away.

What I learned, mainly from experiences from other byc keepers who had broodies.
If eggs that don’t pip/hatch within 2 days after the first pip/hatch something was not okay. But its hard to tell what caused it. Probably the eggs:

• were not fertilised, or
• were too long too cold or
• had an embryo with a mistake
• had a chick that was too weak to pip/hatch

Other reasons:

• weather circumstances were real bad
• the broody had too many eggs

I would add; hen still laying while sitting. This is quite common and leads to a staggered hatch.
Other hens laying eggs in the broodies nest leading to a staggered hatch.
Good hatches get done and dusted in 24 hours. It's in the hens natural instincts to leave the nest as quickly as possible with her chicks. In the wild, chick and mother calls attract predators and the faster the mother can get her chicks mobile and roosting off the ground (a hen can still cover her chicks from the elements when roosting if there are not too many of them) The number of chicks has become a problem for the modern hen. It's partly why jungle fowl only lay a few eggs a year. If the go broody twice in a year and have only laid 15 eggs in the entire year then they are likely to have no more than 6 chicks per hatch. Some of those will die. Quite a few die in the nest apparently. Others the mother abandons even partially hatched because of her need to get those that have hatched out, mobile and feeding.
So many of the problems one reads about are caused by breeding hens that lay too many eggs. It doesn't just effect their health, it effects the health and survival chances of their offspring. Should you have watched a hen foraging for her chicks it becomes obvious that there is no way she can feed a large hatch. 3 or 4 is hard enough.

 

[kcan2]

Belated tax payment of neighbor ladies hanging out drinking and pooping, ironically by the human's septic tank (upper left). I usually refer to the golden one as Crazy Eye. She especially enjoys assisting with back porch stink bug management/eradication come autumn. The added attraction of the bird feeder makes my backyard a popular hangout.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Marking the date of laying is not very important as long as you know the eggs are fresh. Old eggs are inferior hatching eggs.
If you give the hatching eggs all at the moment to the broody, the eggs all pip on the same day or one day /max 2 days later.

You can simply mark the hatching eggs with a circle or a cross . That way you can recognise new laid eggs you want to take away.

What I learned, mainly from experiences from other byc keepers who had broodies.
If eggs that don’t pip/hatch within 2 days after the first pip/hatch something was not okay. But its hard to tell what caused it. Probably the eggs:

• were not fertilised, or
• were too long too cold or
• had an embryo with a mistake
• had a chick that was too weak to pip/hatch

Other reasons:

• weather circumstances were real bad
• the broody had too many eggs

Thanks! Good info. The two chicks who hatched today were exactly two days after the first one, so they ought to all be ok. Fingers crossed!

 

[Perris]

er, no. There is no constancy in nature.

 

[ManueB]

I would add; hen still laying while sitting. This is quite common and leads to a staggered hatch.

You know, I never read about this before, and it's actually happening to a broody here. Would you take these eggs off every day when she leaves the nest or just leave them to their fate ?

 

[Perris]

Yes, but there are carrying capacities.

indeed, but that doesn't stop species multiplying, and there is no reason why the junglefowl population "has to" be "stable" or "remain constant", as per your opening statement.

 

[Perris]

I think you do not understand evolution, and I can't be bothered to argue further with you, so we'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[BDutch]

I would add; hen still laying while sitting. This is quite common and leads to a staggered hatch.
Other hens laying eggs in the broodies nest leading to a staggered hatch.
Good hatches get done and dusted in 24 hours. It's in the hens natural instincts to leave the nest as quickly as possible with her chicks. In the wild, chick and mother calls attract predators and the faster the mother can get her chicks mobile and roosting off the ground (a hen can still cover her chicks from the elements when roosting if there are not too many of them) The number of chicks has become a problem for the modern hen. It's partly why jungle fowl only lay a few eggs a year. If the go broody twice in a year and have only laid 15 eggs in the entire year then they are likely to have no more than 6 chicks per hatch. Some of those will die. Quite a few die in the nest apparently. Others the mother abandons even partially hatched because of her need to get those that have hatched out, mobile and feeding.
So many of the problems one reads about are caused by breeding hens that lay too many eggs. It doesn't just effect their health, it effects the health and survival chances of their offspring. Should you have watched a hen foraging for her chicks it becomes obvious that there is no way she can feed a large hatch. 3 or 4 is hard enough.

I did mention “ simply mark the hatching eggs with a circle or a cross . That way you can recognise new laid eggs you want to take away.”
Good to explain why it is important to take out new laid eggs. A staggered hatch certainly applies for people who have a rooster. I wouldn’t like embryos to develop without a chance to hatch. Having no rooster and having bought hatching eggs there are other reasons to take the eggs out. I don’t like to waist eggs and the broody could get too many eggs to keep the hatching eggs warm.

I did see my hen work really hard to find bugs for their chicks. Even if they have plenty of chick feed from the shop the mama’s prefer to give the chicks natural food (too).

Is it true that the hens work harder with more chicks? I never had more than 3 chicks hatch with one broody or 6 with two broodies. Seems my Dutch are clever wanting to share a nest.

 

[Perris]

Is it true that the hens work harder with more chicks?

if they are trying to find food entirely by foraging, it stands to reason that they do. Chickens are precocial, and my understanding is that it's the chick's job to keep up and get stuck in to whatever the broody has found for them, not her job to spoon-feed them (as a bird with helpless chicks in a nest in a tree for example would have to), but she would still need to find more food if there are more mouths to feed.